NPL Royale Phase 2: A preview of this weekend’s tournament

Teams from NPL and NPL Contenders will clash for the second ever NPL Royale. With an $80,000 prize pool to be had, who will rise to the occasion?

Coming off three weeks of competition in NPL Phase Two, spectators will notice some fresh faces on the OGN Super Arena stage this weekend. Standard action will pause for NPL Royale, a clash between all 32 teams from NPL and NPL Contenders.

NPL Royale offers intriguing matchups between teams from NPL and NPL Contenders. It’s typically a great opportunity to gauge how teams play against new an opponent, as well as an early sign of which teams may be promoted or relegated at the conclusion of Phase Two.

Here’s how the NPL Royale breaks down:

All 32 teams from NPL and NPL Contenders are divided into either Group A or Group B. This is determined by the team’s current placement in their respective league, ensuring balanced groups. I have included a complete list of the teams competing this weekend, and which Group they will play in.

Group A is comprised of teams who are currently placed in these positions from both NPL and Contenders: 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 13th, and 16th.

• NPL – Tempo Storm, Endemic, Cloud 9, Lazarus, eUnited, Simplicity, Denial Esports, and Pecadores.
• NPL Contenders – Soniqs, Vicious Gaming, Elevate, Ripe Army, Almost, Zenith eSports, The Happy Campers, and Noble.

Group B is comprised of the remaining positions: 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 14th, and 15th.

• NPL – Rumblers, Player One Esports, Ghost Gaming, Spacestation Gaming, Wildcard Gaming, Team Envy, Excelerate Gaming, and BM Gaming.
• NPL Contenders – Lowkey Esports, Leggo Your Ego, The God Squad, Shook, YellowPike Gaming, Comets, Trifecta, and Halocline.

https://twitter.com/OGNEsports/status/1130268766892244992

The tournament will kick off with Group A playing four matches, split between the two maps; Erangel and Miramar. Later, Group B will take the stage to play their four matches. Following those rounds, the Top 8 teams from each group will advance into Sunday’s finals.

The Top 8 teams from each group will meet on Sunday to fight for the NPL Royale Championship. There, they’ll play six more matches to decide how the $80,000 prize pool will be divided up.

The teams from NPL Contenders should enter this tournament with a chip on their shoulder, eager to prove themselves amongst North America’s best squads. While it’s easier said than done, we’ve witnessed Contenders teams find success at this event in the Phase One NPL Royale.

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Spoiler alert! So far, every substantial NPL prize has been handed over to Tempo Storm, who also just overtook first place in NPL Phase Two standings. Only sixteen matches separate them from a repeat and another $100,000 paycheck. Sure, an NPL Contenders team could surprise us this weekend, but you’re likely going to have to fight off at least one of the NPL juggernauts.

At the end of the day, these teams have already been divided into their respective league, based on how they performed amongst one another. So, we may have a pretty good idea of how they will fare in this weekend’s tournament, with the exception of a couple of scenarios.

First, teams from NPL are much more worried about their performance when there are placement points, and eventually larger prizes, on the table. Spending this small break to work on their NPL strategy could prove to pay off in the long-run, as opposed to spending their time learning about the Contenders teams.

Secondly, teams from Contenders could catch some of the NPL teams off-guard with either their loot location or rotations. This is something we’ve observed at Global Events when teams that loot the same location are forced to execute a Plan B.

It’s going to be interesting to see how teams from NPL Contenders stack up against their big brothers from NPL. The tournament will begin on Saturday at 2 p.m. PDT/ 5 p.m. EDT, live from the OGN Super Arena in Manhattan Beach, California.