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
In 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.
A large part 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 get another team together. 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 the last time the game was released and me and Sanekki. The first time we played as a group in that first map of the qualifier.”
Of course, Sanekki’s background was known: “I knew in advance that Sanekki is hard to play, but really, when you haven’t played as a team, you had no idea how the games would go. It was a bit of a struggle at the beginning, but already during the first map, the playing started to go in a better direction, and map by map, team playing only got better.”
In the end, Avarn bSports’ result was so strong that it was clear to everyone that they were in the wrong qualifying group and the move 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 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’s captain Holkeri sheds light on the background of his winning team like this: “When I transferred from Coast Navy to MPKK for a couple of years of master’s studies and met my old cadet brothers after 5 years of work, so it was decided to set up a team with the guys. We played the same games during the study holidays and I had experience from RLAIV’s chicken league, so that’s how it started. The RLAIV team had talked, that it would be good to move forward with the whole PV, so we started to implement it. We asked for permission to make a team and the idea was well received. We even promised to do something (if successful). Well, the qualifiers went well and when Avarn’s B team was promoted to the upper qualification, we also managed to “win” the second division qualifier.
In the future, we will probably see more PV teams: “The team is very close to 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 Kanaliiga to their own mass departments as well.
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 consisting of first lieutenants, unlike the RLAIV, which consists of all different personnel groups.”
Tauno Nissinen Oy showed convincing performances already 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 Nissi, 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, the Nissinen tribe had gathered to celebrate Christmas. The undersigned, Garudin and VonHu0H’s cooperation under the pressure of the pub games had become almost diamond-like, but the lack of a full team engraved Glühwein in his veins and the comrades who were not so well-known players compared their badges. At BlueZone. The cold was swimming in the corners of the cabinet and the comrades were sipping on the Central European food until the suggestion of participating in the Kanaliga came up. Due to the prevailing “stigma” of playing, the real chicken hunters hid in their closets until they came out of the closet, encouraged by the energy drink. “Kanaliga!” shouted the comrades
How then did they succeed in the Kanaliiga qualifiers with such starting points. Rupsuttaja continues: “The qualifiers went well for us and we got to play in a challenging group that suits us, although the players’ abilities are 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 quick hand that could be compared to Aim’s speed. As a surprise, in addition to the fun and community spirit of the games, the games are well organized and you can join in with a very mixed rhythm group.”
The Kanaliigakärpänen has also clearly bitten Tauno Nissinen’s team: “These days in the hallways, all we talk about is the Kanaliiga and the next game day.”
Some of the new teams ended up in the 3rd division through the qualifiers. Futurice played the best among them, finishing in 10th place. 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 Kanaliiga has been of interest to the undersigned ever since I was able to try it out at the previous company (Procemex) for a few Squad games. Now I’ve been at Elomatic for 2.5 years and I’ve been trying to get a group of players together. With Vesilinnu we were in the same visualization projects at Elomatic and through that we started playing in a few duos around a year ago.”
Elomatic’s team for the squad season was finally put together at the very last moment: “In the last few months, a couple of new teammates from our Turku office (Jakemilkshake and Karhukopla) have joined us. The qualifiers were spent practicing playing together. No success, but it was fun!” So the direction is probably only up.
The Nitor Goats ended up in the Kanaliiga in a way through the 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 very nice success: “It’s really fun. That’s what we aim 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 Kanaliiga before and then I noticed a post on Workplace asking if they could get a team together. Then it was time to go.”
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
Challengers
In the Challenger qualifiers, it was exciting 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, the best of the qualifiers was YMCA, who received a golden card for the Masters qualifiers with their performance. 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.
According to Heksy, the Challengers qualifiers were a preparation for their team for possible Masters qualifiers: “We haven’t trained together at all and won’t be after the qualifiers either. I was honored to immediately take on the IGL role and be able to develop the team forward. We didn’t get just one map win because we played so aggressively. It was great to win these qualifiers and get to try it from the current level to the Masters qualifiers.
Valtori’s hard level might have surprised, 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 day of the game 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 Valtori moved to the Challenger based on the performance of the second qualifying day instead of qualifying two: “Day 2 our one player was missing and we had to take a replacement from Valtori #2 and it worked. Vikas kartas still Kirka drive-by imitation with a shotgun and the game day can finish in 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 2nd division qualifier.
MAdF1N coolly responds to the newly launched shotgun model: “What was seen in the qualifiers regarding the shotguns was just a foretaste of what we will see later in the season, that is, the shotguns will be banging and maybe we will see another Valtori chicken.”
As an interesting increase, 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 especially like the optimized points haul. 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 it we got enough power for the board. Now look to the horizon and the starting season.”
