The end-of-year Fortnite Champion Series 2022 Invitational is nearly upon us. The FNCS Invitational 2022 is one of the biggest events in the competitive calendar for Fortnite.
It isn’t just an end-of-season tournament or FNCS, but a grand finish to the entire year of competitive play. This event really decides who are the best Fortnite players for each year. We’re getting pretty close to this year’s bout, and already know quite a bit about the tournament.
This event is running instead of the FNCS at the end of the year. However, it isn’t the only change. This is also an Invitational instead of Fortnite’s standard open format, which means it is only players who have proven themselves at the top of the field for the year get to compete. While Fortnite’s open tournament structure is great, sometimes it’s fun to see the best teams from a year of competition duke it out.
The event is running as an Invitational instead of the standard FNCS format. It’s a fairly simple tournament, best resembling a short, one-weekend final. With the last year of events basically serving as the qualification round! This is how the FNCS Invitational 2022 is going to work, and what to watch for at the new event.
FNCS Invitational 2022
The Fortnite Champion Series 2022 Invitational is this season’s grand FNCS event. As we’re at the end of the year, it’s being run as an invitational this time around. It’ll be organized by BLAST esports, which has been involved in Fortnite esports for quite a while now. BLAST organized a similar Invitational just last year, which proved to be a fun change over the normal FNCS.
The event will be played as an offline LAN. This means everyone is going to be together, playing in one area. On top of that, it’s a rare, genuinely international event for Fortnite. While players are usually confined to their region, we’ll now get to see how everyone compares when they’re all together in a single lobby.
The tournament has a huge prize pool. There’s $1,000,000 on offer. That’s along with the prestige of taking the top spot in a whole year’s worth of Fortnite. While Fortnite doesn’t hold World Cups right now, these large invitationals are the biggest event for the game. It’ll have a bit more hype than a standard FNCS, with a bigger stream for the occasion.
FNCS Invitational 2022 Format
The format for the FNCS Invitational 2022 is pretty simple. 50 duos are invited. These invited were decided based on performance in FNCS finals across the year, but also how the last Invitational went. This means the invited players are whittled down to just the best Fortnite players. They will play in 12 games, with 6 taking place each day of the FNCS Invitational.
Points are awarded for players getting placement and eliminations. For placement, players get 32 points for first place or 29 for second. Every placement spot down from there grants one less point, until 26-30th, who each get 5 points. 31-35theach get 4, and 35-50th place get nothing for placement! Eliminations each yield 2 points. Placement is important here, but elims are a major part of getting up the scoreboard. There isn’t a huge emphasize on Victory Royales, either.
FNCS Invitational 2022 Prize Pool
The prize pool for the FNCS Invitational 2022 is pretty high. Loads of Fortnite tournaments have decent prize pools, but the end-of-season Invitational is higher than it should be. This is how the prizing works out for the players involved:
- 1st – $200,000
- 2nd – $140,000
- 3rd – $120,000
- 4th – $90,000
- 5th – $70,000
- 6th – $60,000
- 7th – $50,000
- 8th – $40,000
- 9th – $30,000
- 10th – $20,000
Players get prizes up to the last place, earning $1,000 for their involvement. Everyone walks away with something here, as even qualifying was challenging enough.
Changes to Players
One thing about the FNCS Invitational 2022 is that qualification has been going on for a year. This means there have been some changes, with plenty of players cycling out of Fortnite with the launch of Chapter 3.
Quite a few players are either unable, retired, or in a few cases, even banned from playing at competitive Fortnite. That includes Rehx who is replaced with Hellfire. While most of the roster is major Duos from past FNCS events, they might be playing with someone different at the tournament.
Top 10 Duos to Watch at FNCS Invitational 2022
The FNCS Invitational 2022 is a rare test for players. They’re competing against the best players, both from their own region and internationally. Those who dominate their regions aren’t guaranteed to be killing it here. Although, with past tournaments, there are quite a few players who are worth watching at the event. These are some of the top duos to watch:
1. Alex and Baily
1st ($25000) 🏆 w @BailyFN LETS FUCKING GOOOO@kahtaztw BEST FUCKING COACH AND @looterzx BEST PERSON EVER LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/dE8iYQLYt0
— alex (@alexfnbr1) August 14, 2022
Alex and Bailey are a pair of Australian players who have recently been on top of that region. They took home first place at that region’s Chapter 3 season 3 FNCS final. This was the last tournament on this level, so it bodes well for their performance coming up soon. In the Season before that, they also took 2nd place and recently won a few cash cups.
Alex and Baily look like the strongest Duo in the Oceania region going into the FNCS Invitational 2022.
2. Bugha and Mero
Bugha and Meor are two of the most well-known Fortnite players. The World Cup Champion has been back on top of the game in the years after his big win in 2019. At this point, they’re a multiple-time FNCS winner along with winning at last year’s overarching LAN, the Fortnite FNCS Invitational 2021.
It’s been a couple of seasons since Bugha and Mero took back-to-back wins. However, they got 2nd and 3rd at the Season 2 and 3 FNCS. They’re clearly still one of the best Duos in the game and returning champions at the FNCS Invitational 2022
3. Commandment and Avery
Commandment and Avery are two more North American players to watch at the FNCS Invitational 2022. These are recent champions, coming off the back of an FNCS win in Season 3 of Chapter 3.
Commandment has a strong history further back than this season too. He took 2nd place with two other players at Chapter 2 Seasons 7, 6, 5, and 3 and did well at an FNCS Invitational. Avery wasn’t part of that trio but achieved strong 2/3rd place finishes at the same events with his own trio.
