PUBG Nations Cup 2022 Preview
Three years after capturing the hearts of PUBG Esports fans with what is still considered as arguably the best LAN global tournament to date, PUBG Nations Cup is coming back for its second-ever iteration.
Over the weekend of June 16–19, 16 of the top nations are heading to TRUE ICON Hall in Bangkok, Thailand for the first major event with an on-site crowd since the end of 2019 and to play over 20 matches (5 per match day) under SUPER point rule format for their nation’s pride and a lion share of the 500,000 USD + 30% of PNC in-game skins crowdfunding prize pool.
With that being said, let’s take a look at sixteen teams that will be fighting tooth and nail for the 2022 PUBG Nations Cup trophy.
Argentina
Roster: mArtins4n, AleeRv, SzylzEN, f1sherr
Coach: PIPAA
We’re starting the participant list for PNC with one of LATAM’s two power nations in Argentina. Their squad provides an interesting mix of experience, coming from alleRv and SzylzEN — which will lead their team in-game like in their 9th-place run during 2019 PNC — and potential fragging explosiveness of f1sherr and mArtins4n, both making their global event debut and looking to improve Argentina’s result from the previous Nations Cup.
Australia
Roster: TGLTN, Luke12, Fludd, monty
Coach: Insight
Thankfully, Krafton didn’t “forgot” that the Land Down Under exists like they did before PGI last year, because Australia really REALLY wants to avenge their 14th place finish in PNC 2019 and has assigned an impactful squad to do so. Leading the way in Bangkok will be two returning names from the 2019 roster — Luke12, who will be the team’s in-game leader on top of his usual fragging abilities, and IGL-turned-coach for PNC in Insight. Completing the roster for PNC 2022 is TGLTN, whose outright domination on the Americas servers needs no introduction, a totally 14-year-old prodigy in Fludd and monty, who is coming off arguably the best single event performance of his career so far in PCS6 APAC. With a stacked roster like that, Team Australia has a chance to repeat what their countrymen did just a month ago in another battle royale game and get the premier title for their region.
Brazil
Roster: Sparkingg, Haven, vhz, lfp1
Coach: rbNN1
We had Argentina earlier, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the Nations Cup will also have the stronger LATAM power nation in Brazil being represented as well, and in slight difference to their regional counterparts they’re coming with a completely new team compared to the 2019 run. The biggest and most notable name from players coming is by far Sparkingg — a transcending 20-year talent with fragging skills capable of pushing his team to another level of performance. That however shouldn’t underestimate the rest of the Brazilian team however — vhz, lfp1 and Haven are all strong players coming from a competitive and talent-stacked nation, and they are hungry to prove themselves in their global event debut.
Canada
Roster: Shinboi, Adam, Keenan, f1nna
Coach: Didz
Having all four players that were a part of the bronze medal finish in the inaugural Nations Cup makes repeating this result not easy, but Canada may have enough top talent left to try and make it to the podium once again. They have a quite interesting roster heading to Thailand, blending the in-game knowledge of Didiano brothers (Adam as a player, Didz as team’s head coach) with leadership skills of Dodge’s f1nna and powerful guns in Shinboi and Keenan.
China
Roster: MMing, ZpYan, xxxLu, Aixleft
Coach: Rick
You thought that South Korea’s “Superteam” in 2019 was insane? PCL clearly looked at them ahead of their team selection and decided to somehow one-up them by creating The Juggernaut, because how else can you explain them creating a squad consisting of:
- Zpyan — Arguably the best IGL Fragger in the world since Pio, PGC 2021 Champion, PCL Spring 2022 MVP AND Top Fragger
- MMing — Arguably the best player in the world, PGC 2021 Champion and Finals Top Fragger by a long mile, 2-time PCL MVP and Top Fragger
- Aixleft — the owner, captain and carry of 3-time PCS Asia Champions in PeRo and a 2-time PCS Asia Top Fragger, one of only few players that can be put in one level with MMing
- xiaoLu — one of most consistent and fragging-heavy Support players and a top fragger of PCL Spring 2022 Finals
For this team, the rules are pretty simple — if they don’t win the Nations Cup, it will most likely be considered a failure and end up with 17Gaming and Longskr fans letting their disappointment be known on Weibo and Hupu (Chinese equivalents of Twitter and Reddit).
What do you mean they’re playing online again…
Finland
Roster: mxey, D1gg3r1, curexi, Pag3
Coach: Tiikzu
Just like in 2019, it’s Finland that opens the PNC team list from Europe, and just like back then they’re coming in with quite a stacked roster as it combines the experience from one of European’s OG players in Mxey, synergy from a PGC second-place finishing Heroic duo of curexi and PaG3 and explosiveness from FaZe’s D1gg3r1 into one team. On paper this is a clear contender for at least a top 5 finish, but we all should know by now that it doesn’t mean anything until they prove it on the server, especially considering we’ve been here once before, and that ended horribly for Finland…
Germany
Roster: Myca, PaiinZ, AzzaRR, Zoccer
Coach: ItzzChrizZ
Alright, let’s get some things straight — considering how the things changed on the European PUBG Esports scene since the 2019 PNC, it’s questionable at best that Germany will be once again one of EU’s representatives in the tournament, especially due to none of their players qualifying to the finals of this year’s major EU events (PCS6 Europe, G-Loot Season 5 and PSL Spring Showdown). That however means that the team of Myca, PaiinZ, AzzaRR, Zoccer is coming into the Nations Cup with everything to gain, nothing to lose and not a lot of expectations on their shoulders, and they can just play their best and try to prove everyone wrong on a good day.
