A look at the PUBG S8 qualifiers

Kanaliiga's eighth PUBG season has started quickly, as the qualifiers for all series levels have now been completed. This season included a record number of teams, 65, due to which there were four league levels and thus there were qualifiers for three different leagues.

2^nd division 

During the first week of the qualifiers, we talked about a place in the 2nd division. Even though it was a mittely of the Kanaliiga's lowest league levels, there were no free points distributed here either. The level of the Kanaliiga has increased year by year and it was also visible in these qualifiers.

Most of the new teams were placed in this qualifier. Of these, Avarn bSports was clearly the best, although according to Snyyz, it was really difficult to assess the team's level in advance: "At first we only had Avarn eSports, which would have had 6 players, so we decided to try to put together another team. The team was put together on 14.1, i.e. the last day of registration, and the games started immediately the following Monday. There were two in the team who had never played the game, one who had played it the last time the game was released, and me and Sanekki. For the first time we played with a group on that first map of the qualifier."

Saneki's background was certainly known: "I knew in advance that Sanekki is hard to play, but really, when we hadn't played as a team, we had no idea how the games would go. The beginning was a time of application, but already playing during the first map started to go in a better direction and map by map the team playing only got better."

In the end, the result of Avarn bSports was so strong that it was clear to everyone that they were in the wrong qualifying group and the transfer to the Challengers qualifiers came with the help of a golden card directly after the first day. "The end result after the day was quite a surprise for us. After the games, when the discussions started about whether we are in the right qualifiers, we ourselves were of the opinion that we will probably be promoted to the Challukarsinta. That's how it happened and it was the right decision," Snyyz reflects.

Avarnin Sanekki is a professional sprayer. Skill sample from the challengers qualifiers.

After Avarn bSports moved to the upper qualifiers, MPKK, which joined as a new team, was number one in the 2div qualifiers with a clear point difference to the next one.

MPKK captain Holkeri sheds light on the backgrounds of his winning team like this: "When I transferred from the Coastal Navy to MPKK for a couple of years of master's studies and met my old cadet brothers after 5 years of work, it was decided to to set up a team with. We played the same games during the study holidays and I had experience from RLAIV's side of the chicken league, so that's how it started. The RLAIV group had talked about that it would be good to take this thing forward with the whole PV, so we started to implement it. Permission to make a team was requested through the civil service and the idea was well received. We even promised to support and do something (if successful). Well, the qualifiers went well and when Avarn's B team was promoted to the upper qualifier, we also got to play a bit and finally "win" the qualifier for the second division .‸

In the future, we will probably see more PV teams: "The team is absolutely obsessed with the Kanaliiga. Sometimes maybe a little too much, when those studies sometimes seem to be a secondary issue. When the studies end in 1.5 years, the course mates have promised to take the Kanaliiga to theirs as well to their mass divisions.â€ზ 

Holkeri still wants to add an important point that separates them from the Coastal Navy: "And since someone is interested, the team is a pure-blooded officer team made up of first lieutenants, unlike the RLAIV, which is made up of all different personnel groups."

Tauno Nissinen Oy already showed convincing performances in Kanaliiga scrims and the same mood continued in the qualifiers, where Tauno Nissinen Oy finished third.

According to Tauno Nissinen's ousted captain Rupsuttaja , the Kanaliiga idea started at Christmas: "In Nissinen, some of the designers were already actively playing different games, from pencil to solitaire. The other evening, when the wind was blowing from the Baltic Sea, creating ice and salt-tasting air over Helsinki, Nissinen's tribe had gathered to celebrate Christmas. The cooperation between the signee, Garud and VonHu0H under the pressure of the pub games had become almost diamond-like, but the lack of a full team engraved the minds of the masses. Glühwein in their veins and still not so well known comrades known as players compared their badges. Lainvoja bragged about CS game lessons, VonHu0H on KD radio, NirsoXD on the fastest hand in the West and Garud Pappaliiga on the cool BlueZone. A cold breeze floated in the corners of the cabinet and the comrades sipped Central European food for warmth, until the suggestion of participating in the Channel League came up. Due to the "stigma" created by the prevailing gaming, the real chicken hunters hid in their closets until, encouraged by the energy drink, they came out of the closet and the team was complete. "To the Channel League!" shouted the comrades

