Coming off their win at the 2017 Gamescom PUBG Invitational, the team from Luminosity Gaming has to be the favorites going into this weekend’s tournament at IEM Oakland. In a game like PUBG, where so many random factors influence the outcome, picking a favorite seems like somewhat of a daunting task. This is where the type of scoring PUBG uses comes into effect. Teams earn points based not only on their finishing placement in each round, but also how many kills each player on the team secures throughout the round. The tournament at IEM will be played over the course of 8 separate matches. This format rewards two things higher than any other, aggression and consistency. Camping the edge of the safezone, a semi popular and successful strategy in matchmade games, pays off with much less score even if a win is secured than the amount of points a team would earn by taking out several teams and finishing in third, for example. This scoring convention synergizes with the playstyle of Luminosity as a team and each individual player.

Luminosity has 4 of the best PUBG players around, starting with arguably the most recognizable player at the tournament, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. Ninja’s success as a pro gamer spans many Halo titles, H1Z1 and the aforementioned PUBG victory at Gamescom 2017. Ninja has an aggressive but calculated playstyle that fits well into the battle royale genre of games. This aggression mixed with a deep understanding of positioning during fights, and an extremely high level of gun skill makes Ninja one of the best players in PUBG and a formidable opponent in any gunfight.

The aggression and teamfighting skills are shared amongst the other players on Luminosity as well. Hogne “Chipzy” Krogsaether, Justin “JP2” Pate and Cedrik “DrasseL” round out the PUBG roster and in addition to the Gamescom victory, have a second place finish in H1Z1 at the H1Z1 Elite Series Atlanta. With recent success in H1Z1 and the victory at Gamescom a finish outside of the top 3 would surely be disappointing for the Luminosity squad and victory has to be what they are aiming for. The synergy the team has shown across both titles will be a great asset to the team over the many matches to be held at IEM.

The highest risk, highest reward element in PUBG is early aggression. Picking one too many fights early in the game will surely result in the team at least losing some members if not being taken down entirely. Without proper loot and knowledge of where enemy teams are, picking early fights can deplete ammo and announce the team’s position to nearby enemies. Successful team's will plan early skirmishes carefully and aim to eliminate the enemy team as efficiently as possible in order to quickly loot and move on. Look for Luminosity to apply a similar strategy and only take fights when properly equipped to do so. Fighting with proper timing and efficiency is a key element of a successful round of competitive PUBG and with 8 scored matches this time around, every match matters.

Acquiring the proper spread of weapons, accessories, and health recovery items in another semi random but crucial element to success. Most teams look to outfit themselves with at least one assault rifle per teammate and incorporate at least one sniper rifle into the kit. A sniper rifle with an 8x scope in the hands of an adept player can be the difference maker that takes a team to victory. Any player on Luminosity would be well suited for sniper duty, and if two snipers can be acquired the team will be that much more deadly in engagements.

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With such a small amount of competitive history in PUBG, look for a metagame to develop over the first day of competition that will set the standard for the following rounds and potentially future tournaments. At the end of day 1, the top teams will most likely have shown specific strategies to be successful and day 2 will result in those strategies becoming the norm. Getting out to a hot start and securing a top 3 placement after day 1 will set teams up with a clear path to victory in day 2. A key concept again here is going to be adaptation, not only from match to match, but from day to day as the lower placing teams look to emulate to top strategies. Being ahead of the curve on the typical strategies can put a team at an advantage just off the lack of predictability. Repeating the same strategy round after round will prove to be futile unless the other teams at the tournament fail to adapt. The top teams will be the teams that can balance the right amount of aggression and adapt to the changing map the quickest. Expect Luminosity to be one of those teams.

The 8 match structure rewards consistency at a higher rate than the three rounds played during Gamescom and this format plays into Luminosity’s identity even greater. If a team is able to consistently place above 5th and amass a decent number of kills victory would be within reach. Team synergy, the ability to adapt to the changing play area and looting efficiently are the “x factors” of the game and ultimately determine how far a team will be able to go in the match. Gun skill and aggression can only get a team so far if they aren’t equipped to make it to the end game. Look for Luminosity to land aggressively, loot efficiently and take calculated fights as they progress through the map and try for victory.

The amount of randomness can at times make it hard to evaluate who the best team really is, but with the sample size of 8 games, IEM Oakland should give a strong indication of the top teams in PUBG and expect to see Luminosity on top of that list at the conclusion of the weekend.

Photo Courtesy of ESL

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