For the first time in 2024, PUBG will be back on LAN for a global play. For the first time, the world will arrive in Shanghai, China, to crown the next Global Series winner. After a chaos-filled offseason, many newly minted rosters will go up against experienced cores and young, fresh teams with little to lose. Old orgs came back into the scene in hopes of re-establishing themselves before EWC. With the first match beginning Monday at 11:00 GMT on YouTube or Twitch. Now, it is time to take a look at where the teams stand heading into the event. Here is the PGS 3 Tier List!
Title Favorites: NewHappy, Twisted Minds
Twisted Minds have to win a global LAN at some point, right? For the better part of three and a half years, this Twisted Minds core has been the best team in the world in terms of consistently winning and delivering high placements in tournaments. Yet, spyrro left the team this offseason and former NaVi star fragger xmpl joined the team. Now, on TM, xmpl is as dominant as ever, which is a massive boon for the CIS team. With him at the spearhead, they may finally do what everyone has been waiting for.
Meanwhile, NewHappy seems even better than their 2021 PGC-winning roster. The offseason addition of Longskr not only provided the team a 1b to MMing’s 1a, but also one of the best 1vx players in the game. During their PCL Spring grand final win, the duo placed 1st and 3rd in damage dealt, totaling more combined than two of the 16 teams in the final. Alongside them, Nannnnn is one of the best third players in the world and Dec12th is a stable hand to round out the roster. These two teams, by a solid margin, should be the favorites to win PGS 3.
Into The Grand Final: TSM, Soniqs, Team Falcons, Freecs, 17Gaming, CERBERUS Esports
This tier is home to the three North American teams at this event: Soniqs, TSM & Falcons. Soniqs, despite their immense talent, have yet to reach the same heights domestically or internationally since their PGS2 win last August. A roster featuring TGLTN, Kickstart, Shrimzy, hwinn and coached by Gunner is always in the title hunt. In Soniqs’ stead, Team Falcons became North America’s defining team led by stellar play from Snakers. Lastly, there is TSM, which acquired the STK roster. The roster helmed by Purdy went through massive changes over the winter when penta and Adam departed the team. In their place, however, came sparkingg and a returning luke12. The Brazilian fragger and Australian aim god helped this team almost win PAS 3 to qualify for PGS. All three teams will be grand finals teams.
Outside of North America, there are three Asian forces. The Vietnamese kill squad of CERBERUS Esports is the best team in APAC. The only thing standing in their way between them and APAC’s first global title is themselves. If they finally play strong through the entire tournament, they may claim that win.
17Gaming and Freecs, meanwhile, sit on two opposite ends of the spectrum. 17Gaming is a global title-winning force that possesses an immense amount of experience on the global stage. Freecs, meanwhile, are looking to be 2024’s Danawa. Everyone on the roster is 21 or younger, possesses immense fragging talent and won a tightly-contested PWS split. At least one Korean team will make the grand finals, and everyone’s money should be spent on Freecs.
Should Make Grand Final: NaVi, Virtus.Pro, FaZe Clan, Legacy, Weibo, Daytrade Gaming
All of these teams should make the grand finals, though it would not be entirely surprising if one or more of them missed. NaVi turned over their entire roster, sans head coach ALREIN, to implement a fresh, young core. While they have produced strong domestic play, their global inexperience raises enough questions.
FaZe Clan, meanwhile, has all the experience in the world. A LAN is never a LAN without a FaZe Sunday, but even then, FaZe’s roster is past its peak in some ways. A grand finals should be on the cards, but it’s not guaranteed.
Virtus.Pro who acquired the MadBulls roster. This VP roster is another multinational European roster with tons of experience, but not tons of success to show for it. If they can match their PEC run to get to the event, they should be a dangerous threat.
Weibo launched themselves from the mid pack of the PCL to the global stage this spring after adding talented, long-time IGL Shen. With two PGC appearances in the last two years, Shen knows what to do.
DayTrade Gaming has been one of APAC’s defining teams since 2020. They are one of the few APAC teams to appear at every major global and regional tournament during that span. While they are yet to find grand success globally, they are lurking in the shadows.
Lastly, there is Legacy. The Brazilian super team helmed by guizeraa edged out Luna Galaxy to claim a spot for Brazil on the global stage. While this may be a tier too high for them, their talent level and performance are enough to justify their place.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: DPlus, Petrichor Road and Four Angry Men (4AM)
The biggest issue with these three teams is this history of not living up to their potential. Petrichor Road has Aixleft, one of China’s most talented players. Alongside him are Cui71, Ming and one of China’s greatest IGLs, Summer. Yet, Aixleft-led teams have a history of large performance swings. They could be top three in three global events, only to finish outside the grand final two times in a row. That in large part could be due to their kill-heavy playstyle. Even when they have been fighting for titles in recent years, they have had low placement points. During PCL Spring, they had five top-four placements and seven no-placement points games during the 18-game grand final.
4AM, meanwhile, are domestic raid bosses who have struggled internationally since losing two global titles in back-to-back years. Strong domestic performances led to poor grand finals placement, which makes one wonder what the issue is. The introduction of ZpYan1 and HSmm went smoothly last year to get great domestic results, but something is off based on their 6th place finish at PCL Spring. Maybe they finally did worse domestically to do better at PGS 3.
Lastly, the biggest pain for every Korean PUBG fan, is Dplus. Few teams have done so little with so much talent. After a horrible start to their PWS Korea Grand Final, PGC 2023 MVP and new addition Seoul drug the team to a second-place finish and a spot at the next two PGS events. However, his sidekick, kkachi, is underage and unable to compete at the next two PGS LANs. So, Americano will jump off the bench in his stead. This team has the talent to finish in the top eight, but will strange decisions and a lack of kills end up sinking their ship?
What An Unruly Mess You’ve Made: Gen.G, HOWL Esports, eArena
It is simply hard to expect any of these teams to do anything notable at this event. This Pio-less Gen.G core features a mix of young and experienced talent, but they did not live up to the Gen.G legacy during their 13th-place finish in PWS Korea Phase 1 grand final. That was strange, considering they were arguably the best team during the weekly stage of the event. With more stable Korean rosters entering the event, expectations are low for this legacy organization at PGS 3.
HOWL Esports, meanwhile are an atypical Turkish roster. HOWL have two talented players in CodeMarco and RuerN, yet their kill numbers are not exceptionally high. Meanwhile, their placement points are higher than a traditional Turkish team. With the history of Turkish teams on the global stage and the distinct lower-fragging nature, this team’s placement is uncertain.
eArena, meanwhile, sits in a spot similar to Petrichor Road. During the PGS APAC Qualifiers, they were a high-fragging, extremely low placement points team. They had the lowest placement points among the top eight in that event. An APAC team must have the talent of DayTrade or Cerberus to be sustainable globally. Unfortunately, that is the case here.
Fresh Faces: BLEED, Armory Gaming, Valee Thai Esports, GNL Esports
None of these teams are necessarily bad, but it is too early to judge any of them due to their experience level. It is simply hard to predict what they will do. BLEED turned a Challenger Rumble win this past October into two PGS events to start 2024, while Armory Gaming returns to the global stage for the first time since PGC 2019 with a roster of fresh faces. Valee Thai Esports, meanwhile, took people from across Thailand and beat out established rosters like Team Bliss and The Expendables.
Meanwhile, GNL Esports shocked Korea and landed themselves on the global stage largely behind stellar play from their young guns ROY and Stella. Alongside other homegrown talents Nyeong and HAMMER, they are a core still on the rise. A PGS 3 grand final appearance would not be a total surprise for the youngsters, but it is hard to say at this point.
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