Then how did they succeed in the Kanaliiga qualifiers with such starting points. Rakustatja continues: “The qualifiers went well for us and we got to play in a suitably challenging block, although the players' abilities have mainly focused on jumping on motorcycles, turning cars and overtaking fellow fighters. It turned out that NirsoXD had by no means meant anything with his fast hand that could be compared to Aim's speed. What came as a surprise, in addition to the fun and community spirit of the games, was that the games are well organized and you can join in with a very mixed rhythm group.â€ም 

Kanaliigakärpänen has clearly bitten Tauno Nissinen's team as well: "Nowadays, all we talk about in the corridors is Kanaliiga and the next game day.â€჈

Some of the new teams ended up in the 3rd division through the qualifiers. Among them, Futurice played the best, ranking 10th. We did not reach Futurice's Rainzzi to comment on the matter.

Elomatic, previously seen only in duos, also made their debut in the Kanaliiga squad season.

The team was set up through many twists and turns by Finpara66: "Playing in the Kanaliga has been of interest to the undersigned ever since I was able to try it out at my previous company (Procemex) for a few Squad games. Now I've been in dune at Elomatic for 2.5 years and I've been trying to get a gaming group together. We were in the same visualization projects with Vesilinnnu at Elomatic and that's how we started playing in a few duos about a year ago.

The Elomatic team for the squad season was finally put together at the very last moment: "In the last few months, a couple of new players from our Turku office (Jakemilkshake and Karhukopla) have joined us. The qualifiers went while practicing playing together. No success, but it was fun!… So the direction must be only up.

Nitor Goats ended up in Kanaliiga, in a way, through Pappaliiga.

“We decided to put together a team, since I myself have been beaten in the Pappaliiga before and also in the beginning of the season. Enthusiasts were found, some at the very beginning with the game, some who had been playing for longer. No legends, however, Perkeekele tells.

According to Perkeekke, there was a lot of trouble in the qualifiers, but also one really nice success: "It's really fun. That's what we strive for.

Last in the qualifiers was SOK, which only had time to play in the qualifiers for one game day with three players.

V3ntrahim tells how he ended up in the Kanaliiga: "I ended up playing in the Kanaliiga myself when I started my new job at the Satakunta cooperative. I had heard about the Kanaliiga before and then I saw a post in Workplace asking if I could get a team together. It was off to a good start.

Despite the ranking, the SOK team had a good taste of the qualifiers: “The qualifiers were fun, well organized and apart from our own technical problems, it went well, even though we only got to play 4 maps. The level of the other teams was surprising, it's great to see that there is a really competent gang playing.â€჈

Challengers

In the Challenger qualifiers, it was possible to be excited until the last, which teams will finally get to play in the Challengers in the starting season, because the level of several teams clearly varied between the first and second day of play. Maybe there was a little rust on the weapons after the break.

In the end, YMCA played itself the best in the qualifiers, and with its performance, received a golden card for the Masters qualifiers. In other words, YMCA was able to qualify for the higher league, even though it was under the threat of relegation from the Challengers based on last season.

Heksy according to Heksy, the Challengers qualifiers were a preparation for their team for the possible Masters qualifiers: "We haven't trained together at all, and we won't be after the qualifiers either. I was honored to immediately take on the IGL role and get to develop the team forward. We only got one map win because we played so aggressively. It was great to win these qualifiers and get to try the current level for the Masters qualifiers.

Valtori's hard level might have surprised you, although based on the first day, someone might have suspected that Valtori is not playing seriously, because Ukot was chilling with a serva with shotguns in hand.

