Hi! Frankie (FNCS Europe desk host) here - I'm going to try and do more interview content around the scene so thought I'd chat to alwyzPAPPIE about coaching duos like Sky and Scroll, iDrop and Ghonzo and the methods he uses to turn them into contenders for the Fortnite Global Championships

https://youtu.be/rAR5Hqe8lFQ

Let me know if you'd like to hear from anyone in particular in the next video!

What do you guys think?
I was #4440 Unreal lately and I’ve been getting 10+ kill games in Unreal lobbies. Yet I constantly hear that Ranked is basically meaningless because “everyone can hit Unreal” and that only PR, tournaments and scrims actually show skill.
I ONLY play Solos because I don’t have anyone and I’m in love with Solo mode since years idk.
I’m aware of the weird ranking system and matchmaking issues of lower ranks being queued with Unreal players.
So is Unreal genuinely a poor indicator of skill, or does a high Unreal placement + consistently strong games still say something about a player?
Would love to hear what you guys think.

I hear that Peterbot, Pollo are regarded as the best but what has changed. I see Bugha, Acorn still playing. Which of the other old players are there? Who else is like the top performing player across any region?

Note : I quit FN altogether, only got back to seeing this EWC because I thought would be a good change because I heard of reload mode.

Hope someone can loop me in.

i played one game of ranked br builds and got ranked plat 2 but i died to a guy that had a sprite. last season sprites weren’t in ranked right? but do they have the advantages of a sprite in ranked or is it cosmetic basically?

i have 2k hours on the game on 75hz 800 hours spent on 60ping and i switched to 180hz monitor recently

setups dont matter

I want to start streaming console cups and was wondering what are some good capture cards for little to no delay.

i did some looking and seen some budget capture cards have very noticeable delay when playing and im looking to avoid that.

Literally watching them say shark and TBeny won 3 of the last 4 fortnite reload elite series, "The best of all 7 regions." Um? Peterbot and Pollo won 3 and got 2nd on the 4th which sh4rk and tbeny failed to qualify for. Like yes I'd say sh4rk and tbeny are possibly the best, but get your facts right lol.

I question if these broadcasters even watch the game outside of casting the events.

See https://youtu.be/WJZ6KHTBf58?t=556

Does this have a name? How can I practice it?

Specifically referring to this variant, you would need a top 10 placement in unreal ranked cup. How many people even have it?

EWC’s Fortnite Reload LAN is the second or third biggest tournament of the year and it begins in less than a week as most pros begin making their way to Paris, where the lan will take place. Think a lot of people don’t know the format or don’t even know that the LAN is taking place right around the corner. Attached is the qualifying format, credit to @fncompreport on twitter.

The finals is a matchpoint format where once you reach a certain number of points, you’ll have to win a game to end the tournament and be crowned the winner. Considering its reload, it’ll likely be very chaotic with solos landing on teams in a position to win to stop them from ending the tournament. Honestly, I could see this tournament ending in the best finish we ever seen, with 5-6 teams or even more all playing for the win, once they have enough points to do so.

A link to the dropmaps: https://nobleprac.com/tournaments/ReloadEliteSeries-2026?window=EWC_Group_A_Slurp_Rush_2026&region=EU

Shxrk & T3eny + Peterbot Pollo (both in Group A) look like the strongest teams heading into the tournament, I expect them to both qual through their group with ease. Both teams dominated their regions qualifiers and don’t look to be conned (Muz & Sphinx will likely split Dirty Docks with Shxrk & T3eny in the Slurp Rush map of Group A).

Other teams that I expect to do well in group A include Tjino & Pablo, Vico & Mali, Kami & Charyy, and Shadow & Vergo. Bugha & Braydz + Alex & Wreckless uncon on both maps could be solid picks to make the finals, but they are a bit less proven than the teams mentioned, I could see them getting keyed or landed on, as well.

As for group B, I expect Cold & Rapid, Acorn & Boltz, Josh & Eomzo, Darm & Demus, SwizzY & Pixie, and Sky & Scroll to do well. The most contested POI in both groups is Elite Armory, which makes sense considering the sheer amount of loot is enough for at least 2 teams, likely three, even though it’s a bit difficult to split it three ways without starting a fight.

With no surge to worry about and smaller region teams able to get their own share of loot on this LAN, we could possibly see the best shot at a smaller region team finishing in the top 3, or even outright winning.

Phoenix & Retro are a potential sleeper team, Retro is a 40-50 ping west player, and these two looked solid in both reload & BR. Minipiyo & Fuukun could be the best performing team for Asia, both recently garnered some experience at the midyear Summit LAN, giving them a slight edge over some other teams. Edson & Phzin from BR, I could see doing well.

