Weekly Final #5 delivered the most exciting weekend of PGI.S thus far, with a leaderboard that left numerous teams separated by just a few points. The battle to place within the top four intensified as teams fought to secure a share of Week Five’s massive prize pool, which would ultimately award the first-place team with over $800,000 USD. Teams were playing to win, and the smallest decisions would turn out to have major implications once the dust settled.
The final standings appear to favor the teams who found success on Day Two, with the highest-placed Day One winner finishing in seventh. Part of this was due to the incredibly close leaderboard, which sent three of our Day Two winners up into the top five as the tournament wrapped up. For each amazing comeback performance, we witnessed this week, there’s an equally heartbreaking moment for one of the other teams.
Late-game heroics from a few teams would prove to be the difference-maker during Week Five. Outstanding performances down the stretch from Meta Gaming and Digital Athletics earned each team their fair share of the staggering prize pool.
After a slow but steady start to their final, Gen.G was able to defend their first-place standing through a chaotic final match that will be remembered as an instant classic. As teams were eliminated, others jump ahead, leaving Gen.G atop the leaderboard with a simple goal, don’t go out early. Thankfully for the team, their fans, and everyone else with a Pick Em’ coupon with their name written on it, Gen.G managed to defend their first-place spot and take home the largest paycheck of the event so far.
Despite the team not winning a match during the Bo10 tournament, Gen.G regularly found the late game with a handful of kills to support their point total. We’re going to take a look at a few of the incredible highlights from this past weekend, but don’t forget that everything is cranked up another level next week when PGI.S comes to a close.
HITTING THEIR STRIDE AT THE PERFECT TIME
Gen.G had an impressive ten-match series this past weekend, who managed to claim first place without winning a single Chicken Dinner. The team’s slow start began picking up as the final progressed and would ultimately lead to back-to-back second-place finishes with more than five kills in each. Consistent play without one massive point match would be the team’s recipe for success during Week Five.
During Match 3, the team eliminated Digital Athletics in an orchestrated and cleanly executed barrage just South of Rozhok. Primed grenades and a couple of final shots from Esther would be enough as Gen.G sent DA back to the lobby.
After watching his team get picked apart on the outskirts of the play zone, Pio managed to escape as the team’s lone survivor with the hope of salvaging an early exit from Match 9. Snaking his way into the late game, Pio found himself only a couple of meters behind three members of T1. Landing a knock on one or two wouldn’t have been a challenge for Pio. However, the likelihood of him knocking all three and securing flushes for points was not too high. So, he made the wise decision of allowing T1 to fight Meta Gaming, and when the timing was right, he would spring into action and capitalize on the other two teams’ conflict.
After T1 and Meta began to exchange fire, Pio was briefly spotted by WICK2D. His cover was blown but he wasn’t eliminated. The moment Meta Gaming fell to T1, Pio finally revealed his position directly behind T1. Jumping to his feet, Pio was able to land a swift knock onto Aqua5. He transferred his shot onto the final member of T1 but would be unable to secure the final kill.
This was one example of Pio’s brilliance and was put on display for the world of PUBG Esports to appreciate. He was just one bullet away from pulling off one of the greatest solo-player clutches in the esports’ history. Nevertheless, this game kept Gen.G atop the leaderboard and provided the team with vital points in a match that would have otherwise been lost.
Gen.G went on to finish on top and take home the massive first-place prize of an estimated $816,897.00 USD (including crowd funding). Heading into the sixth and final week of PGI.S, Gen.G is extremely close to becoming our event champions. They need a top-two placement in Weekly Final #6 to guarantee their title.
ACHIEVING THEIR POTENTIAL AND CASHING IN
Meta Gaming has been one of the teams we’ve been waiting to have their signature weekend performance. After a couple of trips to the Bottom 16, Meta made their appearance in the Weekly Final count with an impressive second-place finish behind Gen.G. The team played four great matches to close out the tournament which included two top-three placements and two matches with twelve kills respectfully.
Their push to climb up the leaderboard led to the tenth and final match where Meta Gaming entered ninth-place. Due to how tight the standings were, the team was actually only four points outside of the top four, but there was a lobby of teams within reach that had the same goal in mind.
As teams began to clash on Everest, Meta Gaming’s WICK2D made the play of the match when he practically eliminated Virtus.pro all by himself. Not only did he earn his team valuable points and help defend their position in the zone, but he also wiped one of the four teams that sat higher in the standings who were also fighting for a top-four position.
Not long after the impressive play from WICK2D, two more members of Meta Gaming left their mark on this memorable match. Sparkingg and SzylzEN would work together to eliminate Infantry, another team above them in the standings. After numerous knocks, Meta Gaming would come out of this fight on top and add to their incredible final match outing.
Once the match ended, Meta Gaming would find themselves sitting in second place overall, with a decent amount of hard earned prize money coming their way.
DIGITAL ATHLETICS SNEAK INTO TOP-FOUR
Following up the team’s second-place finish in last weekend’s final, Digital Athletics achieved similar success with their run up the standings in the last game. DA began the PUBG Global Invitational.S with a couple of trips to the Bottom 16 but finally looked like themselves last weekend when they place second in the Weekly Final.
At the 23-minute mark during the final match of Weekly Final #5, Digital Athletics was sitting in eleventh place with zero kills and only had three players standing. At that point, there were still eleven teams alive fighting for the best placement possible. Over the next six minutes, Digital Athletics began collecting kills and inching closer and closer to a top-four standing.
It’s impossible to imagine the players in-game could have known this, but because Tianba died to Digital Athletics rather than the blue zone, Tianba helped DA to remove them from their top-four standing. Which paid out $75,000 USD (without crowdfunding) to the third and fourth place teams.
TIANBA’S SILVER LINING OF WEEK FIVE
Aside from the team’s unfortunate ending to Weekly Final #5, Tianba played well throughout the weekend. Even with one zero-point match tossed in, Tianba found the top-three in three matches, including a nine-kill Chicken Dinner to reinforce their position. If they’re able to take anything away from the team’s heartbreaking finish, it’s that the team is playing great at the point of the tournament that truly matters. Assuming they find a Chicken Dinner and advance into Weekly Final #6 – I believe Tianba is another excellent pick to place within the top four.
As Day One concluded, mingz found Petrichor Road on rotation and took care of the rest. A spray onto one moving enemy and two up-close and personal, mingz collected the points and eliminated PR with ease.