Valtor's player MAdF1N commented on the first game day like this: “Day 1 was just playing and trying new tricks (not the caster) and Vikas was able to jump from the bottom to 6th place, when one game went much better.

On the second day of the game something changed and based on the performance of the second qualifying day, Valtori moved to Challenger instead of qualifying two: "Day 2 our one player was missing and we had to take a replacement from Valtori #2 and it worked. A faulty map but still a clear drive-by imitation with a shotgun and the game day drops to the 2nd place.…

According to MAdF1N, doing well in the qualifiers was expected, as Valtori had split his team into two parts last season. Valtor's #2 team was second to last in the 2^nd division qualifier.

MAdF1N coolly responds to the newly launched shotgun model: "What we saw in the qualifiers regarding shotguns was just a foretaste of what we will see later in the season, that is, the shotguns will bang and maybe we will see another Valtori chicken.

In an interesting move, Finnair made a huge increase between the first and second qualifying days.

Finnair was last after the first qualifying day, but when Tauno8000 and Kalevikalevi joined the games on the second day of play, things started to happen. In the end, Finnair got the last Challengers place with 3 points. Tauno8000 describes how he feels now: "The Challengers place was preserved, and I am especially pleased with the optimized points. The first day went like flying after a long layoff, cooperation is stuttering and the feel for the controls is weak. On the second day, we started another engine and from that we got enough power on the board. Now look to the horizon and the starting season."  

Last season, Capgemini , which played at the top league level, returned to the league through the Challengers qualifiers.

Capgemini's captain Jusnurkk opens up the background behind the break: "we played chicken league with the Capgemini team a few years ago, both in squad and duo tournaments. Then some PUBG enthusiasm stopped, and we couldn't get a team together anymore for a long time. A few guys, including myself, have been playing PUBG quite actively and wanted to get back into the Kanaliiga. It was time to dig out the old players from their fighting pits and announce the team for the qualifiers.†

Capgemini had to settle for a place in the 2nd division this time. According to Jusnurkki, the success after a long break was as expected: "The qualifiers went just fine according to our expectations. We knew that during these shared game hours, there are no trophies. With the qualifiers, one secret PUBG player who was hiding in the organization was also found and he was probably added to the team.…  

Jusnurkk is satisfied with the organization of the qualifiers: "we think all the organizational stuff was great. Own channels in Discord and roles for captains for information, etc., etc. It's a great activity. I even made a couple of service requests when we got that new member of the team and also Kapu natsat for another player Everything worked just like at Capgemini

Everyone is surely also interested in how Avarn bsports fared in these upper level qualifiers.

Snyyz and his team prepared for the new week with new tactics: "While waiting for the Challu qualifiers, we talked among the team that the opposition is getting tougher and we have to play smarter. We emphasized how you can no longer keep your mouth open, the enemy punishes more sensitively. The importance of smokes, rats and placing was emphasized. "

The ultimate goal was to get into the Challengers and beat another team from Avarn: "Then when the Challukarsinnat started, the first day of play went on time, as expected. Points came steadily and playing as a team was constantly improving. The second day of play went a little under the bench. The regions were not very favorable, and we didn't really get to take it easy at any point. However, we were satisfied with the end result, when the goals were realized. The final ranking was probably eighth, so now we'll see what the level is in Challu."

Masters

The level of Masters qualifying was tough, as you might expect. In the end, the top spot was also decided with a difference of only two points.

Enfo was responsible for the best performances on the first game day.

