PUBG Nations Cup Predictions: Will China Be Victorious?

After a long three years, the PUBG Nations Cup is finally back! From all corners of the globe, fifteen teams composed of their nation’s best players will take to True Icon Hall in Bangkok, Thailand. The sixteenth team, Team China, will compete remotely from Guangzhou, China due to travel issues. This will also be the first PUBG event with a live crowd since PGC 2019. This is a massive occasion for the game the fans and players love to play and watch. During such a big weekend, lots of things can happen. Here is a look at TGH’s official predictions for the 2022 PUBG Nations Cup.

Australia, Finland and China Will Finish Top Five

Heading into the PUBG Nations Cup Australia, Finland and China are the clear top three teams. Australia and China both have players in conversation for being the best player in the world, TGLTN and Aixleft respectfully. Both teams have likely the best-supporting casts in the tournament. Outside of Aixleft, China has two members of the reigning PGC champion NewHappy roster and legendary 4AM member xxxLu. To match China, Australia brought Team Bliss’ Monty along with Eunited’s Fludd and Luminosity’s luke12. Both rosters are stacked.

That is not meant to discount Team Finland though. While China and Australia have the overt super teams, Finland brought four feisty Finns to rebound from their sixteenth place finish in 2019. Pag3 and curexi play on the dominant Heroic roster who were the runners-up at PGC 2022. Alongside them, Team Liquid’s Mxey and the uber-consistent D1gg31 from FaZe Clan. Finland may lack the pop, but they bring the fight.

This is all to say that, while other teams have great rosters, these three seem destined to be the top contenders for the title. While they may not finish in the top three, they should all finish in the top five barring some disaster scenario. 

Australia’s TGLTN Leads the Tournament In Total Damage

Over the past few years, few players could be called the best player in the world. With Pio’s soft “retirement” ahead of his military service, the title of best player in the world is up for grabs. The two players that come to mind in that conversation are Australia’s TGLTN and China’s Aixleft. Both are insanely talented people, but one must wear the crown of dealing the most damage. In the end, that title will belong to TGLTN.

The mechanical god from the land down under is the king of dealing damage. At PGI.S, he dealt the third most damage, 70 damage behind luke12 in that tournament. In every PCS event, he has been multiple thousands of damage ahead of the next closest person. His worst major tournament in recent history was ESL Masters Phase One of this year where he finished fourth in damage with 8986.6. The fact that that is a bad day is absurd. If TGLTN on a bad weekend can finish fourth in damage, TGLTN on an ok weekend will deal the most damage. Aixleft will be right behind him though.

China’s Aixleft Leads The Tournament In Kills

The other side of the best player conversation leads to China’s Aixleft. As the main carry on Petrichor Road the last few years, he is the most consistently dominant player in Asia. He will lurk around the top of the statistical leaderboards during PCL, but PCL results mean almost nothing come PCS Asia events. During PCS tournaments, he has been nothing short of the best player in Asia. Petrichor Road had a dreadful first week of PCS6, yet he rebounded in the second week and ended the tournament with the most kills and damage of any player. 

With the breadth of talent on the Team China roster, it seems like a fallacy to predict one of their players to lead the tournament in kills. In the end, Aixleft will continue to prove to the world why he is arguably the best player in the world by leading the tournament in kills. Similar to damage though, TGLTN will be lurking.

Thailand Disappoints On Home Soil

I’m sorry Thai fans, I just do not see it. Despite the home crowd buff being in place, the Team Thailand roster feels primed to disappoint. Yes, Daytrade Gaming’s Nourinz is on the roster. He was one of the two best players during PCS6 APAC. Yet, when it comes time to fill out the roster, the decisions are questionable at best. 

The original roster included DayTrade Gaming’s PuuChiwz before he was replaced by his teammate Belmoth after a positive COVID test. Both players were chosen over the second-best player during PCS6 APAC, their teammate Flash. This roster could have had the two best players and they opted not to. Ezqelusia was by far the worst player on the Made in Thailand roster that finished 8th during PCS6. J4nku2of’s selection was fine, but Jayers or Gems would have been a better selection. If one were to look at his statistical history, J4nku2of has some kill merchant traits to his game. While he has great kill numbers, his damage numbers simply do not match the number of kills. This could leave the team susceptible if he does not collect kills.

Despite the peak talent of this roster, there is simply no way they match their sixth-place finish from PNC 2019. That will be seen as a disappointment to some people. In reality, that should be the expectation.

China Does Not Win PNC 2022

This is the hottest prediction of them all. Everything is set up for China to win. Not only does the Chinese team not have to leave China because of travel issues, but the players have access to their PNC setups all week. The teams that traveled to Thailand though do not have access to the computers until the day before the tournament according to players. This is a blatant competitive advantage for China that is being allowed. All that being said, the prediction is they will not win PNC.

The reason is quite simple; the quality of the top of this lobby is so high that any mistakes they make will be epically punished. Yes, their talent level is immense. Yes, they are in a more comfortable environment. The difference is these are not pre-existing teams though, these are pseudo-PUG teams. Despite China historically playing scrappy, this type of lobby is a whole new level of scrappy. Team Turkey or Thailand will send it on top of them without a second thought likely. Australia, Finland, the USA and the UK have talent and relative chemistry to fight on even footing with them. Even the midpack teams like Brazil and Canada have players like Shnboi and Sparkingg who are mad-man fraggers. In a best of China versus the field to win PNC, the pick is the field.

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