Tfue & Cloakzy trump Nickmercs in $100k Twitch Rivals event: Fortnite is back!

People thought we’d never see peak Fortnite again, but Epic Games has managed to come very close at the least.

On Sunday evening, a collection of Fortnite streamers, pros and content creators came together for the Twitch Rivals Creator Series NA Kick-Off event. With $100k on the line, this was the first big tournament we’ve seen on the new Zero Build mode.

So many Fortnite OGs showed up to take part, making it truly feel like we were back in 2018. The line up included Tfue, Ninja, Nickmercs, Cloakzy, Myth, Chap, and CDNThe3rd among others.

The action was intense throughout, and going into the last game second place Nickmercs, Clix and NickEh30 needed something special. They discussed landing on leaders Tfue, Cloakzy and Scoped to take the fight to them, but ended up opting to play it safe and stick to their Tilted Towers gameplan.

In true competitive Fortnite fashion, the two teams ran into each other later on in the game for a monumental battle. Nickmercs and co came out on top, though Tfue already had two many points, and even if they had won the match they wouldn’t have had enough to take first.

So just like the old days, it was Tfue and Cloakzy, and their controller demon teammate Scoped, who wound up lifting the trophy. Staying fully on brand, the Fall Skirmish Champions both started chugging beers in their post-match interview with Twitch.

This tournament was so exciting to watch, and definitely brought back some vibes that have been missing from Fortnite for a long time now. While this was largely due to the personalities involved rather than the Zero Build gameplay, I think most people would agree we need more of this going forward.

Regularly running these fun, invitational, third-party Zero Build events alongside the normal Fortnite esports schedule would be a great way to keep the attention of these massive streamers, without harming the competitive scene. Viewership consistently held above 500k during Twitch Rivals and this isn’t something Epic will want to throw away.

At the end of his stream, Nickmercs, who has been loving Apex Legends recently described the event as “eye opening”. Though he didn’t promise a full return, he did say that it would be hard not to start taking Fortnite seriously if they keep up the Zero Build tournaments. No doubt many others feel the same.

Catch the VOD of the official Twitch Rivals broadcast here.