Last season, Capgemini, who played at the top two league levels, 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 tours. Then some PUBG enthusiasm stopped, and we couldn’t get a team together for a long time. A few guys, myself included, have been playing PUBG fairly actively and wanted to get back into the Kanaliiga. It was time to dig the old gamblers out of their fighting pits and announce the team for the qualifiers
This time, Capgemini had to settle for a place in the 2nd division. According to Jusnurk, 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 would probably be no trophies. With the qualifiers, one secret PUBG player who had been hiding in the organization was also found and he was 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 nats for another player. Everything worked just like with 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 will get tougher and we have to play smarter. Emphasis was placed on how you can no longer keep your mouth open, anger punishes more sensitively. The importance of smoke, rot and placement was stressed.”
The final goal was to get to the Challengers and beat another team from Avarn: “After the Challukarsinnat started, the first day of the game went on time, as expected. Points came steadily and playing as a team also improved constantly. The second game day went a little under the bench. The areas were not very favorable, and at no point did you really get to take the plunge. However, we were satisfied with the end result when the goals were achieved. 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 game day: “I think 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 rotate worked significantly better than, for example, in the last Masters season. In addition to this, each of our players made decisive plays in critical situations, which allowed us to score well.”
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.”
For Enfo, the second day did not go as well as the first, and when the announcer Mr.47 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 Sissiapina would take more of the IGL job and FLAMEKKI would take more of a seat in the jumping sticks if “poop hits the fan” and Sissi’s head was empty of ideas, so she didn’t get into a rage A young hitter known as a striker. I think this brought even more calmness and balance to the work and to the team, as the statistics show.”
In the end, the victory in the qualifiers was broken 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 in the “sloppy” games. The team got new motivation from the twist, and the victory in the qualifiers, of course, the much-needed self-confidence for the new season!”
The Masters qualifiers also saw one new team, SSAB.
Favotzje changed job to Kanaliiga SSAB: “I’ve heard good things about Kanaliiga from both the CS and PUBG sides and I’ve followed the streams for a few game days and the buzz has been good, so to speak. The reason why I ended up in Kanaliiga is that the undersigned changed jobs back to SSAB at the beginning of the year. I already knew that SSAB had players and after a few messages we had a lineup of 5 players. Finally, the team was supplemented with a few players
So it remains to be seen whether we will see two SSAB teams next season.
But what happened at the end of the SSAB, which was rated hard on paper: “In the qualifiers, the goal was really to get to the masters series, the goal was fulfilled and with a ranking of 4 we got through. That game was a bit difficult, especially on the first day. In any case, we managed to keep a good striking distance to the top after the first day. 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 the debut season.
YMCA knew how to prepare for the tougher level of the Masters qualification: “We already knew in advance that there will be a few tough teams there right away and now you have to be more tactical in the game, instead of 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 tied for the next place, even though our games had been absolutely terrible. Here, right at the beginning, you noticed that we don’t know how to play as a team yet and we lacked that concerted action and focus on that game. 12th place leaves no room for compromises, and so we start to focus on the upcoming challengers season with the idea that we will to develop team play”, Heksy sums up.
The most interesting risers and fallers were also found in the Masters qualifiers.
The biggest riser in the qualifiers was Yeet Fortum, who has finally got a fourth player and it showed in the qualifiers. Yeet Fortum, who came in 6th place 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 the Masters in season 7, ended up being the biggest scorer, who wanted to participate in the qualifiers after his 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.
Episodes of season 8
3rd division
Abloy PULSEfire
CGI Red Machine
Cryptsec o.y
Elomatic esports
Futurice
Have lunch
Motorcycles
Nitor Goats
OP Squad X
OptoFidelity
Reindeer magic
Procemex Oy #2
Ramirent
SOK
Tahto Group
TNNet Oy
Valtori #2
2nd division
Abloy Bolt Locks
Applicom
Aspocomp mgr
atFlow Oy
Avarn eSport
Capgemini Finland
Codemate
Elis4
Etteplan IAS
A projectile
MPKK-SM11
Process Genius Oy
Solenovo Oy
Tauno Nissinen Oy
Telia #3
Rim wholesale fi
Challengers
Avarn bSports
Cargotec
David Brown Santasalo
Finnair
Friend #2
Granlund esports
Integrate
OP Squad Alpha
OpenText
Coastal Navy
Securitas SecFlops
Slow Forest Coffee
Undercarriage #2
Valtori #1
Winches
YMCA Tampere
Masters
Abloy
AreSports
Aspocomp
Eficode
Elisa #3
Elisa Originals
Elisa Z
Info
Etteplan Ancients
Frendy
A giant
Jimms PC store
Securitas SEC OPS
SSAB
Telia ONE
Yeet Fortum