June 16, 2022. “PUBG NATIONS CUP 2022” (PNC 2022) opened in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. It’s been about three years, or 1,041 days to be exact, since the first PNC held back in 2019 in Seoul, Korea. A total of 64 players representing 16 nations have gathered here to compete in Erangel and Miramar for the trophy and the prize money. Right before the opening of this tournament, KRAFTON Blog talked to seven players participating in PNC 2022. Keep reading to learn about their thoughts on the offline tournament where they can meet fans onsite.
Hello, nice to meet you! Could you introduce yourself to our readers?
Nourinz: Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Nourinz of Daytrade Gaming and of Thai national team.
J4nku2of: I’m J4nku2of, part of Attack All Around and Thai national team.
Sharpshot4K: Hi. I’m a member of Bing Bang Boom and of Team USA.
sparkingg: Hello, I’m playing for YAHO and representing Brazil at PNC 2022.
Shinboi: Hi, I’m Shinboi of Team Canada. I’m playing together with sparkingg on YAHO.
mxey: I’m mxey from Team Liquid and Team Finland.
TeaBone: Nice to meet you. I’m TeaBone from Heroic and Team United Kingdom.
How did you feel when you were named as a member of national team?
Nourinz: I felt very honored to be able to play as a representative of Thailand. I’ll do my best.
Sharpshot4K: Honestly, I didn’t think it was a real. I didn’t think I was going to be picked for PNC 2022. I’m very happy to be in this spot and be able to come here.
sparkingg: I’m proud of myself and I’m happy to be a member of the national team. I think it’s the first time that I’m going to play in my mother tongue in Portuguese like in two years. I’m have been playing in English for the last two years on my team. I’m happy to be playing with my friends from Brazil. Some of them I’ve known for ten years so it’s going to be really good, really funny and I’m super excited about it.
mxey: Of course, it felt good since I thought I could still play the game. Obviously, it’s good. Having a high expectation that I should be going here again. But, after I received the invitation as a high performing player, I was like yes, sure I want to go there again. And I hope Finland can do a little bit better than 16th.
The players from the AMERICAS region who were named as the country MVP joined their national teams for PNC 2022. How did you feel when you realized you were the MVP?
sparkingg: When the nation’s cup announcement came out, I immediately knew I wanted to be the MVP because it will instantly help me join the national team for PNC 2022. But honestly during PCS6 I was not looking for it. I was just playing to win the tournament and the consequences would be there, right? But I wanted to be on the MVP because I didn’t want to wait for the votes.
Sharpshot4K: Extremely honored. First thing, I told my family and they were super happy for me. They came in hugging me. I called everyone. They were calling me. It was very exciting.
How did you prepare for PNC 2022 in your national team?
TeaBone: We did a variety of things. We played scrims and we played in a few tournaments together beforehand. Other than that, obviously we’ve gone through few tactics on Discord and replays, stuff like that. Just like normal preparations we’ve done in our normal teams basically. Just apapted for Team United Kingdom.
Sharpshot4K: I worked closely with the coach of the team, personally meeting him. He was giving me insights on what he does with his team and what I can bring into my own individual game to use it. And then with the team practice, in the last week before coming here, every day we did two blocks like EU scrims and then before that we were practicing and playing the game regularly. So, a lot of practicing and talking. Stuff like that.
sparkingg: When we got to know who was in the team, we started playing together just to know about each other. The adaptation was especially for me because I have been playing in English. My brain just felt like crazy when I suddenly had to speak in my mother tongue. We just have been practicing different root spots and how to play better as a team. Because I think this tournament is going to be really like who is the best team in improvising to make the best decisions. We just practiced, hoping to be able to play as a team to have a good communication and good synergy and I hope everyone here play happy and have fun.
Shinboi: We’ve been preparing for the past month and a half. We’ve been double blocking. We’ve been doing North American scrims and EU scrims. Four of us with the help of our coach, Didz. He is putting in a lot of work. We’re here in Thailand. We’re ready to compete.
mxey: We actually had some time to practice this time. Last time, 2019 was a lot of stacked year with so many global tournaments. So, we didn’t really practice at all back then. But this time we actually had a lot of scrims and we talked to each other on how we want to approach. About who’s going to be doing what for Finland Team. I feel like we have had really good practice and preparations for this Nations Cup this time. I think we’re going to be good.
