PWC 2019: Details on participants

World Championship will be held from 16th to 18th of November

The Paladins World Championship 2019 is right around the corner, namely, it will be held from 16th to 18th of November. The qualifying stage of this World Championship is over, the participants of the main part of the competition are known, which means that we can examine in detail all the contenders for the title.

Let's start, of course, with the first opponent of  NAVI.GG.BET at the tournament -  Virtus.pro. The Bears became the winners of the pilot season of the Paladins Premier League a year ago, thus drawing some attention to themselves. However, instead of the natural progress and development of the team, it simply broke apart: only the Russian Leo «eLvenpath» Strokov remained in the line-up, around which a team was built multiple times.

The organization initially tried to build a team consisting entirely of Russian players, but this led to a total collapse in two splits in a row: the Bears couldn't win once and lost 16 matches. After another replacement of the lineup - this time with the European mix - the fall split of the Paladins Premier League was not the best for the team and ranked fourth, however, in qualifying stage for the championship, the team knocked out such well-known squads as Splyce and SK Gaming.

NAVI bootcamp before the tournament

The team  Virtus.pro are the outsiders in the match against the “yellow-black”, but successful run in the qualifying stage can affect the team favorably. For this reason, our guys need to be as careful as possible and be well-prepared for the match with this opponent.

 Fnatic also successfully went through the qualifying stage. The very fact of having such a strong team in the qualification stage is somewhat surprising, considering the players of this team each time completed the split within the top positions. However, this time the crisis of reforming the team hit the  Fnatic's game quite hard, which is why the team took the third place in the autumn split, letting NAVI and Ninjas in Pyjamas surpass them.

Nevertheless, in the qualifying matches,  Fnatic did not have any particular problems and they beat all their rivals. It only means that the team is gradually gaining their form and is preparing to arrive at the world championship armed to the teeth. In addition, it must be remembered: the former captain of Natus Vincere  Kevin «UNBELIVABLE» Rahu, who is well aware of all intricacies of the “yellow-blacks”, is now playing in  Fnatic. In other words, at the moment this team is a dark horse, who is able to show an excellent result.

Two more participants of the championship past through the qualifying stage: the representative of Australia  Kanga Esports and  Spacestation Gaming from South America. It is noteworthy that both teams played at the previous World Championships and kept their roster unchanged. Despite the fact that teams should be counted as outsiders, they can not be underestimated: last year’s example of  Nocturns Gaming, when this opponent managed to impose a fight against our guys and eventually finished fourth.

NAVI Paladins lineup

Now we should take a look at the teams that came to the World Championship as a result of good performance in the autumn split of the Paladins Premier League. First of all, of course, you need to pay attention to the second team in Europe - Ninjas in Pyjamas. After minor changes in their lineup, the “ninjas” took advantage of  Fnatic's crisis and took second place in the split, which ensured their participation in the World Cup. Thought,  Natus Vincere managed to beat Ninjas in Pyjamas in two games with a total score of 6 : 1, but this does not mean that the players of this organization will approach the start of the major tournament of the year unprepared. In addition, the first opponent in the face of Spacestation Gaming does not look "impassable."

To close out our review we have the best representatives of the American Paladins Premier League - Team Envy and  G2 Esports. These really are the strongest teams of this region: if we consider the three remaining teams, only  SK Gaming had a chance to reach the main part of the World Championship.

As for  Team Envy and  G2 Esports, it's really worth being wary of them. The teams have shown good results in recent tournaments and now probably want to show the same level of play at the World Championships. It should be noted that in case of victory,  Natus Vincere players have the chance to meet with G2 Esports in the second round. And such a match will definitely not going to be a walkover!

Let us remind you, all the details of the upcoming World Cup can be found in our , and the first match with the participation of "yellow-black" will begin on November 16 at 16:00 CET. For now, we'll just have to wait for the Paladins World Championship 2019, which promises to be extremely interesting. We support NAVI and believe that the guys will be able to defend their title! #NAVINATION