The world watched as the final day of the PUBG Global Championship gave rise to a new battle royale esports champion, PKL’s Gen.G!
Champion’s Journey
Gen.G’s path to PGC victory was by no means a straight line as we watched them evolve into a champion team before our eyes. The Gen.G we saw in Manhattan Beach for the Group Stage and Semifinals is a far cry from the team that showed up to Oakland. They were able to work their way through those early rounds well enough, but they were not where fans expected them to be. Gen.G came to Oakland far more decisive and aggressive. Once they found their feet, their star player and slaying juggernaut Pio was able to come alive with big kill sprees and a strong flank game to give his team that extra edge.
Gen.G never secured a Chicken Dinner on Day 2 of the Grand Finals, but they effectively nursed the lead they established on Day 1 to get the job done. That and a ferocious 10 kills on the last map of the day to overcome a two point deficit was all Gen.G would need to overpower 4AM.
Match Winners
Match 1 (Miramar) – FaZe Clan
Match 2 (Miramar) – Na’Vi
Match 3 (Miramar) – 4AM
Match 4 (Sanhok) – VC Gaming
Match 5 (Erangel) – 4AM
Match 6 (Erangel) – Na’Vi
Miramar Madness
When it comes to the Grand Finals, no ordinary format would do. The final day of PGC 2019 had players starting out with three matches on Miramar, finishing with two on Erangel, with a Sanhok game in between. Typically Miramar is a strong NPL map, however today it was PEL’s Na’Vi and Faze Clan who took the first two wins. Genesis made a valiant effort to take Match 3, but 4AM’s Forever managed to take it in a 2-v-1 prone showdown.
In It For The Long Haul
A big pattern for the final day of PGC was teams not going down until late in the match. Much like being the first to fall asleep at a sleepover, if you go down too soon, you miss all the good stuff. Getting knocked out early was not an option if teams wanted those points. That meant teeny tiny circles with LOTS of bodies and lots of action.
This pushed teams in terms of multitasking skills as more often than not, there were three if not more parties involved in firefights. Casters were working overtime keeping up with all the high stakes battles.
When it was all said and done and sorted, however, Gen.G went wire-to-wire in the Grand Finals, save a brief scare from PCL’s Four Angry Men, and left no doubt about their championship pedigree. They’re the winners of $2M USD in prize money, thanks to the PGC crowdfunding programs, and Gen.G stand undisputed as the last survivors of PUBG Esports in 2019.