As you already know, PUBG Esports consists of four regions internationally: ASIA, APAC, EUROPE, and AMERICAS. What kind of performances do you expect from the national teams of regions that you belong to, compared to the other regions?
Sharpshot4K: I think a lot of people will think the AMERICAS region teams should finish top three this time. Because last time they didn’t do so good. And now overall we have the best statistical players in the AMERICAS region and I believe throughout the last PCS. I think anything less than top three is failure personally.
sparkingg: I think most of the game style, the play style of the AMERICAS region teams is kind of similar. I mean we play against each other. But I think one of the differences is just.. we’re like the Brazilian soccer team. Like we just play happy, and we trust in the magic. We trust in the talent.
TeaBone: I think the EUROPE region is really strongand Team Finland is definitely going to be top 5, top 6 as well. But the others, they’re going to lose to us, as the European teams are really strong. I think everyone in Europe can play in really high standards. So, I expect like, most of them to be up top.
Among the national teams and players that you’re going to oppose at PNC 2022, which team or who do you find most threatening?
Nourinz: China and Australia. From Team China, I think it’s ZpYan1 and from Team Australia I’d say monty.
Sharpshot4K: The player I find most threatening is Aixleft of Team China. Because there’s a lot of clips of Aixleft just making like slurping sounds. When he hears people coming, he just stops moving, hides in his spot and he goes, like he can’t wait. That’s very scary.
sparkingg: I think China is the biggest rivalry for most of the players here. They had the world champions last year and during that tournament Aixleft was xxxxxxx good! Sorry for the bad word but he’s that good. For me, surly it’s China.
What do you want to achieve personally at PNC 2022?
Nourinz: I’ve been thinking it will be great if Team Thailand can win. But personally, I hope we can make it into top 8.
J4nku2of: Apart from winning and rankings, I hope my teammates and I can enjoy the games, play happy.
Sharpshot4K: My personal goal is to do whatever it takes for my team to win. Some might say something like top kill count but for me, personally no. If I feel my team needs me to go and get like a top kill count, then that’s what I’ll do. If they need me to support, and make sure I have been playing the game right fundamentally. That’s what I’ll do too.
sparkingg: It’s of course to win. I think everyone’s here to win. But my goal is, as a team and as a player, to change the history of Team Brazil from the last PNC. Team Brazil didn’t play really well back then. And I’m really confident in this team now and I think we can change the past.
Shinboi: Personal goal is just helping the team as much as I can and make sure we can secure the best place in possible, helping for our first place and if not that then the podium finish.
mxey: On this tournament of course, everyone goes to win. You’re here to win. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be doing esports or any other sports. Like we always want to win. But I would say top 3, I’ll be happy about it.
TeaBone: I’d love to get top 5, honestly. I think it’s easily achievable with our lineup. So, top 5 is definitely my goal. Top 5 just stands out for me. My personal goal is always just making sure my team does the best. I don’t really have anything I want to achieve personally, I don’t really need to be top kills, top damage. I don’t really care about that sort of stuff. My team plays well. That’s my personal goal.
Since each national team consists of players from different team, there should be a lot of efforts to sync up with other in play.
Nourinz: The communication between us didn’t go well at first as we have different play style. But now, as we have worked together on it, I believe we are fully ready.
mxey: I would just try to have fun, but am focused on the practicing I think it’s very important to have fun when you play games. Even if you limit your fun, you still have your goal of winning something and even then, it sometimes doesn’t happen. Having fun and making sure you are talking to each other , even if I had a bad game. It is probably the most important thing to go forward, talking. Especially, if you have a mixed team like this and you don’t have much time to bond together, see how it works.
J4nku2of: I like to make jokes to brighten up the atmosphere. When I think it’s too quiet, I love the pranks that can break the ice. Among my national teammates, I enjoy playing jokes with Nourinz.
Would you introduce your national teammates?
sparkingg: So first we have vhz. He has been my best friend for the last 10 years. I think he’s a really confident person. If he thinks he needs to do something, he will do it. He doesn’t care anything else. We also have lfp1. He’s very skilled player. He can handle any guns in his hands. He’s also a positive thinker and is a good person as a teammate. And we also have Haven. He’s the young prodigy. He’s only 18 years old. As far as I know, this is second official PUBG Esports event. Like lfp1, it’s also a natural-born fragger.