Indonesia
Roster: dNial, RDKboss, Kidx, Tedeeyy
Coach: Exagon
The only new nation entering the 2022 Nations Cup, Indonesia has a massive fan following and heritage in the mobile side of PUBG Esports but outside some successes on the SEA scene from Aerowolf and Victim teams in the past, they’ve been a level or two behind the regional powerhouses in Thailand and Vietnam. Their PNC debut, however, is a big opportunity for the team that mixes the experience of RDKboss (ex- Aerowolf T1) and Tedeeyy (ex- Victim Rise) with talents from dNial and Kidx.
Japan
Roster: Poly, runaxp, SHEVA, Kein
Coach: CiNVe
It might’ve been quite a few rough years for Nihon PUBG between the sudden death of the Japan Series, being sent to PWS as a cannon fodder for South Korea, a bunch of their top players and orgs leaving and the nation’s FPS “Child of God” in Dep (Nice!) leaving to Valorant to become Japan’s equivalent of EscA (an FPS national legend in multiple games). Even after all of that however, the Sun always rises to start a new day and Team Japan — consisting of the nation’s top team — Donuts USG — duo of IGL Sheva and fragger Kain plus the tandem of Poly and runaxp from the country’s most successful team in SunSister — will get a chance to improve the 11th-place finish from PNC 2019 and prove that we shouldn’t count Japan out anytime soon.
South Korea
Roster: seoul, LashK, Inonix, Loki
Coach: ssonic
After a selective player process that took into consideration the opinion from pro players, coaches, managers, casters Kim Ji-soo and Shin Jung-Min and AfreecaTV’s PUBG management team, South Korea have selected a new “Superteam” to try and erase the bad memories from COVID era with the region’s first title since PGC 2019.
Two ever-shining stars on the scene, Inonix and Loki, are returning from the 2019 roster, with Inonix retaining his dominant fragging power and Loki moving to a more supportive role in the team. Joining them this time around will be SK’s one of the top shooters in Seoul and arguably the region’s best in-game leader in LashK, both aiming to bounce off from a sub-par performance in PCS6 Asia.
Chinese Taipei/ Taiwan
Roster: Savior, YanLi, oeL, Maorush
Coach: M4
Even as arguably the weakest and least cared of East Asia nations, Chinese Taipei managed to positively surprise everyone quite a few times (just to name a few — them finishing 7th in PNC 2019, ahead of likes of China, Australia, USA and Finland, GEX making the Grand Finals of both PGCs + finishing 7th in 2021, Team Curson in PCS Charity Showdown) and will look to do it once again this time around as well. To no one’s surprise, their roster will be focused around the nation’s best team in GEX as their IGL — fragger duo of Savior and YanLi will be joined by their former teammates in oeL (Leo) and MaoRush (MaoYe).
Thailand
Roster: Nourinz, J4nku2of, PuuChiwz, Ezquelusia
Coach: Chak
Thanks to both the depth of their player pool and Daytrade Gaming players outright dominating the PCS6 APAC, with all of them looking as a viable choice for Team Thailand, the host nation’s pro players and coaches didn’t have an easy job picking their representatives. In the end, Daytrade ends up with two of its players ending up in the PNC roster — 19-year-old Nourinz as a main fragger and 29-year-old PuuChiwz as a support and most likely their IGL. Rounding up their roster will be two heavily experienced players — J4nku2of from Attack All Around and one of Thailand’s OG players in MiTH’s Ezqelusia, which alongside Daytrade players will have one goal set from themselves — get Thailand their first global event medal on their home soil.
Turkey
Roster: Smash, Quetpa, Esqui, xLyron
Coach: Onur
Once again, it is Turkey that will solely represent the MENA region on PUBG Esports’ global stage, on top of them trying to improve from a disappointing 12th place finish in 2019 PNC. The deck may have been stacked against them due to the 2 players per team rule, meaning they can’t just send their best team like they did in 2019, but they’re still heading with a talented roster by picking Quetpa and Smash from BBL Esports and giving xLyron and Esqui a chance to prove themselves in their international debut.
United Kingdom
Roster: vard, fexx, TeaBone, mykLe
Coach: MiracU
The Last Nations Cup around, the United Kingdom came to Seoul looking for a great result, but they disappointed and finished behind everyone not named Finland. This time around, half of the 2019’s player roster — MykLe and vard to be exact — is coming back with a redemption on their mind, and they have quite a pair of stacked colleagues joining them for the battle in Bangkok — Fexx from FaZe and TeaBone from Heroic.
United States
Roster: Sharpshot, Shrimzy, hwinn, Kickstart
Coach: MachineGunner
2019 PNC was a hell of a roller coaster for the United States as they couldn’t find any consistency throughout the tournament before falling apart in the latter half of matches (13 points in the last 8 matches, after winning Match 8 nonetheless) and just barely holding on to a 10th place finish. To avoid yet another humiliation for the NA region, they’ve picked the Soniqs duo of Shrimzy and hwinn to stack up alongside the nation’s MVP of PCS6 Americas in Sharpshot, ever-consistent KickStart and a brain behind the STK/ TSM in MachineGunner.
Vietnam
Roster: Sapauu, Clories, YmCuD, HaiSaki
Coach: DjChip
After a very positive run in Seoul back in 2019, Vietnam will be looking to finish what they just barely missed back then and get the nation’s first global event podium, on their regional rivals’ home territory after Thailand got a 1–2 finish in the most recent PCS APAC nonetheless. Their star fragger and head coach from 2019 in Sapauu and DjChip respectively are coming back for their second crack at the PNC, joined this time around by his explosive teammate from BN United in Clories, Cerberus Esports’s in-game leader in HaiSaki and a consistent support player in YmCuD.
