PUBG Global Championship Semifinals: who are the favorites this weekend?

The PUBG Global Championship (PGC) kicked off last weekend with 32 teams hungry for glory and share of $3M in prize money. The OGN Super Arena in Oakland featured the best and brightest from all nine competitive regions. After three days of matches this past weekend, at least one representative from every region still remains in the competition. Here our PUBG Global Championship Semifinals preview.

Group Stage Schenanigans

Korea, NA, Oceania and Japan all lost one representative each in the Group Stages. Fan favorites Envy couldn’t get over the 40-point mark in 12 games as they ended their PGC showing. Yet, the biggest loser from the group/elimination stage was Europe (PEL) losing 3 out 6 teams in attendance. The point carry over system wrecked both Team Liquid and G2 after their abysmal group stage showing. CrowCrowd was closer to qualifying than the other two teams after groups, but they did not show much improvement on elimination day and ended up going home as well.

FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere and Team SoloMid remain to defend PEL’s honor at the PUBG Global Championship.

Katanyu “DUCKMANZ” Chinsorranan was not efficient for Armory Gaming this time around as AG left the event at 28th. It seems a lot has changed since the FACEIT Global Summit where Duckmanz and AG dominated with their individualistic playstyle. Nevertheless, South East Asia is still represented by Sting Divine Esports who made it directly to semis out of Group B.

We had an exciting groups/elimination stage this past weekend which came down to deciders being played out in the last game of the day. We can only hope the semifinals take a similar path.

GROUP STAGE IS DONE AND DUSTED! 🔥 Only 24 teams remain in #PGC19 as they move on to the Semi Finals later this week, but what got them there? Find out in our Day 3 Recap! ✨ WATCH 🎥 https://t.co/jkyhq3N21r pic.twitter.com/LXSTZvwqap — PUBG Esports (@PUBGEsports) November 11, 2019

PUBG Global Championship Semifinals Preview

With 24 teams remaining the semifinal stage is set to begin November 16 at 2:00 CET. The teams will be divided in three groups of eight and play a round-robin style system. After 18 matches matches between all three groups are played the final 16 finalists will remain.

Lets take a look at the good/bad performers and teams expected to make it through to the finals. We will divide the teams in three tiers based on play style and judge them on their merits.

Hybrid Style

Hybrid style teams are the most common in the current game state. They adapt their strategy based on circle placement after each drop. They tend to rotate early and towards the middle of the circle in order to gain a positional advantage. If the circle favors them they will lock down and only move if the following phase demands it.

Tempo Storm, Genesis, Lazarus, Natus Vincere, Team SoloMid and FaZe Clan, VC Gaming and The Rumblers all fall into this category. Out of these eight, FaZe, Genesis and VC Gaming are keen on taking fights and winning them outright setting them apart from the rest. In a scenario where this teams meet mid circle it should be the more aggressive oriented teams coming out ahead.

Edge Style

Playing edge (Edge of the Circle) is favored by most Korean and Asian teams. The more conservative approach has its merits as teams are out of the crossfire for long stretches of the game conserving armor and utility. The downside is the punishment of unfavorable circle that would force a tricky rotation and ultimately the demise of the squad. Both Entus squads, Afreeca Freecs, SKT T1, Red Canids and Four Angry Men fall into this category. Out of this bunch SKT T1 and Entus Ace have the strongest odds of succeeding.

Aggressive Style

The third style also has the most misleading title. All teams in PUBG are aggressive to an extent. The style itself is categorized by teams that would take a fight for the sake of fighting potentially when out of position or during a 3-1-1 or 4-1-1 split. They keep a more prolonged engagement tempo and are keen to taking trades or losing members as they go. Most of the remaining teams fall under this category. They are also the reason for the unpredictability of PUBG matches as they can make or break a match based on their performance. If we had to rank them, then Gen.G, Infantry and Ghost Gaming are considered the likely winners.

We have to note that Team Liquid, G2 and Armory Gaming were all keen on making aggressive rotations and favored this play style. They are now all eliminated from the PGC.

Concluding thoughts

Finally, with the teams tallied we can predict FaZe, Genesis, VC Gaming, SKT, Entus Ace, Gen.G, Infantry and Ghost Gaming all advancing to the Finals. This should benefit anyone seeking to place bets or dabble with pick’ems. Picking top killers is not as easy, but Ubah and Pio are still at the top of our picks. As picking outright winner goes, FaZe is still the favorite.

Keep checking our Esports News section for updates as PGC evolves and keep an eye for special offers with our featured bookmakers.

Tune in to https://www.twitch.tv/playbattlegrounds this weekend for the continuation of the PUBG Global Championship.

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