Gen.G — Part 3

A thin limit

During previous articles, we’ve explained the core of Gen.G gameplay, and we came to the conclusion they’ve developed a nearly flawless team play that has proven to be relevant and very stable at the highest level.

However, before PGI.S, the Korean team had a really disappointing year. With not a single top 3 during the year, including a no-show in Asia PCS 2, they’ve come a long way to get there.

During week 4, we had a glimpse of this terrible year, and their old devils were not that far away. In this last article, we’ll get a closer look at this specific series, and try to figure out why they’re able to get from an extreme to another within a week.

Lobby dynamic

During most matches, their rotations to find a safe entry point in late-game were unsuccessful.

Despite average or positive shifts, they consistently end up in a poor position where they got isolated (example 1, example 2) or in between two teams (example 1, example 2).

That’s the counterpart of refusing early fights. Endless rotations can lead to bad games, especially in a lobby where either other teams are willing to clear their side aggressively (MCG, for example), either other teams play slowly to preserve their resources as well (ZEN, TL).

Stubbornness

Even if I’ve stated before that circles were pretty decent in terms of luck, they didn’t suit Gen.G style very well.

On several occasions, the playable area didn’t provide a lot (if any) intermediate position Gen.G could aim for. Since they’re not the kind of team willing to make an all-in call, they ended up in unplayable positions. If Gen.G can implement a few percent of unpredictable plays, they could easily improve their average outcome in this kind of situation.

Conclusion

Even if I could carry on with counterparts of every strength they have, I would like to finish with two things:

• Gen.G used to be qualified early during survivals which let them time to prepare finals. At the same time, most teams were still struggling with the WWCD puzzle. However, with a lot of top teams already qualified as I write this article, I wouldn’t be surprised if they face a bit more adversity this week,
• With high stakes and a really experienced lobby, we should see slower games overall this weekend. I believe this kind of scenario to be highly unfavorable to Gen.G. Indeed, they should have less room to develop their play style, and they will have to create opportunities through early fights, which is not their comfort zone.

This entire study has been really informative to me. As a coach, exploring other teams' gameplay and identifying the habits you can implement to your own gameplay is something I believe to be important, especially if you understand how did they get there.

If Gen.G manages to keep going with their current dynamic, they’ll enter PUBG history on Sunday with really demanding gameplay, which will hopefully set new standards.

Maxime “Znooper” GONY