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Team:Panda

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Panda
PNG New Logotype of Panda from their pack on their website
Location United States USA
Owners Alan Bunney (SamuraiPanda)
David Wu (Mashumaro)
Sponsors/Partners GEICO
Vertagear
Twitch
Meta Threads
Toshiba
Funimation
Other games Dragon Ball FighterZ
Guilty Gear Xrd
Hearthstone: Heroes of WarCraft
Heroes of the Storm
Marvel Vs. Capcom
Mortal Kombat
Splatoon
Street Fighter
TEKKEN

Panda, formerly 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 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 took their first step in Super Smash Bros. Melee by signing Florida-based Sheik player Plup[2]. On November 2nd, Panda 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 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 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 added MD/VA's best player Zain to their Melee team[10]. On July 26th, 2018, Panda added Corrin main Cosmos to their Smash 4 team[11].

On November 18th, 2021, Panda announced a partnership with Nintendo to create the first officially-licensed North American competitive circuit.[12] On May 26th, 2022, the circuit was officially announced as the Panda Cup.[13] It is taking place from June 24th to December 18th, 2022 and features Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

On November 29th, 2022, a Twitlonger from the Smash World Tour 2022 was published alleging that Panda had leveraged their relationship with Nintendo to strong-arm tournament organizers into joining the Panda Cup circuit, threatening to shut down events in 2023. The TwitLonger also alleged that they had played a significant role in the last-minute cancellation of the Smash World Tour 2022 Championships for Ultimate and Melee, claiming that CEO Alan Bunney had campaigned to have the circuit shut down. This caused significant backlash from the community, with several prominent figures criticizing Panda's and Nintendo's actions, including top players Sparg0 and Hungrybox as well as notable streamers such as Cr1TiKaL, and Ludwig. Many players also dropped out of the Panda Cup as many in the community called for a boycott. In response, Panda released two responses. The first released on December 2nd and was largely criticized for lacking substance, leading to the departure of Plup, iBDW, and WaDi.[14] The second response was released on December 5th, which was more well received due to the CEO Bunney stepping down and the team's commitment to helping team members with their departure.[15]

On December 7th, Bunney himself released a personal response detailing his side of the story. The main points were that he and Panda never meant to harm VGBC and even defended them at points, members of Beyond the Summit were difficult to work with, and members of the community were conspiring to turn on Panda, as well as the theory that Smash World Tour was never going to happen and was only a front to be perceived as a martyr by the community. This response was met with backlash from the community, with many prominent figures, even ones not mentioned in any response up to that point, speaking up to challenge and debunk his claims. Others pointed out that Bunney may actually had good intentions, but it was ruined by his poor communication and behavior.

Current smashers

Other smashers

  • USA Spike (PGstats designer)
  • USA Dom Villager (SSB4)Sheik (SSB4) (PGstats writer, joined May 7th, 2016)
  • USA fyazko (content creator, joined June 2nd, 2016)
  • USA Keith (lead graphics artist, project manager)
  • USA PSI Lucas (SSBU)Young Link (SSBU) (graphics artist)
  • Canada Kantrip Diddy Kong (SSBU) (Influencer)
  • USA Juggleguy Captain Falcon (SSBM)
  • USA BOAT Toon Link (SSBU) (Merchandise coordinator)

Former smashers

Pro smashers

ID Name Game Main(s) Join Date Leave Date
United States SS Shane Bruce Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Villager (SSB4)Ness (SSB4) 2015-06-24 2017-01-02
United States Trela Alberto Miliziano Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 		Lucario (SSBB)
Ryu (SSB4) 		2016-06-22 2017-01-02
United States Rich Brown Rich Brown Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 		Olimar (SSBB)
Mewtwo (SSB4) 		2017-01-17 2017-10-17
United States MVD Jestise Negron Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 		Snake (SSBB)
Diddy Kong (SSB4)
Snake (SSBU) 		2015-06-24 2019-01-04
United States Wobbles Robert Wright Super Smash Bros. Melee Ice Climbers (SSBM) 2015-11-02 2019-01-04
United States Zain Zain Naghmi Super Smash Bros. Melee Marth (SSBM) 2018-04-12 2019-08-11
United States Cosmos Brian Kalu Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 		Corrin (SSB4)
Inkling (SSBU) 		2018-07-26 2019-08-11
Canada SuPeRbOoMfAn Daniel Hoyt Super Smash Bros. Captain Falcon (SSB) Pikachu (SSB) Kirby (SSB) 2017-01-17 2020-07-08
Japan Prince Unknown name Super Smash Bros. Yoshi (SSB) 2019-07-19 2021-07-16
United States Plup Justin McGrath Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 		Sheik (SSBM)Fox (SSBM)Samus (SSBM)
Pikachu (SSB4)Rosalina & Luma (SSB4)
Mega Man (SSBU)Ridley (SSBU)Greninja (SSBU) 		2015-06-30 2022-12-02
USA iBDW Cody Schwab Super Smash Bros. Melee Fox (SSBM) 2020-05-05 2022-12-02
USA WaDi Chris Boston Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ROB (SSBU)Mewtwo (SSBU)

