Natus Vincere and 17 Gaming cracked the point earning code at PUBG’s PGC 2022 Championship. It seems passive play and kill stealing is the winning formula at this event. Will this trend continue into the Grand Finals?
The PUBG Global Championship (PGC) 2022 is happening from Nov. 1 to 20 with 32 of the world’s best teams competing for the title of world champions and a share of the $2 million prize pool. So far, the Winners Bracket has ended and eight of the 16 grand finalists have been locked in.
PGC 2022 Winners Bracket sees NAVI top the table
The PGC 2022 Winners Bracket was surely a surprising one across the two days, especially for NAVI. The team had the best day one with three back-to-back chicken dinners in the five matches. They also picked up 10 kills in two of these matches which propelled them to the top of the standings table with 71 points, far ahead of any other team.
What is interesting about NAVIs’ approach to each match is how they rotate and backfill positions in a relatively safe manner. They rarely commit to mid circle positions and will almost always engage duels as a third party. Together with 17Gaming they are the kill steal leaders, showcasing their opportunistic style of grinding up points. There is rarely an open-ended duel happening, and its usually Ubah going for these.
We saw some of their play exploited on Day 2 however. They couldn’t replicate their Day 1 performance in a single match on day two and their highest placement was a mere seventh. This allowed other teams to close the gap – especially Daytrade Gaming. The Thai squad was the most consistent team in the winners bracket with seven top-four finishes from 10 matches.
However, even two back-to-back second-place finishes in the penultimate games weren’t enough to close the gap at the top to NAVI. In the end, NAVI finished with 93 points while Daytrade followed just two points behind at 91. Notably, even placing as low as they did each game, NaVi still managed to farm 20 kills here and there and maintain relevance.
Overall standings after PGC 2022 Winners Bracket
The standings and points distribution of the winners bracket is as follows. The top eight teams have qualified for the grand finals while the bottom move on to the Losers Bracket 2.
The unluckiest team in the Winners Bracket was CERBERUS Esports. The team was tied in eighth place with Yaho at 52 points. However, Yaho were able to secure the grand finals spot because of a higher number of placement points. The top eight teams of the PGC 2022 are getting a few days’ gap for their great performance as they move directly to the grand finals of the PGC 2022. It will happen from Nov. 18 to 20.
The road is not over for the other eight teams, though, as they will advance to the Losers Bracket 2, which will take place on Nov. 12 and 13. Here they will be met with the top eight teams of the Losers Bracket 1.
The top four teams from the Losers Bracket 2 will go to the Grand Finals while the bottom 12 will play in the Grand Survival for the final four slots in the Grand Finals. You can catch the action live on the PUBG Esports YouTube channel.