As the 15th season of the A1 Adria League continues, we’re also crowning our first champions. This time around, PUBG: Battlegrounds players had the shortest season of all the games, with two qualifier days followed by three playoff days. During that time, we saw some players accomplish legendary things, showing us that PUBG is still a heavyweight esports title in the region.
Overall, more than 50 teams applied to the open qualifiers, but in the end it was a question of consistency, balance and not keeping cool, rather than a run-and-gun strategy employed by some more amateur players. In the playoffs, a total of 16 teams competed for a prize pool of €1850, half of which went in the direction of Groove Street, our Season 15 champions! Second place was secured by Redline, and bronze went to 404 Error. CrashZ earned 200€ for placing fourth.
The Groove Street Blueprint
With Battle Royale games, consistency is arguably more important than kills or wins. Staying alive (pun intended) and just placing high in as many rounds as possible is sure to bring you more points than killing a lot and getting killed early. Our champions Groove Street know that very well. They finished with a total of 135 kills and 95 placements, while the second-placed Redline earned 124 kills and just 42 placements. This puts them in a relatively close position kill-wise, but the placements separate the two by a large margin. This goes to show that you simply can’t out-frag a good-placing team across 18 maps.
Due to the format of the competition, we had numerous winners and frag-leaders from the earliest stages. During the course of the three-day playoffs, many of the teams have shown great composure and performance, with no shortage of good plays and surprises. Perhaps the most notable surprise was a sneaky win on the last map, Erangel, by CrashZ. This win allowed them to climb from sixth to fourth place instantly and grab the €200 prize.
In the end, we saw nine total winning teams across 18 games, with Groove Street winning four, 404 Error winning three and Redline winning just two, despite having one of the highest kill scores of the tournament.
Vazoo (Groove Street) was the highest-fragging player of the finals with 44 kills, while his teammate slqvn set a tournament damage record at 7,700. This underscores that the team does not lack in firepower whatsoever, making their placement score even more impressive. The MVP title went to KILYAKAI from 404 Error, a player who had a total of 43 kills and 6,600 damage and helped his team secure the bronze medal in Season 15.
For next season, Redline are perhaps the number one team to watch. If they find a way to optimise their placements and continue getting as many kills as they have in Season 15, they have a very strong title chance in Season 16. Still, Groove Street are the ones who need to defend their title, and with a good roster like theirs, any other team will have trouble, not just Redline.
