With the PEC: Spring Finals on the horizon, we’ve enlisted the help of all-round PUBG expert Marten “Avnqr” Gøth to give you the lowdown on all sixteen teams, who’ll be competing for a share of $100,000 along with PGC Points and PGS Slots from March 24 - 26.
Without further ado, here’s Avnqr’s thoughts on the PEC: Spring Grand Finals teams:
The favorites
Natus Vincere
The defending world champions brought back Ubah in the middle of 2022 and took home the PGC trophy last November! After somewhat of a slumber in PCS7, they’re coming in strong for 2023 - starting with a walk in the park Playoffs Stage, with xmpl performing within expectations being considered one of the best players in the world. Mell also put on an outstanding performance, ending on the same amount of kills as xmpl. They finished top 3 with 94 points in 12 games. A lot of expectations from the scene for them to do well this year.
Twisted Minds
One of the most consistent rosters in EMEA with megamind BatulinS calling the shots. The squad is well known for performing better the deeper they get into tournaments, and it was the same case during the PEC: Spring Playoffs Upper Bracket - where they got 62 of their 85 points during Day 2. Being one of the GPT (Global Partner Teams), they are invited straight to PGS1 - but just like everyone else, they need to gather PGC points from the 3 regional tournaments this year and they are expected to have a strong start from the get go!
FaZe Clan
Fexx and Gustav found themselves with 2 new teammates this year as we saw FaZe Clan make huge changes removing Aitzy and D1gg3r1 while adding Jeemzz and Curexi. They had some strong games and we saw some amazing plays made by Gustav in Rozhok. They have so much shotcalling experience and mechanical skill on the team. On paper this lineup has exceptional potential, the question is - are we going to see it unleashed for the Grand Finals?
FUT Esports
Another revamped roster with ex-Heroic players TeaBone and Beami being joined by vard and Aitzy. During the Playoffs, vard started out the tournament by proving why he is considered one of the most skilled individuals in PUBG with the most individual frags (22) and most damage dealt (5338). We saw FUT Esports blast through the Playoffs Upper Bracket in first place - while they didn’t pick up any Chicken Dinners, their points from frags and top placements were enough to see them take the top spot.
If they continue the same style of play - and also close out a few chicken dinners - they will undoubtedly be one of the contenders for the top spots!
Question Mark
The PCS7 champions are back to show all of us how it's done again!
ADOUZ1E and his team have done it before and they showed us in the Playoffs Upper Bracket that they are ready to do so again. The young talent f1lfirst having 19 kills shows us his upward trajectory from last year is going to continue.
The middle of the pack
The Woo
The Woo are one of the few teams that people expected to easily go through the Upper Bracket - and it really showed in their performance. They closed out a chicken dinner early and had a consistent and steady performance to secure them a spot in the Grand Finals. One of the first teams in the middle of the pack as they have yet to show us a top 5 performance.
BBL Esports
Another new roster where we see ex-Fellas players mykLe and Rustanmar joining forces with Clib and Smash. Missing out on Grand Finals qualification in the Upper Bracket, they had to go through the Lower Bracket where we saw them dominate quite heavily ending their total points on 111 points in 3 games. They have stated themselves there's still a few issues with communication as accents internally in the team are vastly different, but if they get it ironed out before the grand final we could easily see them in the top 8!
Digital Athletics
Our first full MEA team with a powerhouse of a roster consisting of Iroh, Mert, Codemarco and Mitraleius. They clutched their way through to PEC: Spring Grand finals with 2 massive games in which they gained almost half of their total points. There's big expectations - especially from fans - for Digital Athletics to do well, and with the experience that the roster has gathered through the years (both regionally and internationally), there's no doubt we will see them as a contender to go all the way to PGC in 2023
HOWL
Our Lower Bracket first place goes to another full MEA roster that we saw dominate - getting a total of 122 points in just 12 games. Two of the top four individual players in the Lower Bracket were HOWL players, with TheMad and LAHZA ending 3rd and 4th in total kills. Scof1eld and RuerN both ended on double digit kills as well making HOWL the only team with all 4 members to have more than 1 kill per game on an average.
Exalt
Making their way through the Lower Bracket in good form, we saw Molodoct be the top fragger with an outrageous 32 kills in 12 games - almost reaching an average of three kills per game! The team has played together for a while, and they ended in 10th place in PCS7 last year.
If they can get the young fragger Feyerist going from day one they could definitely be a top 8 team in PEC: Spring Grand finals.
Polish Power
PolishPower may have lost their young star fragger k4pii at the start of the year - but in his place, they ended up with one of the most experienced players in PUBG - Fuzzface.
A rocky road through the RO16 puts them in the middle of the pack, as we are yet to see them perform against the best in EMEA. They dominated the Lower Bracket and amassed a total of three wins on the last day in just four games ending them on 107 total points and 3rd overall. The team has proven they can perform when it matters, so let’s see if they can preserve their momentum for the Grand Finals!
The dark horses
ACEND
The German speaking lineup are back this year, having added mastermind Kowo as a coach in hopes of pushing into the upper echelon of EMEA PUBG.
They clutched the very last game in the Playoffs Upper Bracket, clinching the last qualification spot for the Grand Finals in 8th place with 80 points.
If everything comes to fruition and the players hit the individual level we have seen them perform at before, they could easily get top five - like we saw them do in PCS7!
DiNG
We saw ceh9 lead DiNG through the lower bracket with the same meta playstyle as we saw him play way back when - a slow, clever approach to an edge-heavy play style. Although we only saw one top four placement for them, they managed to get the amount of frags needed to qualify to the PEC: Spring Grand Finals. If we see a lot of hard shifts and the circles are with them, we could see them pull off a good performance as they are masterfully always sweeping the edge.
FullTilt
A new roster that we see competing at the top level for the first time in EMEA. All the players ended above 10 kills total for the 12 games they played in the lower bracket which was impressive. They caught two Chicken Dinners in three games in the middle of the tournament, which put them into a comfortable spot to qualify for the Grand Final. In order to pull off a good placement in the Grand Final, they’ll need to be quicker on their rotations and more decisive on their macro game play as the top teams will take more space and be more aggressive than the teams they are used to playing against.
mForce
Even though mForce won a game in the Upper Bracket, they did not have an otherwise outstanding performance there. We need to see them on the ball from the first game and be steadfast on getting more frags otherwise the points will simply not go their way.
In the Lower Bracket we saw them play better versus - and consistent top placements followed. The fans supporting these players will surely hope to see them pull off more Chicken Dinners once we get to see them play in the Grand Finals!
Sarvem Esports
We saw Globalarmy gather 17 frags in the Upper Bracket, but it wasn't enough to qualify to the Grand Finals so they had to fight their way through the Lower Bracket. A large number of top five placements secured them just enough points to be the last team to qualify to the grand finals from the Lower Bracket. For Sarvem to get to the top eight, we need to see them win games and continue the strong form in terms of frags that we saw them pull off in the Upper Bracket.
Did you agree with Avnqr’s picks? Find out which team will be crowned the Champions of EMEA, by tuning in to the PEC: Spring Grand Finals from March 24 - 26 via Twitch and YouTube!
A special thanks to Avnqr for contributing to this article.
See you on the Battlegrounds!