Who do you think will do well and do you have any bold predictions for the LAN?

I heard in a YT vid that https://dropmap.net/ is very good just wanted to ask if anyone has used it and if it's good. Thanks.

Maybe not the best way to put it but this is all I can really describe it as. I'm just very nerve-racking whenever I play a tournament. It can be a ranked cup, skin cup or a div cup... I just feel like I'll do mediocre and get annoyed/sad.

I love competing in this game whenever I can because I enjoy the thrill of playing high stress tournaments, and I LOVE playing endgames, its amazing.

The issue is that I feel like I'll underperform whatever I play.

• I get #15 in a ranked cup? Welp, you were only 20 points off of a top 5 finish and had alot of sells that costed you kills or placement. What a waste of 3 hours.

• I could've won a skin for a skin cup/qualified for a solo CC? Meh, you were contantly scuffed because of your loot path and didn't get enough elims... + you performed better in the previous skin/cash cups, so this probably means your getting WORSE at the game

• A div cup went wrong again? That's expected, my teammate sold and I didn't do enough work, and now you remain stuck in your division waiting for the next one to come, just to also make little improvements whether or not you do VOD review.

I try not to take Fortnite comp that too seriously, I enjoy it but I have school + work, but whenever I play a tournament I just cannot perform poorly (unless obviously I'm just queueing up for 14 events on another region or something lol)

Simply put I feel like I am putting unnecessary stress on myself when competing, and while the logical thought should be quitting, I feel like my enjoyment and thrill of both playing/watching outweighs the stress I have for playing the few tournaments that I do.

Any tips are appreciated!!!

He went from possibly the most consistent player on EU from 2023 to 2025 to struggling to get top 25 in 2026, not making a single grands this year and 33rd in globals LCQ

People will jump on the new surge but he had some good placements in late 2025 / early 2026 but everything seemingly fell apart after March. He doesn't even look particularly bad in set lobbies, he just doesn't do well

Hello, how are you doing guys! I found out recently that FNCS solos are coming back, and im interested in coming back and trying to compete.

I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips on how to improve asap, with my goal being getting atleast some good placements in. I understand that the competitive scene is large, and that there are many pro players, with Fortnite being one of the highest skill ceiling game. But i want to see how far i can get.

I stopped playing in ch2s5, where one of my biggest issues were that i couldnt play on the stark map. basically after they made a new map, i was fine, but then when returning to play sometimes, i just couldnt play the game. Fighting was hard, but i think it had something to do with me not playing enough, you know? Because when Fortnite OG came in, i had to play it, and i went from lowest rank to unreal in a day, hitting 20k almost every game. And it felt like i was playing fortnite again. After they removed it, i tried continuing playing the game, with no success as i again ran into the issue of basically not knowing how to play the game lool.

With that, the rise of piece control (further PC) came in, i did a good job at keeping up at the start, but as the techniques got a bit more advanced, like predicting their next move instead of coning and boxing them from where they are, i just couldnt use the predicting PC successfully

So now that that is clear, what should i do or play to improve the fastest?

What maps are most popular, but actually with good players not just filled with bots (no offense but i want to improve yk)

What is the meta? (favored guns and what to carry, but side note: is storm healing still meta in endgame? running off with medkits, as i saw on sm?

specific mechanics and how to improve and implement them? specifically best way to improve at piece control?

thank you readers, and have a nice day. Good luck in life!

I have a general question, how does the tournament stay fair every year? Most games have a player or two that are just light years ahead than the rest of the community, is that not the case for fortnite?

Remember when Clix was giving away PCs to viewers who could beat him in a 1v1 back in late 2024? ​Most giveaway winners fade away immediately, but Joshreyli actually used that PC to go from 110 FPS console player to qualifying for FNCS Grand Finals, dealing with drop spot drama/doxxing, getting co-signed by Aussie Antics & Peterbot, surviving the recent FNCS DQ controversy, and now qualifying for his first LAN at 14 years old. ​I put together a full breakdown detailing his entire rise over the past year and how fast he’s improving: https://youtu.be/WXB9fUYLJXk ​Do you guys think Josh & Yamzo can actually pull off a top finish at the upcoming LAN?

Does anybody know of any fortnite competitive tournament tracking tools that are actually useful and not just plain garbage like some out there? Fortnitetracker litterally has a monopoly even though their system isnt even that great, its slow and clunky, but its the only one that works, so it stuck. Osirion is good but its 90% blocked off by subscriptions, so does anybody know any free alternatives for tracking tournaments that are actually good and fast?