BMPS 2026 opens with Groups B and C as Krafton's promotion-relegation cycle goes live
The 2026 Battlegrounds Mobile India Pro Series tipped off on Wednesday with Groups B and C playing the first six matches of Round 1 of the Qualifiers, the start of the new four-tier promotion-and-relegation cycle Krafton India unveiled in April. All six games streamed live on the Krafton India Esports YouTube channel from 3.30 pm IST, with Group C taking up the opening three slots and Group B closing out the day across Rondo, Erangel and Miramar.
A new format with a 64-team carousel
BMPS 2026 brings 64 teams together for the first time in a single competition pyramid. The Qualifiers, which run from 6 May to 31 May, divide those teams across four groups of 16, with Group A at the top of the table and Group D at the bottom. After every six-match block, the top four teams in Groups B, C and D are promoted into the group above, while the bottom four in Groups A, B and C are relegated downwards. By the end of the Qualifiers, the top eight in Group A go straight through to the Jaipur Grand Finals, while the bottom eight in Group D are out of the competition.
It is a sharper, more punishing structure than the open-format BMPS series of past years. There is no safety in mid-table. A side that drifts into ninth or tenth in a higher group can be back down in Group D within two cycles, and the eliminated eight at the bottom have nowhere left to climb back into.
Group C and Group B take the opening night
Group C, which went first, includes T7XORION Esports, NONX Esports, Blink Esports, 7ACESXTRB Esports, GenxFM Esports, Team Flying Esports, Mysterious4, Thundergods Tortuga Gaming, Ares Esport, Likitha Esports, Santa ESP, Rising Esports, Godsent Legions, Rapid Chaos Esports, Zero Ark Official and Aura X Esports.
Group B, which closed Wednesday's broadcast, fields Lastade Esports, 4TR Official, 7Gods Esports, K9 Esports, Troy Tamilan Esports, Jaguar Esports, MadKings, White Walkers, Team Apex Gaming, iQOO 8Bit, RiotNationz, NAQSH Esports, Team H4K, HiggBoson Esports, HADX Esports and WindGod Esports.
The most-watched debut in Group B is Team Apex Gaming, the new organisation Jonathan Amaral set up in April after leaving GodLike Esports. The TAG roster of Jelly, Hydro, KioLmao and Harsh is the former True Rippers core, the same group that finished second in the 2025 BGMI International Cup, represented India at the PUBG Mobile Global Championship and made the podium at the Chennai Esports Global Championship. iQOO 8bit, by contrast, sit 14th on Krafton India's Global Points table with no 2026 points logged yet, and Round 1 is effectively a survival fixture for them. With sixteen teams on the grid and only three maps to play, the Day 1 standings are useful as an early read at most rather than a verdict.
What is on the line: ₹2 crore and two EWC slots
The full BMPS 2026 prize pool is ₹2 crore plus, with two Esports World Cup 2026 berths on the line — one going to the BMPS 2026 champion and one to the team ranked highest on the KIE leaderboard at the end of the season. That is the genuine prize. The Qualifiers cycle decides which sides even get a chance at it, which is what makes the early-round drift between groups so consequential. A team that loses promotion in Round 1 can be three relegations away from elimination by the end of the month.
Group A and Group D take over on Thursday. By the end of the Qualifiers stage on 31 May, the picture across all 64 sides will be settled and the road to Jaipur drawn.
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