2019 PUBG Champions League Summer Season Preview

Starting Monday, August 19th, PUBG Champions League will start their Summer Season, with 48 teams playing for a lion share of 2,000,000 CNY ( ~ 300,000 USD ) prize pool, and both for a spot at the China Masters tournament, which will be held in October, and a shot at the season-ending PUBG Global Championship, to be held in November in California.

Major Informations

Erangel Division — A tank filled with fighting fishes

In Spring Season, Erangel Division ended up as a top-heavy battle, with five of their teams in the top 12, and teams like FPX, CEGM and KG finishing below them. Heading into Summer, not a lot will change in that regard, as Team Weibo wi join the pack after signing a deal with division’s streaming partner, Douyu.

VC Gaming

Roster : Summer, DJBOY, Tide, DouM, 11ccc, Sp1ce

2019 Phase 2 Results : 1st — 10th — 11th — 14th — 9th

Ahead of their PCL title defence, VC Gaming have been bought over by 4AM Group, and have signed back their old players — SMG’s “11ccc” and AG’s “Sp1ce” — to bolster their roster. And while they haven’t contended for the championships at MET or in third-party LANs, the team lead by Yu “Summer” Chuan can make up for their lack of a superstar fragger with a depth, jack-of-all-trades roster, and they’re among favourites to win it all.

Team SMG ( ex- 17Gaming )

Roster : Shou, Shox, yyxovo, Baolei, Lanren, AK

2019 Phase 2 Results : 3rd — 9th — NQ — NQ — 11th

Former 17Gaming have went through changes, both in the organization, as they’ve merged with JJ Lin’s Still Moving under Gunfire, and in the roster, replacing “Monkeyking” with former players of SnakeTC and V5, Pan “Baolei” Xin-hao, and Peng “Lanren” Xiao-tian respectively. Even with those changes, SMG players was struggling to perform well after Spring Season… all except one — Their captain and ace, Wang “shou” Kang. His health issues aside, Shou have kept his form and have been SMG’s leading fragger at the MET and Huya League. But he can’t single-handedly carry the team in a stacked Erangel Division, and the rest of SMG roster will have to pick up their pace as they aim to reclaim the crown.

Super Survivor Squad

Roster : NB211, Xbei, MamuGdx, KangtaA, Q77, RyaNNNN

2019 Phase 2 Results : 10th — 3rd — 8th — 4th

Heading into the final week of PCL Spring, SSS was yet to make it to the Week Final, and another bad result could send them to the Preseason / relegation tournament. That worked as a wake-up call for them, as they not only made it to Week 6 Final, but dominated there ( 102 points in 8 games, and first team to get 3 Chicken Dinners in a Week Final ). After that, SSS slowed up only a bit, making it to Top 4 of Douyu Season 7 and Huya League and finishing 8th in WEGL Weibo, but the organisation is still aiming for their first championship. And with two all-round fraggers in “RyaNNNN” and “Xbei”, a strong back-up in “NBLsn” and a captain in Zhou “NB211” Lin-Li — one of the most experienced players in the region and a “God of War” rounding out the roster, this may be SSS time to end their curse.

Team Weibo

Roster : Running, Little1ee, NB103, Engima86, 067, SfzxD

2019 Phase 2 Results : 5th — 15th — 3rd — 11th — 3rd

The Expendables of Chinese PUBG themselves, Team Weibo have finally made themselves a place amongst the best teams in the region, finishing in Top 5 of PCL Spring, MET and their “home” event — WEGL Weibo Cup and making it to the final round of Douyu S7 and Huya League. While the team have a popular and pretty loud ( both in performance and his behavior ) fragger in Cai “Running” Cheng, Weibo is stacked with a consistent and depth roster, even more backed up after the signing of ex-17Gaming and 4AM player — “067”.

Oh My God

Roster : Lionkk, Xiaohai, silentBT, Shmily, Aisss, Tiger, Shark ( Clouds )

2019 Phase 2 Results : 12th — 11th — NQ — NQ

I think it’s time to face the fact about OMG — they’re currently in the rebuilding phase. Sure, the core players of their dominant 2018 run — “Xiaohai”, “silentBT” and “Lionkk” are still there, with Lionkk and Xiaohai still usually shooting as good as in the past, but a lot of questionable rotations and a lot of inconsistency have been hitting the team in the recent months. With the new players — “Shmily” and “Aisss” — already signed and playing for the team since Douyu Season 7, OMG is aiming to improve and have a shot to defend their Global Championship in California.