Jugiboss's short analysis after a well-gone day of play: "I believe that the main reason for the success of the first qualifying day was that we got the communication working with last week's scrims. In particular, the rotatet worked significantly better than, for example, in the last Masters season. This in addition, each of our players made decisive plays in critical situations, which allowed us to score well.â€ቈ

Everyone who followed the game must have remembered the wonderful work of Jugiboss and Tero8dd in the oasis of Miramar. Whenever it happened, Enfo was there, of course, beating everyone down and in the end took the game with 15 kills. According to Jugiboss, there was good information behind the chicken: “We knew pretty well what was happening around us, and by following the killfeed we knew where we should hit. I would say that quick reaction was the reason for the downfall of Jimm's and DB Santasalo. After Jimm's and DB Santasalo's battles, we had the entire south side of the oasis under our control, so there was really nothing to worry about at that point. We knew the enemy's whereabouts very well with the information gathered by everyone, so we were able to shoot in peace.â€჈

For Enfo, the second day didn't go as well as the first, and when the commentator Herra47 said "Jimm's played like Enfo", the lead changed on the second day, with Enfo finishing second in the qualifiers.

According to FLAMEKK, Jimm's had made an interesting change to the qualifiers and it worked: "We went to the qualifiers to "see how they go", but with a little twist. That is, we changed the role a bit with the intention of trying something new. It was agreed that Sissiamonkey takes more control from the IGL work and FLAMEKKI jumps on the sticks if "poop hits the fan" and Sissi's head is empty of ideas, so the young hitman known as a raging bully didn't get into the deep end. I think this brought even more calmness and balance to do and to the team, as the statistics show."

In the end, the victory in the qualifiers was achieved by the good, although not completely even, performances of both days: "The first day was even and deadly for us, so we continued to the second day with this new role. The second day was not so even, but a lot of good points were also found" The team got new motivation from the twist, and the victory in the qualifiers naturally gave them much-needed self-confidence for the new season!"

One new team, SSAB, was also seen in the Masters qualifiers.

SSAB ended up in the Channel League after Favotzje changed his job: "I've heard good things about the Channel League from both the CS and PUBG sides, and I've been watching the streams for a few game days and the buzz has been good, so to speak. The reason why we ended up in the Channel League was definitely that the signed changed jobs at the beginning of the year back to SSAB. I already knew that SSAB has players, and after a few messages we had a lineup of 5 players. Finally, we supplemented the team with a few players. You could definitely get another team together easily from here.â€Ă 

So it remains to be seen whether we will see two SSAB teams next season.

But how did it turn out in the end of the SSAB, which was rated tough on paper: "In the qualifiers, the goal was really to get to the masters series, the goal was met and we got through with a ranking of 4. It was a bit of a struggle, especially on the first day. Anyway, we were able to keep a good striking distance to the top of the first day After. On the second day, Willu came to our rescue and the gentleman's contribution was huge. Willu was number one in both frags and damage, and in the end, this led SSAB to the masters in its debut season.‸ 

YMCA knew how to prepare for the tougher level of the Masters qualification: "We already knew in advance that there would be a few tough teams there right away, and now in the game you also have to be more tactical, focusing only on shooting."

Despite this, YMCA's performance this year was not enough until the Masters. "In the end, our performance was really weak and we couldn't get the game started at any point. After the first day, we were still stuck in the second place, even though our games had been absolutely terrible. Here, right from the start, you noticed that we still don't know how to play as a team and we lacked that coordinated action and focusing on that game. The 12th place leaves no room for jostling, so we're going to focus on the upcoming challengers season with the idea that we're going to develop a team game," sums up Heksy.

The most interesting ups and downs were also found in the Masters qualifiers.

The biggest riser in the qualifiers was Yeet Fortum, who finally got a fourth player and it showed in the qualifiers. Yeet Fortum, who finished 6th in the Challengers last season, completed the qualifiers convincingly, finishing in 3rd place and a place in the Masters was guaranteed.

Cargotec, who finished third in Masters in season 7, wanted to participate in the qualifiers after their team's top player Kirka dropped out. The decision to participate in the qualifiers was the right one, as Cargotec fell to the Challenger, being second last in its own qualifying group.

Season 8 episodes

3rd division

2nd division

Challengers

Masters

Keywords