On September 15, the PUBG Nations Cup (PNC) 2023, a global esports competition for PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, will be held at the Sangam afreeca Colosseum in Seoul.
16 teams representing 16 countries around the world will participate in this PNC 2023. In addition to last year’s champions Great Britain, Germany, Türkiye, Denmark, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Korea, China, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Australia will participate.
On the KRAFTON blog, we met Team Denmark which is enjoying its debut stage. Let’s listen to their announcements.
※ This interview was conducted before the start of the PNC 2023.
Hello, nice to meet you! Could you introduce yourselves to our readers?
clib: Hello, Nice to meet you too! My name is clib. I’m 27 years old. And I’ve played professional PUBG for a bit over 3 years. In the past, I’ve played for teams like Tempus and Team Liquid, and I am now playing for BBL esports.
Gustav: Hello, My name is Gustav, and on a daily basis I play PUBG for FaZe Clan.
Beami: Hi everyone! My name is Beami and I’m 24 years old and from Denmark. I currently play PUBG for FUT esports and we have had a pretty good year so far. And we are looking to qualify for PGC 2023!
Keano: Hello! My name is Keano. I’m a competitive PUBG player and I am currently without a team.
How did you feel when you were named as a member of national team?
clib: I’m honored to be able to represent my nation in PNC 2023. I can’t wait to show what Denmark is made of.
Gustav: Felt extremely honored, it has always been a dream of mine to represent my own country.
Beami: I was of course very honored but after I saw the way they picked the players I wasn’t too surprised ha-ha. And I’m really looking forward to representing Team Denmark!
Keano: I was obviously extremely excited. Playing at a LAN in front of a crowd has been my biggest dream since I started playing competitive PUBG, so it’s incredibly thrilling to finally get that opportunity.
How did you prepare for PNC 2023 in your national team?
clib: As we are all used to playing on international teams speaking English, I think our biggest focus point has been getting used to speaking Danish while playing. We’ve been playing a lot of scrims as well to get used to playing as a team.
Gustav: We’ve been playing EU scrims 4-5 times a week and practicing our Danish since we are all so used to communicating in English.
Beami: We have mainly been scrimming almost every day, since we are all from different teams, so it was very important for us to get some synergy going on, and also get used to communicating in Danish since all of us have been playing on English-speaking teams for a while.
Keano: We have been playing scrims as often as we possibly could and have just been focusing on building synergy and getting comfortable in the game with each other.
It is Denmark’s first PNC participation. I think it’ll have a different meaning. How do you feel?
Clib: I’m very happy Denmark was chosen for this year’s PUBG Nations Cup. I think we have some very good players, and definitely believe we deserve a spot.
Keano: Representing your own nation is always a huge honor in any form of competition, so I’m hoping we can do our country proud and bring home the trophy for our Queen.
What does your in-game nickname mean?
Clib: It derives from the word “klip”, which means cut in Danish. Basically, my friends cut my hair very short as a joke one year, and then started calling me klip. The name stuck, and turned into clib over time. I got so used to being called it that I decided to use it as my in-game name as well.
Gustav: It’s my real-life name.
Beami: My nickname originates from a friend of mine who jokingly said she would beat the letters out of my name so only “Beami” would be left and I thought it actually sounded pretty good, so after that, I started using that as my nickname.
Keano: It’s really just my real name, but with an o at the end.
What do you think makes PUBG and PUBG Esports entertaining?
Clib: The variety in each game makes PUBG fun to watch and play as you never know what will happen.
Gustav: I like how every game is so different and how there is usually always something extremely weird or crazy happening. It can be all from a crazy multi-kill or someone running over two of his teammates 😀 The game is just so diverse and in order to be good at the game you need to be good at so many different things.
Beami: For me personally it’s watching how different playstyles the top teams have and I find it really interesting how all the different styles can work, and it also makes it way more interesting to play since it shifts the meta around all the time, so you are not stuck with the same teams doing the same stuff all the time, and it also shows what team is best at adapting to stay on top.
Keano: 2 games in PUBG are never the same. There is always variance, which makes every single game exciting. That is what makes the esports side of the game so compelling and enjoyable to watch and play. The game offers some of the best gunplay out there, which is essentially why I fell in love with the game in the first play. That, and the thrill of winning a chicken dinner, of course.
