Looking at Mettlestate’s XPUBG FPP Squads tournament

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″ el_class=”articlebody” css=”.vc_custom_1523270772654{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”5585″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1531377007741{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_row_inner content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1523350157423{margin-left: 20px !important;}” el_class=”cat-tag”][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1523351002838{background-position: 0 0 !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;}” offset=”vc_hidden-xs”][vc_custom_heading text=”News” font_container=”tag:h3|font_size:12|text_align:left|color:%23ffffff|line_height:1″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1524480392987{margin-top: 0px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-image: url(https://esportscentral.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Rectangle-26.png?id=2528) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”Looking at Mettlestate’s XPUBG FPP Squads tournament” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left|color:%23ffffff” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1531309459490{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #262631 !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Matthew ‘HAzE’ Stott” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1531309497555{margin-top: 0px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #2a2b37 !important;}”][vc_separator color=”custom” css=”.vc_custom_1523350609771{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}” accent_color=”#3b455a”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1531381671693{margin-top: 0px !important;padding-top: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;}”]It took all of 24 hours for Mettlestate’s PUBG FPP Squads tournament to reach its maximum capacity of 16 teams. This is a telltale sign of the desire and potential that lies within the local #PUBGZA scene. It’s the first time we’re seeing the gametype of FPP Squads locally in an official competition. FPP Squads creates the platform where the best team can be established, something that is still up for debate in South Africa.

Mettlestate PUBG 2018 Teams List 1 of 4

Points will be awarded after each game for kills and placement. The team with the highest score after the 5 games are the winners. The competition will start and finish on Friday commencing of 5 consecutive games beginning at 19:00. You can watch all the action on the Mettlestate Twitch channel.

More PUBG in South Africa

To get a deeper insight into our scene I chatted to Christopher “The_Dexo” van Ysendyk (of ViNCO Gaming). He is one of the pioneers who pushed the game in a competitive direction in South Africa.

From day one I had a really deep passion for the game and the competitive nature that surrounded it and I luckily had the connections and the international experience in order to make things happen locally. Now after seeing how the scene has blossomed thanks to hard working people like Barry “Anthrax” Louzada and Luca “RoboHobo” Tucconi I just feel extremely grateful that I can and have contributed.

Mettlestate is now the second major tournament organiser to host a PUBG tournament and they had no problem populating their competition. The_Dexo expressed how exciting it was that another heavyweight TO was entering the PUBG realm. This stimulates growth and generates exposure which will attract more interest to the scene. 

Mettlestate PUBG 2018 Teams List 2 of 4

FPP Squads is certainly the most tactic based game mode. It allows for a far greater depth of strategic gameplay which increases the quality and viewing experience. The_Dexo is relishing the opportunity compared to FPP Solo competitions.  

The only way forward for PUBG competitive is FPP Squads. Solo tournaments are a joke with regards to comp and should be seen as more of a fun and casual tournament. The real esports scene lies with FPP Squads due to the sheer amount of skill and tactical gameplay needed to be a consistently good team.

State of PUBG 2018

The game’s longevity was recently brought into question with the large drop off of active players.The number of active players has declined by more than 50% from January, to 740 000 on average. This hasn’t been a major factor in the local competitive scene though, in fact we’ve seen an influx in players.  

PUBG is a weird game, and by that I mean you have to be pretty good to really enjoy it and to want to keep playing it through thick and thin developer wise. That being said competitive scenes are naturally composed of the better players in the game and therefore the local scene hasn’t had a decline in players. In fact the local scene has had a steady growth in terms of Squad FPP competitive. When I first started the #ScrimSessions with Luca “RoboHobo” Tucconi over at Orena in February, there were barely enough teams to fill 2 servers. Now there’s a waiting list!

Please sir, can we have more PUBG?

It’s common knowledge now that we’re disadvantaged based on our geographical location. This isn’t something that will be resolved in the foreseeable future, so the community has instead chosen to embrace it.

Unfortunately we’re faced with the reality of having to play on EU servers. Instead of only seeing this in a negative light, we embrace it and use it as an opportunity to play with the best in the world (European teams). Team ViNCO has been on a long and hard road in terms of competing with the EU boys. We’ve gotten disqualified from ESL Majors such as IEM Katowice qualifiers after making it so far.

Mettlestate PUBG 2018 Teams List 3 of 4

Since then the EU scene has become more understanding of our situation and one by one the TO’s are opening their doors to us. At the moment, we keep up to date with the crème of the crop by playing in daily private scrims with some of the top teams in Europe. Multiple scrim discords of varying skill degrees are open either to the public or for application and that would be the best way to keep ahead of the curb.

As South Africans we’re proud people, nothing is different in this department. Some of his personal goals and team aspirations are;

I aspire to take my team to a major. There’s nothing else in my mind that would give me the gratification of qualifying for an international major as a South African team. We came so close a few months ago and now we’re ready to give it another go, provided the rules allow us this time haha.

Where to next?

So where to from here for the #PUBGZA scene?

The next step for #PUBGZA is getting money involved. Currently due to restrictions from PUBG Corp there hasn’t been a tournament with a prize pool, however that has now been lifted and since then the scene has been growing to numbers closing in on 50 plus competitive teams, maybe even more. If that is a result of a scene with no money up for grabs, imagine where #PUBGZA will be this time next year if prize pools are thrown into the equation.

Mettlestate PUBG 2018 Teams List 4 of 4

This is going to be a very closely contested affair that you won’t want to miss! After Friday we will have an indication of who the team to beat is, testing them to the maximum of their ability. Follow The_Dexo on Twitter or watch him on Twitch.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″ offset=”vc_hidden-xs”][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”” style=”pagination” items_per_page=”8″ show_filter=”yes” element_width=”12″ gap=”10″ order=”ASC” filter_style=”dropdown” filter_default_title=”Matches” filter_align=”right” filter_color=”blue” item=”2271″ initial_loading_animation=”none” grid_id=”vc_gid:1531381589661-58c7d95f-0ab7-10″ taxonomies=”71, 84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 110″ filter_source=”category” el_class=”results” css=”.vc_custom_1527564819677{background-color: #30303d !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”ALL MATCHES” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:10|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1523611106929{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 5px !important;background-color: #30303d !important;}” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fesportscentral.co.za%2Fall-matches%2F|||”][vc_empty_space][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”” style=”pagination” items_per_page=”8″ show_filter=”yes” element_width=”12″ gap=”10″ filter_style=”dropdown” filter_default_title=”Results” filter_align=”right” filter_color=”blue” item=”2271″ initial_loading_animation=”none” grid_id=”vc_gid:1531381589663-7acd5b5b-088f-9″ taxonomies=”76, 85, 87, 89, 91, 93, 95, 111″ filter_source=”category” el_class=”results” css=”.vc_custom_1528177085357{background-color: #30303d !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”ALL RESULTS” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:10|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1523611113209{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 5px !important;background-color: #30303d !important;}” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fesportscentral.co.za%2Fall-results%2F|||”][/vc_column][/vc_row]