Sharpshot4K: Starting with our coach Gunner. I think he is a good leader of this team. He brings good vibes to the team and gets us all motivated, gets us on a discipline on practice. And then we have hwinn who’s the leader of the team inside the game. He teaches us a lot. He has a lot of good strategies. He’s also very smart. We have Shrimzy who is an all-rounded fragger. Good kill feed tracking and always good in marking and managing the fights. And then Kickstart who’s the same but a little bit more DMR-orientated where he’ll stay back and shoot and call out from behind.
Nourinz: We have Ezqelusia who’s capable of focusing on games very well. And J4nku2of can be very good at holding position.
Shinboi: Team Canada is composed of f1nna. f1nna from Dodge. We’ve got Adam from Guadalajara Gascans. We’ve got Keenan from Bing Bang Boom. And we’ve got Didz, our coach from FaZe Clan coaching us. And I’m sure a lot of people know, but Adam and Didz are brothers. There’s already some worked up chemistry there.
Shinboi and sparkingg are playing on the same team YAHO, and now you are competing in Team Canada and Team Brazil, respectively. What do you think about each other?
Shinboi: Obviously, he’s really good. That’s why he was picked up. He’s a great player. I have a lot of respect for him. Funny guy. But definitely tides have turned a bit for this event because we’re going head-to-head, hoping to finish above him. So, we’ll see what’s happen there. It’s a bit different this event. No longer teammates.
sparkingg: I’ve known Shinboi for a long time. We have been teammates for more than one year now. And I think he only cares about the game when he’s playing. He’s also a really good friend, he’s a really good teammate, he’s always chill and he’s never afraid of anything. If he thinks it’s important to do it and he’s going to make us win or at least bring us some points. He will do it. He doesn’t care. And I think he’s one of the best players in the world mechanically. He’s just insane. And I’m so lucky to have him on my team. But now here at PNC 2022, I’m going to have to kill him. I’m sorry, Shinboi.
It has truly been quite a while since we had an offline event like this with all the fans crowding the live stadium due to the pandemic. It must feel different compared to online events. What do you expect from this experience?
J4nku2of: The last offline event that I had participated in was one in Australia almost four years ago. At that time, I observed a lot of enthusiastic Chinese fans cheering for their players even though it was in Australia. That very impressive. I’m hoping the Thai fans will support us this time.
Sharpshot4K: Personally, I think the crowd, the emotion being able to hear it is just going to fuel me to play even better. Because it’s something for me like seeing the fans, interact and be there in the live stadium. It makes me feel more emotional, more exciting to play. It’s kind of like the first games you ever play PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS when you’re a new player, your heart is pounding in the middle of the games. At PNC 2022, I expect to feel that once again. And here, I’m going to get a chance to meet other players even if they don’t speak my language and do stuff together, learn the differences in their culture and how they play this game overall it’s just something I like to do. It super cool to be able to learn things from a different perspective.
Shinboi: For me personally this is a super exciting event because I’ve never played an intercontinental-level event with a crowd yet. PGI.S and PGC 2021, the two most recent ones and they both didn’t have a crowd. This is super exciting. I can’t wait to play with the crowd. If I can hear them, I think it would be super cool.
mxey: I’m excited, I think. Without the crowd, it feels there’s only the tournament alone. But, with the crowd you can feel the energy which something great. I’m excited to play in front of crowd again.
TeaBone: It’s definitely been a while for me personally. So, I think the last time was three years ago with the crowd. It’s definitely something special and I look forward to it.
sparkingg: It’s going to be my first tournament with crowd, and I’m really excited for it. I think I can play better and feel better offline. I feel better when I’m playing games everyone in the same spot, the same spec. And I just feel more confident. I just feel more, I don’t know it just way better for me to play. I would be happy because… for me to play offline is just way better than playing online. Just feel more comfortable offline. I think it’s going to be really funny to just hear the crowd while you are playing and if you play well, the crowd will cheer like “whoo.” It should be so fun. It’s I think it’s my dream, I think it’s the biggest dream for most of the players in all the esports is to play with a crowd. And this dream will come true soon.
Since Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, is hosting PNC 2022 this time, there will be a lot of local fans cheering for Team Thailand. What do you want to tell thm?
J4nku2of: I hope they will crowd this True Icon Siam Hall, filling the place with their cheers like they do at football stadiums. Please come visit and support us! Thank you!
