ESTNN breaks down the upcoming Fortnite Lightning Cups.
Epic Games has announced two new tournament formats coming soon to competitive Fortnite. Dubbed Lightning Cups, this latest variation features a different take on the usual scoring system and format. While its purpose is unknown, Epic seems to be workshopping new concepts to give tournaments a fresh overhaul.
Today, ESTNN breaks down everything that we know about the Lightning Cup format and what it all means in the grand scheme.
New Lightning Cups Coming March 15 and 17
We’ve just added two new Lightning Cups on March 15th and 17th with new tournament formats!
Expect to see more Lightning Cups as we bolt into next season. ⚡
— Fortnite Competitive (@FNCompetitive) March 9, 2022
Fortnite’s dedicated competitive Twitter account brought the news to followers this afternoon. According to the tweets, Epic will host two Lightning Cup competitions, one on March 15 and March 17. More tournaments will occur regularly in Chapter 3 Season 2. Based on the official ruleset, there will be no prize pool, meaning they are purely experimental.
Lightning Cup Formats & Analysis
⚡ Lightning Cup Formats:
“Best Of” – Your best 5 matches out of 7 will be the only matches that count towards the Leaderboard.
“High Score” – Your best match in 2 hours will be the only match that counts towards the Leaderboard.
— Fortnite Competitive (@FNCompetitive) March 9, 2022
Here are the descriptions outlined by Epic for Lightning Cup:
- “Best Of” – Your best 5 matches out of 7 will be the only matches that count towards the Leaderboard.
- “High Score” – Your best match in 2 hours will be the only match that counts towards the Leaderboard.
Both formats deviate significantly from what we usually see in competitive Fortnite. The “Best Of” seems intriguing since, typically, all seven matches in a given session would count toward a team’s overall score. Instead, this format allows two throwaway games, which won’t factor into leaderboard positioning.
Conversely, the “High Score” format is also unique. As stated above, this structure takes only a team’s best match across two hours into account. The High Score could rely more on random number generators (RNG). Fortnite’s built-in ELO rating system leads to lower-level matches in the first game of each tournament.
You might be wondering what that means. Well, teams that produce a 20 or 30 elimination Victory Royale will be far ahead of the competition. Those high-elimination matches will be much more challenging as the tournament progresses.
A Positive for the Competitive Scene
Interesting news.
Best 5 of 7 in a 2-hour format will be the same as just having maximum 7 games – just look at FNCS Q1 R2 to see.
High Score presumably won’t have any points-based matchmaking right? Not really sure how that would make sense if there was. https://t.co/8IFaUqy2tf
— Kinch Analytics (@KinchAnalytics) March 9, 2022
We’ll have to see how these two formats play out in the coming weeks, but it’s a win nonetheless. Fortnite has featured the same structure for many years. Tournaments tend to rely on placement points and eliminations across a several-hour session.
Fortnite expert KinchAnalytics believes the High Score format won’t include point-based matchmaking. We’ll have to see if that rings true. Regardless, it will be refreshing to see how these new formats play out and what else the future holds for competitive Fortnite.
The Lightning Cups will occur on March 15 and March 17 for all seven worldwide server regions. Be sure to check them out and watch to see how they unfold. Also, console players can look forward to the PlayStation Cup on March 11 for a chance to win a share of the $100K USD prize pool.
Stay tuned to ESTNN for more Fortnite news and updates!