Match 1 - Erangle
The first match since NPL’s chaotic “roster royale” offered plenty of interesting story lines. We were shown likely the best case scenario for a roster adjustment as Team Envy won the opening match and set a new record for kills in a round. It’s safe to say, the team was ecstatic with how well ‘Moody’ fit into their game plan. It comes as no surprise that the team they were going to have to go through for the victory was none other than Tempo Storm. Who, as we all know has a stranglehold on the current NPL standings. But it was Team Envy’s match as they were able to maintain the high ground and finish off Tempo for the massive 32 point victory. A quick update of the leaderboard showed that the team had just catapulted themselves from 4th to 2nd in the matter of one round. It will be exciting to see if Moody was all the team needed to take on the other top teams.
Match 2 - Mirmar
I’d bet most players don’t LOVE final circles in “Crater Fields”, but that’s exactly where Match Two took us. In a collective sigh of relief the lobby witnessed Tempo Storm get eliminated in 16th. We saw better rounds from both Ghost Gaming and Why Tempt Fate, as they each made it into a Top 5 placement. Wildcard Gaming also put together an impressive round placing second with six kills for 12 points redeeming their 15th place first round. But, the biggest take away from this match was Team Envy securing back-to-back chicken dinners with 11 kills and 21 more points. The thought of a team catching and possibly surpassing Tempo Storm before these two matches was a bit far fetched. The day started with a 50 point gap between them and second place team Cloud 9. But after this back-to-back wins, Tempo Storm being the first eliminated, we could very well be looking at Team Envy atop the leaderboard if they’re able to keep this pace. The question everyone’s wondering, is this is a “Eureka!” moment, or are we watching the short-lived adrenaline rush of a newly wed team yet to experience any bumps in the road. And in the PUBG Esport world, those bumps are without a doubt coming.
Match 3 - Mirmar
It was a North-Eastern opening circle, primarily favoring Ghost, Shoot To Kill, and Oxymoron. Most teams quickly progressed through their looting phase in a rush to secure positioning inside our first zone. Noble’s ‘Fudge’ was the unlucky player caught early in the open, but apart from that everyone was still standing as the second zone popped. It was another northern shift with the Water Treatment area still in play, Shoot To Kill was the biggest beneficiary of this shift as most teams were forced to load up and rotate towards the north. In a night that’s been focused on Team Envy, they tanked the blue and rotated undisturbed towards El Azahar, before watching the zone shift away to the West for phase three. Perhaps protecting their lead, Tempo Storm didn’t love the thought of fighting Team Envy outside of the zone. Our new top two teams collided when Tempo Storm was surprised by Team Envy as they eliminated ‘Sharky’. They moved in and took a compound to defend as teams crashed into the phase four zone. With 16 teams and 61 players still up, it was an absolute blood bath as teams sought out cover in the new zone. Cloud 9 found themselves dead center of zone six surrounded by STK, Noble, and Wildcard. Shoot To Kill landed two seperate nades wiping out both Smokin Aces and Cloud 9, before focusing on lone Noble survivor, ‘Boom’. Setting us up for a “3 v 2” between Shoot To Kill and Wildcard Gaming. Shoot To Kill got the first knock shifting the engagement largely in their favor as they pushed three strong to finish off Wildcard and claim the victory with 13 kills. It was a match that Shoot To Kill excellently navigated to claim 25 points adding to their slew of solid Mirmar rounds. Honorable mention to Wildcard Gaming with another second place finish, they’re very good at getting themselves into late game zones, they just need to clutch one of these rounds out!
Match 4 - Erangle
Wildcard Gaming was able to capitalize on their commanding weekend during Match 4, reeling in a ten kill-first place victory to wrap up the day. After landing in Mylta Power, it doesn’t hurt that the final zone ended in the Mylta/Lumber Yard region. Taking advantage of the positioning Wildcard was able to fend off both Tempo Storm and Cloud 9 on the east side of the zone while eUnited and Team Envy were busy on the opposite side. As the zone collapsed the majority of the zone consisted of solo players, benefiting Wildcard who was able to stay three strong throughout their engagements. Nevertheless the team continued their solid play putting together 10 kills and setting themselves up nicely on the overall leaderboard. Apart from their first match of the day, when the team exited in 15th, they were able to place 2nd, 2nd, and 1st in the remaining three matches. This was exactly what Wildcard needed heading into the weekend, for a team that seems to always be involved towards end-game but are unable to finish it out with a win. It’s their first chicken dinner since week one of NPL, so It’s great to seem them rewarded after two very strong rounds prior.
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