Epic is doing a good job at their push towards Fortnite’s esports career. After seven weeks of intense competition, the Weekly Skirmish event is coming to a close. It end with a bang as PAX West holds a massive Fortnite tournament that will last four days. This will mark Fortnite’s first official LAN tournament, and pave the way for its competitive future. Entry is first-come, first-serve – probably resulting on a lot of unknown players getting their chance to shine.
Let’s discuss how this is panning out and what to expect when Friday finally rolls over.
Holding a tournament with 100 players playing at the same time takes a lot of logistical effort, and at PAX, everyone will try to get their hands in the money. Players have to sign up at the tournament, and go through a series of qualifiers that would allow them to get a shot at the money.
Image Courtesy of Fortnite Master
Qualifiers will begin on the 31st of August and will end on the 2nd of September. Every day will hold three different heats. To determine who will move on into the grand finals, one last qualifying round will take place, where the top 32 players from every heat face of to get a shot to make it to the end. This format is something out of the box that will for sure shake things up. The potential it has to set the way for other tournaments is there. Now we just have to see how it unfolds as PAX West progresses.
Victory Royale: +3 Points
2nd-3rd Place: +2 Points
4th-10th Place: +1 Point
3-4 Eliminations: +1 Point*
5-6 Eliminations: +2 Points*
7+ Eliminations: +3 Points*
The rules of the Skirmish change yet again, keeping things fresh. The new format looks very promising, as it rewards both passive and aggressive play. Both styles should give one the possibility to win enough points to keep advancing through the ranks.
The prize pool for this tournament is $1.5 million – a high-caliber reward that only adds to the players’ competitive intensity. With all of this money on the line, everyone will certainly be charged up.
Now let’s go over the placings.
1st place: $225,000
2nd place: $180,000
3rd place: $135,000
4th place: $120,000
5th place: $105,000
6th place: $67,500
7th place: $52,500
8th place: $37,500
9th place: $30,000
10th place: $22,500
11th-15th places: $15,000
16th-20th places: $11,250
21st-100th places: $5,000
Due to the qualifying process, a lot of professional players will fall out of the bracket early on, and a lot of unknown players will come out of the blue. Professionals won’t have it as easy as they believe, and of the first top ten placings, we will at least see two unknown players. This tournament will likely give us a set of new faces to look forward to seeing again in future tournaments.
As time ticks PAX West comes closer, a historic time for Fortnite is arriving.
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