Moving from Trios to Duos seems to have served these two well. Playing together, they’ve risen to the top of the game in recent seasons.
4. EpikWhale and Reet
EpikWhale took 1st place at the Gamers8 LAN, the most recent tournament we can look at for players’ performance in person. While he was playing with a different partner, he still looks strong for this season. He killed it back in Chapter 2, winning FNCS finals in seasons 4, 5, and 7. The FNCS wins were along with Reet, and it’s a strong partnership that’s survived the switch to Duos. Reet recently won 2nd place at the Season 2 FNCS, so he’s coming in looking strong too. This Duo has a high performance to live up to at this tournament.
5. Malibuca and Merstach
Decent 1st day after I turned off my stream w/@Merstach 😃 pic.twitter.com/mQWEJUyPyr
— GXR Malibuca (@MalibucaFN) October 26, 2022
Malibuca makes up the second part of the EpikWhale duo that won the last LAN. Like with that team, this marks him out as a strong performance for the FNCS 2022 Invitational. Outside of that win, he’s proven himself with his duo’s partner Merstach pretty solidly.
Both players took 2nd place at the Season 3 FNCS and 4th at Season 2. They’ve also won cash cups in the interim and seem to be specifically gelling with Chapter 3 of the game.
6. Rapit and Andilex
Rapit and Andliex are another duo who have been killing it at recent tournaments. They aren’t the most well-known, just because of what region they play in. They look capable of competing with the very best, though.
The two placed first at the most recent FNCS finals for the Middle East. In previous large Invitationals like the 2021 FNCS, they came in 4th for their region. This Duo has been rising in the rankings as of late, they’re worth keeping an eye on at the FNCS invitational 2022. Andelix, playing with a different partner, he placed 4th at the Gamers8 LAN; he’s no slouch either. They could go far if the pair are in harmony at this tournament.
7. Runa and Pepo
Runa and Pepo are two Japanese players who are one of the highlights of those coming from the Asia region to this tournament. Runa took 4th place at Season 3’s FNCS, as this Duo together they won Season 2, though, along with Season 1. Winning 2 FNCS events for this Chapter is a big one to make them worth watching at this new event. They might be able to improve on 2021’s invitational, where Runa placed 3rd.
8. TaySon and Chapix
Tayson and Chapix are two of the most well-known Fortnite pros right now, and for good reason. They took 2nd in the Season 2 FNCS, and 1st for their region at the FNCS 2021 Grand Royale. Tays0n also won 3rd in Season 1, although that was with a different Duos partner.
These two haven’t had the big wins together that some of the top teams will watch at the FNCS Invitational 2022, but they stand a great chance of placing highly at the tournament.
9. Veno and Queasy
Veno and Queasy are both great players who have had some fantastic finishes in this Chapter. The duo has 3rd at the last FNCS, but with Cash cups in that season and the Season 2 FNCS outright.
Playing alone, Veno came in 12th and 7th, respectively, at the Gamer8 and Dreamhack 2022 events. He does have some strength at in-person LANs. Queasy performed even better at the last big LAN, taking 5th alongside Hen. Playing with other Duo partners introduces a bit more unpredictability here, but they’re still worth a look.
10. Favs and Snacky
3X BACK TO BACK GRANDS WINNERS WE ARE INSANE ILY BRO LETS GO @snackyfn ($45000) 🏆 pic.twitter.com/emA879lkJO
— favs (@favsfn) May 30, 2022
Favs and Snacky are the last Duo we’re highlighting for the FNCS Invitational 2022. Although, they’re by no means the least worth mentioning. These two might be able to go all the way, especially if their recent results are anything to go by.
This Duo has won the Season 2 and Season 1 FNCS for Chapter 3. They only took 3rd in Season 3, but after completely dominating this Chapter, this is still very impressive form.
All Players Competing at the FNCS Invitational 2022
The FNCS Invitational 2022 features some of the biggest players with loads of good picks for who will come out ahead. However, the entire roster is pretty stacked. These are all of the players who are performing at the tournament:
- Acorn and Edgey
- Alex and Baily
- Alice and Wicksey
- Bacca and On1
- BadSniper and Noahreyli
- Basil and Jace
- Belusi and Hijoe
- Bevvys and Vortexers
- Bugha and Mero
- Cented and Cold
- Commandment and Avery
- Dukez and Clix
- EpikWhale and Reet
- Falconer and Hellfire
- Fatch and PaMstou
- Grolzz and Rifty
- Jamper and PeterBot
- JoeFN and zAndy
- Juu and Stompy
- K1nG and EdRoadToGlory
- KBR and Xeat
- Kewl and Yumi
- Khanada and Bleed
- Klown and Refsgaard
- Melibuca and Merstach
- Mikson and artor
- MrSavage and iDrop
- Muz and Looter
- Nov1ce and Retake
- PabloWingu and Swag
- Parz and Rays
- Phzin and Kitoz
- Pinq and Anas
- Rapit and Andilex
- Rezon ay and Aqua
- Robban and Wox
- Runa and Pepo
- Setty and Kami
- Smite and Larson
- Spayde and Chimp
- Spy and FKS
- TaySon and Chapix
- Th0masHD and Trippernn
- TruleX and Chico
- Vadeal and JannisZ
- Veno and Queasy
- Vic0try0na and YikesJxn
- Vortex and Hen
- Zagou and Merem
- Favs and Snacky
That’s everyone competing, along with some of the main duos that look likely to impress at the tournament. You’ll have to tune into the FNCS Invitational 2022 to see how it plays out though.
