Brace yourselves: PUBG Europe League is upon us!

Ten days ago, the PEL Kick-off cup gave us a taste of what Phase 2 in the PUBG Europe league might look like. Stakes are raised as PUBG Classic event invites, relegation and Prize Money are now on the line.

Sixteen teams will battle for $350,000 in Prize Money and 5 invites at the GLL Grand Slam in Stockholm, Sweden. Twelve out of the sixteen will continue to Phase 3 while the last four will have to face possible relegation. With so much on the line, the hype is on for this Friday and the begging of Phase 2 at the PEL.

#PEL Phase 1 saw the rise of @ENCE, while @TeamLiquid dominated the Kick-off Cup! What team will shine in Phase 2? Get ready, there is even more #PUBG coming soon! pic.twitter.com/2sqJAQ7i0r — PEL Esports (@PEL_Esports) May 7, 2019

Similar to the National League North American roster shuffles, Europe saw entire squads disband and organizations jumping at the opportunity of building the ultimate PUBG team coming into Phase 2.

Red Diamonds and Jokers disbanded in the interim and teams Reciprocity and Unity take over their spots and moved from Contenders to the main division.

The biggest “winner” out of the two disbands was Natus Vincere as they managed to sign Arsenii “ceh9” Ivanychev from Jokers, followed by Andrey “Bestoloch” Ionov and Roman “ADOUZ1E” Zinoviev from Red Diamonds. With a wholly refurbished roster NaVi is looking to improve from the measly 14th spot in Phase 1.

Raise Your Edge is in trouble coming into Phase 2. They had to complete a triple roster swap as Zhnark, Wan7ed and CupOfMagic left the team due to poor performance. The replacement was not an improvement compared to the previous roster as Men0xx, xKriss and Ciggzy were signed as replacements. We might see Raise Your Edge down in Relegations at the end of the phase.

CrowCrowd also commited to a triple roster swap as EXMAGISTR announced his retirement from competitive play followed by ALFPLAYS and Dream4u promptly leaving the team. The organization then signed what was left from the Red Diamonds/Jokers disbands in Ilya “HalloSenpai” Kirillov and Dmitrii “Kemba7” Rozhkov together with Maxim “Zer0NG” Carev to complete the roster. CrowCrowd similarly to RYE might be facing relegation at the end of Phase 2.

With the lower part of the standings out of the way let us focus on the teams that are likely to attend the GLL Grand Slam after this competitive phase.

Team Liquid had a solid showing at the Faceit Global Summit and won the PEL Kick-off cup. They are the absolute favorite in Europe at this moment. Tailing them are nade kings Ninjas in Pyjamas and spoilers Winstrike who are both looking to challenge the top European seed. Neither of this teams had changes to their rosters coming into Phase 2 as they are all confident that their rosters can deliver the goods in Phase 2. They are our Top 3 picks to secure highest placement in the PEL Phase 2.

What of ENCE?

We cannot comfortably say #EZ4ENCE this time around. The champions have gone downhill ever since Phase 1 finished as they finished 17th at the Global Summit and 11th at the Kick-off Cup. With no changes coming to the lineup, ENCE is looking like a mid-tier team in Phase 2.

The next Phase of the #PEL is just days away! Phase 2 will start May 17, featuring 16 teams playing 96 matches for a share of the $350,000 prize pool. Read more: https://t.co/pYRn53rcbh#PUBG #Esports pic.twitter.com/mBYahBbV9M — PEL Esports (@PEL_Esports) May 13, 2019

This Friday it all comes to a head at Twitch.tv/PEL_esports.