$2 Million FNCS Invitational Announced – More Entertainment than Skill

Speculation about what comes next after the last season of FNCS wrapped out didn’t have to last very long. Just after the conclusion of the last event, Epic has announced an FNCS invitational to take place over May, with $2 million in prize pools to be spread around 500 players per region.

This latest tournament uses the Solos format, which is out of the ordinary for a Fortnite competitive event. Weirder though is the player selection. While Epic is partially using their qualifiers system for past events, they’re supplementing this with invited players. Top players from past FNCS events are going to be given a spot, along with 100 other players who are being personally picked by Epic. Compared with the ‘meritocracy’ approach of previous entirely open cups, this one is giving big-name players and streamers a free pass.

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The FNCS Invitational Overview

The FNCS invitation will take place over three weekends from May 9^th. The majority of players taking part are going to be invited by Epic rather than having to qualify. This is how the roster is going to break down:

• The top 100 players from the recent FNCS finals on PC.
• Top 100 players from the finals on console and mobile.
• The top 100 players from the Season X FNCS finals
• Up to 100 more players selected by Epic
• 100 players qualified through open qualifiers running on May 2^nd.

This will apply to every region of the game. The format for the tournament’s scoring is also a bit different. This is how the new points system works:

• Placement – A lot more points are being awarded for placement. A victory royale nets you 33 points, 2^nd gets you 26, this number continues to decrease until you get to 51^st-75^th place which gets you 1 point.
• Each Elimination gets 4 points.

This new placement system is pretty different and it gives more power to placement than kills, with everyone but the bottom 25 players receiving a point just for survival. This does allow Solo players to take bigger risks than they typically would though, since staying alive is often more of a concern in this game mode.

More Entertainment than Competitive

The FNCS invitational is a welcome addition to Epic’s competitive roster. It is different enough from the recent events to break the monotony that has built up around tournaments. Epic should be able to bring a bit more excitement to this format.

Handpicking 100 extra players is obviously going to involve some streamers or content creators being airlifted in. This should spice up the normal roster of the top players. Including the top 100 players from last season’s FNCS and that of Season 10 will also guarantee a certain mix of big names players in every region, bringing those from two seasons ago to keep things fresh.

Allowing some extra players to qualify through opens keeps the tournament consistent with what Epic has done before and the ‘open to everyone’ approach they seem to favor. As an invitational though, most of the eyes are going to be on those invited. There is great potential for some of the newcomers through the open to make big waves.

The format’s roster and point system is geared to making even Solos matches more exciting viewing. Taking out the grind period of qualifying and competing for weeks on end should help this tournament keep up the momentum.

The system in use to pick notable players and give them a spot might not have the most competitive integrity. However, it will guarantee Epic a fairly eventful tournament that gets the viewer’s attention. This is a welcome change of pace from recent cups. While Epic’s next big competitive event to really grab attention is going to be the next world cup, the FNCS sideshow looks like a great addition to the competitive roster in between.

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