Random (SSB4)

2021-04-02 2022-12-02
United States ESAM Eric Lew Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 		Samus (SSBM)
Pikachu (SSB4)Samus (SSB4)
Pikachu (SSBU)Mii Brawler (SSBU) 		2015-06-24 2023-01-15
United States Marss Tyler Martins Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Zero Suit Samus (SSBU) 2019-03-22 2023-01-16

Other smashers

  • USA Alpharad Mario (SSB4)Mario (SSBU)Joker (SSBU) (content director, joined June 30th, 2016)
  • USA Bear Bowser (SSB4) (Team manager, tournament director, FGC manager)
  • USA suar Sheik (SSB4) (PG Stats director, joined May 7th, 2016)
  • USA Zan Toon Link (SSB4) (PG Stats analyst, joined May 7th, 2016)
  • France Tetra Captain Falcon (SSB4)Bowser (SSB4) (PG Stats, joined June 2nd, 2016)
  • Canada juddy (PG Stats statistician, joined June 2nd, 2016)
  • UK Stimpy Roy (SSBU) (Actor Asa Butterfield, content creator)
  • USA FullStream Inkling (SSBU) (Rivals of Aether player)
  • USA Chia R.O.B. (SSBU) (Joined May 5th, 2020)
  • USA Simply Marth (SSBM) (Mario 64 speedrunner, content creator)
  • USA Tantalus (PG Tournament Organizer)
  • USA turndownforwalt Mario (SSBM) (Content creator)
  • USA BobbyWasabi Villager (SSBU) (Video editor)
  • USA VikkiKitty Corrin (SSBU)Kirby (SSBU) (Commentator, content creator)
  • USA TKbreezy Wii Fit Trainer (SSBU) (Commentator, content creator)
  • USA Coney Wolf (SSBU) (Creative Lead, commentator)
  • Canada PracticalTAS (PGstats mathematician)
  • USA Daramgaria Ness (SSBU)King Dedede (SSBU) (Commentator, content creator)
  • USA Jackie Peanuts Dr. Mario (SSBU) (PGstats director)
  • USA Jut Incineroar (SSBU) (Social media manager)
  • USA Jaaahsh R.O.B. (SSBU) (Community organizer, player manager)
  • Australia Little Z Wario (SSBU) (Content creator)

Other famous players

  • Justin Wong (JWong) FGC
  • Kyohei Lehr (MarlinPie) GGXrd
  • Alexandre Dub-Bilodeau (Hayatei) MK11
  • Bryant Benzing (Kitana Prime) MK11
  • Jachin Harte (SKD) BBCF, BBTag
  • Stephen Stafford (Speedkicks) Tekken 7
  • Evan Towne (Rocketek) Splatoon
  • Derek Bruscas (Nakkiel) Dragon Ball FighterZ
  • Victor Woodley (Punk) SF5
  • Keenan Kizzie (Kizzie Kay) GGXrd, SamSho19
  • Faye Mata Voice Actor
  • Anna Cramling Chess

PG Key

PG Key was an online tournament series organized by PG and directed by Bear. Each entry was 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 USA Wrath NA
Netherlands Mr.R EU		 USA Raffi-X NA
Netherlands Badr EU
PG Key to GENESIS 4 January 1st-5th, 2017 986 USA Cosmos* USA Wrath*
PG Key to Frostbite 2017 February 12th-17th, 2017 740 USA Cosmos* USA Zage
PG Key to 2GGC: Civil War March 5th-8th, 2017 620 USA Sonido USA CaptainZack
PG Key to Midwest Mayhem 8 March 18th-30th, 2017 450 Dominican Republic Sonix* USA 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.

Gallery

  • Panda's former logo.

    Panda's former logo.

References

  1. ^ ESAM and MVD have officially signed with new esports team Panda Gaming!.
  2. ^ Plup joins Panda.
  3. ^ Panda signs Wobbles.
  4. ^ Panda signs Trela, will compete under team banner at CEO.
  5. ^ Alpharad joins Panda.
  6. ^ Panda announces new Smash 4 stats team.
  7. ^ juddy and Tetra join PG Stats.
  8. ^ Giant joins PG Stats as Lead Systems Engineer!.
  9. ^ Panda signs SuPeRbOoMfAn and Rich Brown.
  10. ^ Welcome to the Plup Club: Zain joins Panda!.
  11. ^ Introducing Panda's newest member, Cosmos!!.
  12. ^ Announcement of partnership
  13. ^ Panda Cup announcement
  14. ^ Panda's first response.
  15. ^ Panda's second response.

External links

References

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