Epic Games has announced a FNCS Major 1 Second Chance Qualifier and a significantly expanded Summit LAN event in Düsseldorf. The announcement follows widespread backlash after several high-profile players, including the likes of Bugha, Kreaz, and Tragic, were disqualified over drop calculator usage. Epic later admitted that the disqualifications were a mistake, but the tournament had already progressed by that point, leaving the players out of the race to Düsseldorf.
Related—Epic Games reverses FNCS Major 1 disqualifications, but affected players can’t rejoin the tournament
FNCS Major 1 Second Chance Qualifier: Dates, format, and who’s eligible
The Second Chance Qualifier runs across two days on April 28 and 29. All Division 1 players are eligible, except those already qualified for the Summit through FNCS Major 1. Day 1 is an open competition across all regions. Day 2 brings back the top 50 duos from Day 1 for a final six games.
The qualifier will see 25 duos make it to the Summit via the consistency leaderboard, with the slots distributed across regions as follows:
- EU: 8 duos
- NAC: 7 duos
- BR, NAW, ASIA, OCE, ME: 2 duos each
FNCS Major 1 Summit expands to 150 players in Düsseldorf
Alongside the inclusion of the Second Chance Qualifier into the circuit, the Summit LAN is also getting a major upgrade. Previously the event was set to feature 50 duos across two days of competition. But now, 75 duos will head to Germany, battling across three days to win the lion’s share of the now-expanded prize pool.
The new format starts off with the group stage (May 29-30) where the 75 duos attempt to punch their ticket to the finals. Both days will feature six games to score the maximum points, and the top 25 duos on each day will qualify to the Grand Finals. The Grand Finals itself will again feature six games, with the top 15 duos qualifying for the Global Championship. That number is also up 5 spots from the original 10.
Real-time tools now explicitly prohibited in Fortnite tournaments
In the same statement, Epic Games also confirmed the update to the rulebook pertaining to the use of tools like Drop Calculation.
Using any kind of program, hardware, or tool that has access to the real-time state of the game being played (e.g. through memory, screen recording, screenshots, video, audio, network traffic, files) to gain a competitive advantage is prohibited.
This rule also bans the use of game-aware overlays, but the developer says overlays such as Discord and broadcasting software remain allowed. The same will be reflected in the game itself in the future to reduce confusion.
