This weekend marked the first-ever PUBG stadium event and it saw some of the biggest names in esports fall by the wayside. In a field that contained Ninjas in Pyjamas, Evil Geniuses, Luminosity Gaming, Team Liquid, C9, TSM and FaZe Clan, it was aAa_pubg that came out on top.

The Intel Extreme Masters PUBG Invitational was a fierce two-day tournament that saw many tight match-ups on the leaderboards. In the end, only 30 points separated Tempo Storm’s 2nd place finish from FaZe Clan’s 4th.

In fact, aAa’s final 235 point lead over Tempo Storm was the largest discrepancy between any two places in the entire competition. By comparison, the separation between the 2nd and 10th place finishers was only 230 points. 

The total prize pool for the tournament was $200,000; an impressive number considering it’s the first of its kind. aAa earned $60,000 for the top spot with the remaining $140,000 being spread out between 2nd through 8th spots.

Though aAa finished strong, they weren’t a dominant force throughout the competition. The French underdog team had to overcome a strong Day 1 showing from TSM, who were at the top of the leaderboard at the start of Day 2. aAa also only tied for the third most kills in the tournament with 38. The two teams ahead of them were FaZe Clan and Noble, each with 39.

Meanwhile, Evil Geniuses managed to muster up just 10 kills throughout the tournamen. A total that aAa and others managed to achieve in single matches, securing the Geniuses their last place finish.  

If you didn’t get a chance to catch this tournament, there’ll probably be plenty of opportunities in the future. As only the second real PUBG tournament, the Intel Extreme Masters competition solidified the fact that PUBG is an esport that’s here to stay.

The strategy and suspense that accompanies PUBG is what’s been missing from other shooter esports like COD. When you watch it, it feels much more like LoL or Dota. The matches have an ebb and flow to them that often culminates into at least one big shootout each match, similar to team fights.

Though no other major tournaments are currently on the docket, don’t be surprised to hear that change in the coming weeks. And rest assured, when the news roles in, we’ll let you know.