Vici Gaming

Roster : QFFF, Vama, FengMan, 77owo, Milu

2019 Phase 2 Results : 4th — NQ — NQ — NQ — 14th

After finishing 4th in the PCL Spring, Vici Gaming have been on a downslide, falling to make to the finals of the third-party leagues before finishing 14th at the Asia Series ( even with two 10+kill Chicken Dinners ). While the team lead by Zhang “QFFF” Zhu have a roster full of a good fraggers, their aggressive, heavy split-focused playstyle haven’t been working for them recently, and changes may be needed for VG in order to repeat their result from the last season.

Keen Gaming

Roster : r29, Myl, 970, yyangkkk, Ning

2019 Phase 2 Results : 24th — 1st — NQ — 15th

While KG have won the Douyu Season 7 trophy and have made the Week Final four times in the Spring Season, they had scored PCL Points only twice with 8th and 10th place finish, finishing 24th overall, and they’ll need to perform well when it matters to make it to the Playoffs. Keep a eye on their leading fragger, “Myl” and the experienced duo of “r29” and “970”.

Honorable mentions : LinGan E-Sports ( ex- CEGM, 16th in Spring, 7th in Douyu Season 7 ), LYG ( 15th in Spring, 10th in Huya League ), 1124 ( PCL Preseason winners )

Miramar Division — Sharpen your tiger teeth

With five of 10 best teams in PCL Spring, rising teams like RNG, 1246 and iFTY, and a strong rest of the division ( every team finished Spring Season with PCL Points ), Huya’s partnered Miramar Division is shaping up as a bloodbath battle for the spots in Week Finals and Playoffs.

Four Angry Men

Roster : We1less ( GodV ), Cpt, Forever, ZGG01, Xiaojue, 2xing, 5vv, xxxLu ( We1luss )

2019 Phase 2 Results : 6th — 2nd — 10th — 16th

Ok, so let’s put themselves in the position of whoever’s in charge of 4AM — You have a absolutely stacked roster, with a ace of nades and legendary captain in “GodV’, and three monster all-round fraggers in “ZGG01”, “Cpt” and “Forever”, being one of the best fragging teams in a kill-heavy SUPER ruleset, but having a consistency issues that costed them a spot at the MET and a Douyu Season 7 trophy. What do you do to make 4AM finally get a FPP Championship ?

Bring more players to the roster — “Xiaojue” ( who was 4AM benchwarmer in Spring ), “We1luss” ( old JTG_Luuuuuu ; transferred for 850k CNY ) and roster of former B team — MA4.

…Why should I trust in this decision ? 4AM is notorious in signing players like crazy, but it didn’t lead them to the victory in the past, and IMO that wasn’t needed in the first place. Maybe this is the time everything works for GodV and the company, but it can as well end up as another wasted opportunity for them.

Black Ananas

Roster : Dec12th, Joe, zHeee, Pig, Forever

2019 Phase 2 Results : 2nd — 14th — NQ — NQ — 6th

After a great start of PCL Spring Season, making first three week finals and winning in Week 3, Black Ananas results have slowed down, getting only a single 7th place in Week 5 Final, which was enough to defend 2nd place in the Spring standings, and having lackluster performances ahead of Asia Series. But with a 6th place finish at the MET, BA have showed that they can battle amongst the best in the region, with a well-rounded and consistent roster, featuring PCL’s Spring MVP, Wang “Dec12th” Wei at the frontline, and they’ll try to prove it once again in Shanghai.

Triumphant Song Gaming

Roster : Peng_WuQing, Bear_TieShou, 911_LengXue, ODU_ZhuiMing, Lcc_ShenHou

2019 Phase 2 Results : 7th — 4th — 6th — NQ

If PCL Spring was the only tournament played in China for Phase 2, TSG’s 7th place would’ve been considered as a huge fluke, due to them winning a Week 4 Final but not showing well otherwise. But in Douyu Season 7 and WEGL Weibo Cup, TSG have finished in the top 6, showing themselves as a kill-focused team, lead by one of the most promising shooters in China in “Peng_WuQing”, usually racking up a few points from them before dying them before placements points come to play. This is a double-edged sword in PCL system though, as huge single-round scores can skyrocket a team to a Week Final, and TSG may have to pick more of that themselves throughout Summer.

