PMWC 2024 Group Stage Day 1: Korea’s Dplus take the lead, but can they hold on to it? 

One of the most anticipated tournaments at the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the PUBG Mobile World Cup (PMWC) 2024 has finally kicked off with the group stage. Twenty-four teams from regional Super Leagues (PMSL) and other tournaments are competing for the title and a share of the huge $3 million prize pool.

This is the third straight year that the mid-season PUBG Mobile tournament is taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In the past two years, the tournament was called the World Invitational (PMWI) and was a part of the Gamers8 festival. With the Gamers8 turning into the EWC, PUBG Mobile also evolved into the PMWC. The next few years’ tournaments could likely take place in the same venue too, as PUBG Mobile has revealed a three-year partnership with the Esports World Cup Foundation.

That being said, Day 1 of the PMWC 2024 Group Stage was an enticing affair, and here’s how it went down.

Dplus take the lead over China on Day 1 of the PMWC 2024 Group Stage

The main storyline emerging from the PMWC 2024 is that South Korea’s Dplus KIA, have emerged as the table leaders after a great outing on day one.

The first day of the competition was an indication of how close the competition has become in PUBG Mobile esports. All the chicken dinners were scored from different teams – all from different regions.

Dplus KIA, although, being on top could find it tough to hold onto that spot in the coming days. Additionally, only Groups Red and Yellow played on Day with Group Green starting their journey today. It has some great teams such as Vampire, Falcons, and Tong Jia Bao Esports.

Moving back to Dplus, they had two great matches, one of which was a first-place finish, to power them to the top of the table. What really propelled them to first was their aggression, picking up 43 kills from the six matches. Well, actually it was five matches because they found themselves placing dead last with zero kills on the second map of the day.

Overall Standings

Here are the overall standings after Day 1 of the PMWC 2024 Group Stage.

The bottom 8 teams are as follows:

The 12 teams from here will directly make it to the PMWC Main Tournament, while the bottom 12 will compete in the Survival Stage for the remaining slots in the finals.