Team Liquid announced that they will be throwing their hat into the PUBG ring, starting on August 23rd at Gamescom. The four players heading to Germany are
- Oliver “Ollywood” Tell,
- Daniel “Hayz” Heaysmen”,
- Bjorn “ Molnman” Won Hak Jannson,
- and last but not least, “Scoom”.
The Roster is half swedish, half british, and was selected for player skill over a viewerbase.
Team Liquid explained their drafting decisions on the website, “We decided to seek the most talented players on the western servers. Scoom, Molnman, Hayz, and Ollywood caught our attention with their insane stats and likeable personalities. We want to support these players so that they can place highly in the competitions to come.“ Liquid had a lackluster showing in the last blockbuster release for E-sports, (Overwatch) and currently they are unable to hold a top ten position on the Gosu rankings.
With this focus on player skill and stats over viewership, it’s clear that Liquid wants to win and is taking the emergence of PUBG seriously. Whether or not it will be sustainable as a competitive scene remains to be seen, but there are still over 230,000 Players logged on and playing as of the writing of this article. With a player base like that to start, the chances of success aren’t bad and it would be much easier for Liquid to dominate the scene of this new game than it would be to climb in other arenas. Once Gamescom weekend rolls out, Liquid’s future will be a bit easier to see.