All Gamers

Roster : NGK, NuBi, hongA, Libro, shuiwa, Lsn

2019 Phase 2 Results : 9th — NQ — 4th — NQ

In the PCL Spring, AG have made it to three Week Finals, and finished in top 8 in each of them, but they couldn’t get to the next level and wasn’t in contention for the top ranks. That led to roster changes, with team’s best fragger in Spring in “sp1ce” joining VC Gaming and team’s support in “shuiwa” ending being sent to the bench, players those being replaced by “hongA” from DWG and team’s sub player in “Nubi”. The new roster have shown a sign of promise when they finished 4th at the WEGL Weibo Cup, but Summer Season will be the biggest test so far for new AG.

Royal Never Give Up

Roster : Rain, Loong, tiaotiaohu, shuaishuai, Aak

2019 Phase 2 Results : 32nd ( Relegated ) — NP — 2nd — 6th

The Royal Never Give Up is a odd case — On one side, it’s a team that have finished 2nd in WEGL Weibo and 6th at the Huya League, led by a star-making performance of “Rain” ( 76 games in 48 games ) and looked like they could beat anyone in China on a given day. On the other side however, aside from “Loong” this is the same roster that finished 2nd-to-last in Spring’s Miramar Division and had to go through the PCL Summer Preseason to make it back here. Which side of the RNG will we see in play throughout PCL, only time will tell.

1246

Roster : QAQ, TAT, Ru1n, S1mpfall, Sanmu, dingding

2019 Phase 2 Results : 21st — 8th — 9th -12th

After a lackluster Spring Season, during which 1246 was wandering in the middle of both the PCL and Miramar Division, they’ve been improving their performance and made it to the finals of all third-party events. Two of 1246’s players from their Douyu Season 5 championship run — their IGL and leading fragger in “QAQ” and entry fragger in “TAT” — are still leading the team, now being backed up by a younger blood in “Ru1n”, “S1mpfall” and “Sanmu”, as they’ll battle for another championship title.

Honorable mentions : Amy Spacetime ( 8th in Spring, 5th in Douyu Season 7 ), Infantry Clan ( Huya League winners ), Invictus Gaming ( PCL debut for this major org )

Vikendi Division — A cold day without parity

Similar to the Spring Split, Vikendi Division is the weakest division out of three on paper, and while it’ve improved a bit with teams like FPX and JTG coming from Erangel, they also lost their best team in Spring in Weibo. Nonetheless, it still have two very good teams in the field, and a decent middle-field.

Tianba

Roster : LinShu, T1antian, LuRen, Dongdong, Leyii, Future, Tianqi

2019 Phase 2 Results : 17th — 13th — 1st — 3rd

It took a while for the team based on a former SnakeTC’s core players, “Dongdong” and “T1antian”, to perform well under Tianba’s banner, finishing 17th in the Spring Season before winning WEGL Weibo Cup and making top 3 in Huya League. The game-changer for Tianba there however was “LinShu”, which have shattered everyone in his path ( 104 kills and over 2 kills per game in WEGL and Huya ). If Tianba manages to keep their pace in the Summer, they’ll be one of the main candidates to win it all and book a ticket to the PGC.

Game Team ARK

Roster : Mad98, By, Cobra, Yuren, halo, Manguo

2019 Phase 2 Results : 14th — NQ — NQ — 5th

While Game Team Ark had a good start in the Spring, finishing 7th, 6th and 6th in the first three Week Finals, they haven’t made a single Final in the second half of the league and finished without a spot at the Masters. After that, ARK rebuilded their roster around their franchise player and China’s representative at the Nations Cup in Hong “Mad98” Hechi, and have already shown their promise with a 5th-place finish at Huya League. Summer Split will however be a challenge for ARK, as making it to the Masters will be their primary goal.

Honorable mentions : FunPlus Phoenix X ( 13th in Spring ), Joy Tiger Gaming ( 11th in Spring ), Victory Five ( 8th in Huya League, keep a eye on a “Accerio” ), JTeam ( 2nd in Huya League, 14th in WEGL Weibo ), Edward Gaming ( 5th in WEGL Weibo ).

PUBG Champions League can be watched on the following streaming sites :

Douyu - https://douyu.com/100

Huya - http://huya.com/660004

QQEGame - https://egame.qq.com/605976197

To catch all the games from PCL on demand and most recent standings and stats, check out the official PCL site - http://cn.pubgesports.com