How is your team working on creating chemistry with each other?
Clib: By playing together, and by just having fun during our training sessions. It helps a lot that we all know each other.
Beami: We are just playing scrims together almost every day, so we all get used to how each other play, luckily we have already played together before in ranked and such, so it’s not the first time we’ve played, and so far there has been no issues at all!
Keano: We try to keep a jolly mood and try to have a good time while playing. If everyone is feeling good, then the chemistry will come soon after
Among the national teams and players that you’re going to oppose at PNC 2023, which team or who do you find most threatening?
Clib: Definitely Korea. They have three players from the same team who are all great players, and are in their home environment. They also don’t have to deal with jetlag like the Western players.
Beami: Mostly just the teams that got to keep the whole core. Germany and Korea have a really good chance of doing well since they both kept 3 players from the same team, so they already have good chemistry and setups. Other than that, I think Vietnam and the UK is going to be good contenders as well.
Keano: Korea is looking really strong since they are basically playing with the entire roster from Danawa + 1 really talented fragger (Heaven). They can play the game they are used to playing, which is a huge advantage at Nations Cup.
Team UK will also be a bit of a threat, since we are dropping for the same spot on Erangel. We are not too worried, but it could become a bump on the road if they stay stubborn and will not give it up.
Compared to other national teams, what do you think is Denmark teams’ overall strength? Why should other teams fear you and the Denmark team?
Clib: Denmark is without a doubt the best esports country in the world, and we’re here to show it. We all feel comfortable with each other as both players and friends, which in turn helps to make our teamwork feel more natural. Oh, and we also have the two best bolt action players in the world 😉
Gustav: I would say we are quite an underdog at the event, and I don’t mind that at all. I expect us to just play simple PUBG and enjoy the tournament.
Beami: I think we are going to be one of the more slow playing teams, since this is a tournament with a lot of mix teams, so you know a lot of wild stuff is going to happen, so if we just play our own game and capitalize on the mistakes of other teams, I think we are going to do really well, we also have a lot of good mechanical players on the team so we are going to be able to take a lot of fights without any issue
Keano: We have a very well-rounded team and are coming into the tournament without any fear. As a new nation in the tournament, we don’t have any title or something that we need to defend, so we really just have nothing to prove and everything to win.
What do you want to achieve personally at PNC 2023?
Clib: Of course, I want to play to the best of my ability personally and show everyone that even after a dreadful year I’m still one of the best. As a team, I’d like to win, but a top 3 would be a good result.
Gusatv: Winning something for your country has always been a dream of mine so I want to win the event.
Beami: Of course, I want to win the event. Personally, anything other than winning is not good enough for me.
Keano: To be honest, I just want to win.
Apart from gaming, what makes you happy the most?
Clib: My family and my girlfriend. Oh, and cake.
Gustav: I’ve always been extremely close with my family, and I love to spend time with them
Keano: My family
What is one surprising or interesting fact about each of you?
Clib: I’ve burst my eardrum 5 times by boxing.
Gustav: 13 years ago, my older brother represented the Danish national football team and now I’m here representing us in PUBG 😀
Keano: I have a degree in Software Engineering and work voluntarily in a Norwegian Esports Organization called Vanir.
Since Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, is hosting PNC 2023 this time, there will be a lot of local fans cheering for Team South Korea. What do you want to tell them?
Clib: Thanks for coming to watch our games, hope some of you come and say hi if you see me!
Gusatv: My love for Korea has always been massive. Ever since the first event we had in Korea. The food and the people here are lovely, and if I had to live somewhere in Asia it would definitely be Korea.
What are your resolutions for PNC 2023?
Clib: Do well and have fun.
Gustav: Win the event?
Beami: Top 1
Keano: I want to make the people watching at home proud!
Do you have anything to say to the PUBG Esports fans around the world?
Clib: Thanks for sticking around, without the fans we wouldn’t be here 🙂
Gustav: Wanna thanks the people who buy the esports skins it supports us a lot and it’s great to see them in-game it warms my heart.
Beami: Thanks to all the fans watching and supporting the esports scene, and especially thanks to everyone voting for Denmark!
Keano: Thank you for supporting Team Denmark!
