Gunz Esports come out on top at the PUBG Mobile Star Challenge Arabia 2020
The last days of 2020 has brought us another major PUBG Mobile tournament, this time in Arabia. This online esports tournament brought together 16 of the best teams in the region to compete in the PUBG Mobile Star Challenge Arabia 2020.
After a grueling 12 matches across the three-day tournament, Gunz Esports came out on top of the Star Challenge in 2020. The Morocco based team won $40,000 of the $100,000 prize pool. This is the third Star Challenge that directly invited teams from around the Middle East and North Africa to compete. This is the first year that it was specifically titled Star Challenge Arabia and held completely online.
The Event
During the three-day tournament, Gunz Esports managed to get 69 kills across the 12 matches. They maintained a solid footing across the whole tournament, never dipping below average. In fact, they managed to secure seven top four finishes out of a potential 12 and two first place chicken dinners.
Their rock-solid performance rocketed them to the top of the leader board with 165 points. It wasn’t a clean sweep. Rico Infinity Team, the second-place team, was only 15 points behind them in the rankings.
In the final game of the tournament, Rico Infinity Team was only two points behind Gunz Esports and could have clinched the win out from under the leaders. The final match was on the Erangel map and it was only the unfortunate elimination of Rico Infinity Team at 15th place that denied them a chance at winning the whole tournament outright.
The overall standings for the 2020 event are as follows:
- Gunz Esports (165 points)
- Rico Infinity Team (150 points)
- Frag Machines (130 points)
- Iraqi Elite (120 points)
- YaLLa Esports (108 points)
- Arab GSG (97 points)
- Fate Esports (93 points)
- Headquarters (88 points)
- Nasr Esports (79 points)
- Sarok Team (76 points)
- The Spark Esports (71 points)
- Sudor Esports (57 points)
- The Force (52 points)
- Osh Tekk Warriors (50 points)
- SNP Team (44 points)
- Badinan Squad (33 points)
The future of the esport in Arabia
The success of this event and the growth in popularity of the esport in the region is very apparent, especially to the developers and tournament organisers. It is clear that they have plans for the region in the new year.
From 2021, Arabia will be added as a separate region in the PUBG Mobile Pro League. Alongside the Pro League, they are also adding a new Club Open for the region. These events will be held alongside the leagues and Club Opens for the Middle East, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, MENA WC, and Turkey.
The top teams
Browsing Liquidpedia, it is clear that many of these organisations have been founded in 2020. Despite the mobile version of the game releasing in 2018, it has grown and inspired many teams to start in the past year, especially in the MENA region. Now that the esport has grown, this all-encompassing region that covers the Middle East and North Africa, is starting to be split apart to make room for the ever-expanding number of teams that are taking advantage of the low barrier for entry that the mobile esports provides.
I believe that we will see many more competitive teams in the new year, there are plenty of teams already duking it out in the region. I recommend you check out organisations like Frag Machines, IRAQI ELITE, and YaLLa Esports if you want to see some of the current top teams in the region. As the esport grows we could see some of these big players topple and fall leaving the field open for any up-and-coming organisations.
Featured Image Credits: PUBG Mobile Arabic
