As the summer season of PUBG esports is about to begin, the full list of 16-teams competing in the PUBG Nations Cup has been released, with the United States roster looking set to crush the competition.
With two duos, one from the National PUBG League’s back-to-back champions Tempo Storm and the other coming from top-five finisher Spacestation Gaming, they are the early favorites following the announcement.
Tempo was a dominant force in Phase One of the NPL and managed to clutch out a second straight title, which has led to Mike “Sharky” Gariti and Logan “Zanpah” Heckman headling team USA. Ian “Bahawaka” Crowe and Keane “Valliate” Alonso coming in from Spacestation adds some nice players that will compliment how the Tempo duo play.
Not only that, but Ghost Gaming’s Michael “Jabroni” Cecere is stepping in to coach the team, bringing more experience from the top level of PUBG to the already stacked squad.
Canada also has a really strong roster, putting together other top talents from the NPL. Luke “Meluke” Laing and Thierry “Kaymind” Kaltenback come from Tempo and Cloud9, the top two teams in North America. That pairing alone is going to make them a must-watch, but they also brought in Mehmood “Moody” Askar from Team Envy and Ghost’s Cedrik “DrasseL” Lessard.
With both NA teams looking stacked, the real question is what teams from overseas will step up with their own pro-league stacks.
Team Russia is interesting, pulling a mix of players from the PUBG Europe League that aren’t quite top talent. Of course, they are limited to players from their region, but they are relying heavily on some Natus Vincere players.
The most interesting team from the EU is the United Kingdom squad, which has a duo from Ninjas in Pyjamas in Justin “MiracU” McNally and Alex “vard” Gouge that can hard carry them if it comes to it. Michael “MykLe” Wake is an interesting addition from Team SoloMid that could help the team roll if things play out well early on.
South Korea’s team is the one team that might be up there with Team USA to kick this thing off. Cha “Pio” Seung Hoon and Park “Loki” Jung-young are an incredible duo from the PUBG Korea League that helped Gen G win it all in Phase Two. Along with their coach, Seong “WatchinU” Hu Bae, a few other talented players, and the home-field advantage, this could become an intense battle from the start.
Along with all of the teams mentioned above, Argentina, China, and Thailand all have very interesting rosters that could make some noise in the opening rounds.
A full list of teams and players is available on the event’s Liquidpedia page.
In addition to the roster reveal, PUBG Corporation also announced that a commemorative in-game skin for the frying pan item called the PUBG Nations Cup Pan will also be released. The limited-edition pan featuring the Nations Cup logo will be available for purchase for $9.99 from July 31 through Aug. 14.
The PUBG Nations Cup will be held at Jangchung Arena in Seoul, South Korea from Aug. 9 to 11, with the winning team taking home the lion’s share of the $500,000 prize pool. Match times and a full schedule will be released in the coming weeks.
