A lot can change in a year, Bugha will tell you that. Although we don’t yet know what to expect from competitive Fortnite in 2020, here are five players that look set to make waves regardless.
Ajerss
Based in NA-East, Ajerss recently burst into the limelight following a dominant Winter Royale performance alongside his duo, Ghost Gaming star Daniel “Innocents” Rebelo. The pair took 1st on Day 3 and 2nd on Day 1, and may well have placed higher than 38th on Day 2 had Innocents not failed to load into their final game. This made them the joint highest PC earners across all 3 days of the Winter Royale for EU, NAE and NAW.
Top 50 All 3 Days of Winter Royale (PC only: EU, NAE, NAW) pic.twitter.com/XgM78SwTYH
— Arcane (@ArcaneCG) December 30, 2019
Perhaps one of the less experienced players on this list, Ajerss is still a Free Agent, with 10.9k in total Fortnite earnings. Innocents obviously sees his potential, and I think this is a name that will become a lot more familiar over the coming months.
Fray
Christian “Fray” Hennig is an EU pro representing Nakama Esport. Although his past placements haven’t been insane, I expect that to change in 2020. His playstyle revolves around being clever and calculated, rotating well and making high IQ plays. This is why recent open tournaments and Cash Cups that favor aggression and W-Keying haven’t been ideal for him. It will be exciting to see how he performs when the next major competitive event takes place.
Took 21st in my first big LAN ($2,500)
Had 33 points in 4 games, clutched last games.
Disappointed in how I started, proud of how I finished.
Next time top 5 pic.twitter.com/t2Bmf1FbbH
— Fray (@FrayFn) December 1, 2019
Fray attended the DreamHack Winter Fortnite LAN and finished strong after a poor start, doing enough to take 21st place. He will be flying out to DreamHack Anaheim in February, and tweeted “DH Anaheim will be so fun, can’t wait to apply what I learned from DH Winter and dominate”.
KEZ
Vanguard pro “KEZ” is situated in Toronto, Canada and plays on the NAE server. Whilst he may not have been part of the competitive scene since day 1, KEZ racked up some impressive achievements in 2019. Most notably, he is an FNCS Squads Champion for Chapter 2, Season 1. When controller god Dominick “Unknown” Green put together a team of lesser known players for the event, people were quick to write them off. However, they managed to take 1st place in a region full of incredibly stacked squads.
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KEZ and his duo Sebby had an average performance at the Winter Royale, but are definitely a force to be reckoned with going forward. They played together for Trios in Season X, taking 5th in the FNCS Grand Finals. Expect big things.
Maken1x
Just like Unknown, Maken reps both Team Kungarna and 1x, and to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him blow up in a similar fashion. When it comes to the NA-West region, Maken is a name that seems to be permanently etched onto the leaderboards. In the Winter Royale, he and “Frapai” picked up 1st on Day 3 and 3rd on Day 2. His Squad finished 2nd in the FNCS Squads Grand Finals and he was 7th in the Trios competition. That’s a lot of top 10’s in the last few months.
Most wins in solo cash cup history pic.twitter.com/MSUqyqsfM5
— Arcane (@ArcaneCG) December 23, 2019
Despite his 52k earnings, Maken remains a Free Agent. However, it seems like he has big plans for 2020. He and Frapaii have recently announced that they will be offering Solo and Duo Fortnite coaching sessions, so if you are looking to up your game that may be worth checking out.
Wakie
Last but by no means least we have the Swedish beast Felix “Wakie” Thebo Hortlund. Wakie is the only person on this list who qualified for the Fortnite World Cup in 2019, taking 48th place in the Solo Finals. More recently his relatively lesser known team beat out all the big names for the crown of FNCS Squads Champions in Europe.
2nd most consistent player in chapter 2 😀 pic.twitter.com/6KcT7AnOiF
— wakie (@wak1e) December 29, 2019
Wakie has shown very promising signs so far in Fortnite Chapter 2, with his performances in both solo and team events indicating a strong year ahead. Whatever tournament is announced next, you can bet that he will be amongst the top placers.
