Team:Panda
| Panda Global | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | United States |
| Owners | Alan Bunney (SamuraiPanda) David Wu (Mashumaro) |
| Player manager | Bassem Dahdouh (Bear) (former) |
| Sponsors/Partners | |
| Other games |
|
Panda Global (PG) is a professional eSports organization based in the United States. It was co-founded by Alan Bunney (SamuraiPanda) and David Wu (Mashumaro) in June 2015 as a player centric organization looking to help their players' careers, facilitate their goals, and promote the growth of the eSports scenes they participate in.
Panda Global entered the world of Smash on June 24th, 2015 with the sponsorship of Florida Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Smash 4 top players ESAM and MVD as well as Villager main SS[1]. On June 30th, Panda Global took their first step in Super Smash Bros. Melee by signing Florida-based Sheik player Plup[2]. On November 2nd, Panda Global signed the EVO 2013 Melee runner-up Wobbles[3]. On June 22nd, 2016, they picked up Ryu main Trela[4]. On June 30th, Alpharad joined the team as their content director[5].
On May 7th, 2016, Panda Global picked up Dom, Zan, and suar as a newly-formed subteam called PG Stats which specialises in Smash 4 statistics[6]. They are responsible for the Panda Global Rankings, a biannual list that ranks the Top 50 Smash 4 players in the world. Tetra, juddy[7], Giant[8], and Spike were later added to the PG Stats team, although Tetra and juddy later left.
In January 2017, following SS and Trela's departure from the organization, Panda Global added SoCal's best Mewtwo main Rich Brown to their Smash 4 team and expanded into Super Smash Bros. by picking up SuPeRbOoMfAn, the best player in North America and second best player in the world according to the 64 League Rankings[9]. On April 12th, 2018, Panda Global added MD/VA's best player Zain to their Melee team[10]. On July 26th, 2018, Panda Global added Corrin main Cosmos to their Smash 4 team[11].
Current smashers
Pro smashers
| ID | Name | Game | Main(s) | Join Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
ESAM | Eric Lew | Super Smash Bros. Melee Super Smash Bros. Brawl Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Super Smash Bros. Ultimate |
     
|
2015-06-24 |
|
|
Plup | Justin McGrath | Super Smash Bros. Melee Super Smash Bros. Ultimate |
  
|
2015-06-30 |
|
SuPeRbOoMfAn | Daniel Hoyt | Super Smash Bros. |   
|
2017-01-17 |
|
|
Zain | Zain Naghmi | Super Smash Bros. Melee | 
|
2018-04-12 |
|
|
Cosmos | Brian Kalu | Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Super Smash Bros. Ultimate |
 
|
2018-07-26 |
|
|
Marss | Tyler Martins | Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Super Smash Bros. Ultimate |
  
|
2019-03-22 |
Other smashers
suar 
(PG Stats director, joined May 7th, 2016)- Alpharad
(content director, joined June 30th, 2016) - Spike (PG Stats designer)
- Dom
(PG Stats writer, joined May 7th, 2016) - fyazko (content creator, joined June 2nd, 2016)
- Keith (lead graphics artist, project manager)
PracticalTAS (PG Stats mathematician)- Tantalus (PG Tournament Organizer)
Stimpy 
(Actor Asa Butterfield, content creator)- Coney
(Commentator)
Former smashers
Pro smashers
| ID | Name | Game | Main(s) | Join Date | Leave Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
SS | Shane Bruce | Super Smash Bros. for Wii U |  
|
2015-06-24 | 2017-01-02 |
|
|
Trela | Alberto Miliziano | Super Smash Bros. Brawl Super Smash Bros. for Wii U |
 
|
2016-06-22 | 2017-01-02 |
|
|
Rich Brown | Rich Brown | Super Smash Bros. Brawl Super Smash Bros. for Wii U |
 
|
2017-01-17 | 2017-10-17 |
|
|
MVD | Jestise Negron | Super Smash Bros. Brawl Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Super Smash Bros. Ultimate |
  
|
2015-06-24 | 2019-01-04 |
|
|
Wobbles | Robert Wright | Super Smash Bros. Melee | 
|
2015-11-02 | 2019-01-04 |
Other smashers
- Bear
(team manager, tournament director, FGC manager) - Zan
(PG Stats analyst, joined May 7th, 2016) 
Tetra 
(PG Stats, joined June 2nd, 2016)- juddy (PG Stats statistician, joined June 2nd, 2016)
Other famous players
- Kyohei Lehr (MarlinPie) GGXrd
- Alexandre Dub-Bilodeau (Hayatei) Injustice 2
- Bryant Benzing (Kitana Prime) Injustice 2, MKXL
- Jachin Harte (SKD) BBCF, BBTag
- Stephen Stafford (Speedkicks) Tekken 7
- Evan Towne (Rocketek) Splatoon
- Joshua Thompson (Fullstream) Rivals of Aether
- Derek Bruscas (Nakkiel) Dragon Ball FighterZ
- Aaron Zheng (Cybertron) Pokemon VGC
- Wolfe Glick (Wolfey) Pokemon VGC
PG Key
PG Key is an online tournament series organized by PG and directed by Bear. Each entry is a qualifier dedicated to a major offline tournament, with the winner being flown out as an honorary player temporarily sponsored by the organization.
| Tournament | Date | Entrants | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key to The PG House | September 8th-18th, 2016 | 1994 | Wrath NA Mr.R EU |
Raffi-X NA Badr EU
|
| PG Key to GENESIS 4 | January 1st-5th, 2017 | 986 | Cosmos* |
Wrath*
|
| PG Key to Frostbite 2017 | February 12th-17th, 2017 | 740 | Cosmos* |
Zage
|
| PG Key to 2GGC: Civil War | March 5th-8th, 2017 | 620 | Sonido |
CaptainZack
|
| PG Key to Midwest Mayhem 8 | March 18th-30th, 2017 | 450 |  Sonix* |
lapis lazuli*
|
- Cosmos and Wrath were both unable to attend, so the key was passed down to the 3rd place finisher, Koolaid.
- Cosmos was unable to attend, so the key was passed down to the runner-up, Zage.
- Sonix and lapis lazuli both declined their keys, so it was passed down to the 3rd place finisher, Locus.
External links
- Official website
- Twitter account
- PG Stats Twitter account
- YouTube channel
- Twitch channel
- Panda Global entry at the Smash Liquipedia section
References
- ^ ESAM and MVD have officially signed with new esports team Panda Gaming!.
- ^ Plup joins Panda Global.
- ^ Panda Global signs Wobbles.
- ^ Panda Global signs Trela, will compete under team banner at CEO.
- ^ Alpharad joins Panda Global.
- ^ Panda Global announces new Smash 4 stats team.
- ^ juddy and Tetra join PG Stats.
- ^ Giant joins PG Stats as Lead Systems Engineer!.
- ^ Panda Global signs SuPeRbOoMfAn and Rich Brown.
- ^ Welcome to the Plup Club: Zain joins Panda Global!.
- ^ Introducing Panda Global's newest member, Cosmos!!.
