PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS · 2026-11-11
Two Points, One Match: How Twisted Minds Took Back the PUBG Crown at PGS 12
Two points separated Twisted Minds and eArena heading into the last match of PGS 12. By the end of it, Twisted Minds had an 11-elimination Chicken Dinner, a 17-point winning margin, and their first PUBG Global Series trophy since PGS 9. In Are the Kings Back?, Kowo breaks down how the squad ended its title drought and won the final PGS event of 2026.
A Lead That Nearly Disappeared
Twisted Minds entered the last day of the Grand Finals in front, but eArena put them under immediate pressure with a 10-elimination win in Match 11. DN SOOPers stayed in contention too. By the end of Match 14, Twisted Minds had 119 points to eArena’s 117, leaving the title open with one game to play.
That two-point gap is the detail that makes the final standings worth a closer look. In a competition where both placement and eliminations count, eArena could have overturned the lead without even winning the last lobby. Twisted Minds settled the race themselves: first place and 11 eliminations gave them 21 points in Match 15, taking their total to 140. eArena finished second on 123, with DN SOOPers third on 117.
The final Chicken Dinner was their third of the Grand Finals. Across 15 matches, they collected 79 elimination points and 61 placement points. eArena finished only three eliminations behind them, but the gap in placement points was 14. The last match delivered the trophy; the full standings show how much staying alive across the series mattered.
Why This Win Matters for Twisted Minds
The question in Kowo’s title carries weight because of what Twisted Minds had already achieved. The team won three consecutive PGS titles in 2024, then took the Esports World Cup and PGS 9 in 2025. That run set a high standard for the roster of BatulinS, xmpl, Perfect1ks, and Lu.
KRAFTON’s separate tournament retrospective with caster Jisooboy puts the drought in the context of PUBG Esports’ 2026 switch from first-person to third-person play. Third-person view lets players gather information from behind cover, changing how teams read positions and decide whether to move or fight. For an experienced roster, the challenge was adapting habits that had worked well enough to win titles under the previous format.
That makes Kowo’s step-by-step breakdown a useful companion to the result. The scoreboard tells you how narrowly Twisted Minds led before the last game and how decisively they finished it. The replay gives you a chance to look for the decisions behind those numbers: when the squad could afford to fight, when keeping players alive mattered more, and how it turned a narrow lead into a match win.
The Next Test Is the World Championship
PGS 12 closed both Circuit 4 and the season-long PGS points race. Twisted Minds qualified for the 32-team PUBG Global Championship 2026 as the seventh seed through PGS points. Both teams that joined them on the PGS 12 podium are in the field as well: eArena qualified third through that route and DN SOOPers fourth.
Whether the kings are back for good is a question for the World Championship. PGS 12 answered the immediate one: with their closest rival two points behind and one match left, Twisted Minds won the lobby and took the title.