2019 Fortnite World cup qualifications - the inside story of benjyfishy and mrsavage
After ten qualification weeks, the top one hundred solo players and the top 50 duo teams from around the world came to compete in the biggest event of its type ever staged at the time, the 2019 Fortnite World Cup. The event took place at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, home of the US Open tennis tournament, in Queens, New York City, between 26th and 28th July 2019.
What follows are the pro players Benjy “benjyfishy” Fish and Martin “MrSavage” Foss Andersen’s stories of what they experienced during the World Cup qualification, the days in New York leading up to the finals, and the finals themselves.
This first part of the story covers the time prior to departure for New York and shares details about the qualification, a bootcamp in London, filming player profiles for Epic Games, and Friday Fortnite.
The story is told through the lenses of Anne Fish (mother of benjyfishy) and me (Johnny Troset Andersen, father of MrSavage). It originally appeared in 2021 in the book Build It Like benjyfishy & MrSavage: The Unofficial Fortnite Esports Guide for Players and Parents.
Martin “MrSavage“ Foss Andersen and Benjy “benjyfishy“ Fish at their player seats during the World Cup finals. Photo credit MrSavage.
World Cup Qualification
Anne: ‘The decision to lower the age restriction of the Fortnite World Cup in 2019 gave Benjy the chance to compete in the qualifications. It was one of the most memorable times in his career to date, as it was his first major live competitive tournament or LAN. Benjy, along with Klaus “Stompy” Konstanzer, became the first two players in Fortnite history to qualify for both the World Cup Solo and Duos finals. Benjy and Martin were two of only eighteen players to double qualify for both events.’
Benjy and Martin won the duos qualifiers in week two, earning them $5,000 each, and a seat at the duos finals.
Johnny: ‘It had been a long five months from when the competition was announced in February 2019 to the finals in July. The ten weeks of qualifying had been a nerve-wracking experience for everyone and at times very challenging, especially as Martin didn’t qualify for the solo finals in the first week. However, Martin seemed to take it in his stride and bounced back. He managed to qualify for the duos competition, with Benjy, in week two and the solo competition in week five. Finally, we could then breathe a sigh of relief.’
The top four spots on the leaderboard for Benjy’s qualification in week one of the qualifiers (top eight qualified from Europe).
The top four spots on the leaderboard for Martin’s qualification in week five of the qualifiers (top eight qualified).
London bootcamp
Benjy unpacks his gear at Fnatic’s headquarters. It was here that Benjy got to meet Mongraal for the first time. Photo credit Cooler Esports.
Anne: ‘During the qualifying weeks and time leading up to departing for New York, Benjy had the opportunity to visit the London headquarters of esports organisation Fnatic, where he got to meet more of his gaming friends IRL, including another well-known UK Fortnite player, Kyle “Mongraal” Jackson. Esports fosters camaraderie and friendship between the players and teams, and even though neither Benjy nor Kyle are signed with Fnatic, they were both made to feel very welcome. Benjy also joined Kyle at a weekend bootcamp in London hosted by another esports organisation, Cooler Esports, where they could practise in the weeks leading up to the World Cup Grand Finals.’
Filming player profiles
Behind the scenes: Filming the intro to Martin’s player profile, zooming in on his Roccat keyboard. Photo credit Beth Sciallis.
Anne: ‘During the preceding weeks to the finals, we were approached by Epic Games to ask if Benjy was interested in being filmed for the Fortnite player profiles videos. Epic also wanted to feature Benjy and Martin together in a duos video, which they both agreed to. The dates were set, and the film crew arranged to fly out from the US to film Benjy’s solo video, followed by the duos section with Martin and Johnny, who would also fly to the UK. I was apprehensive about appearing on camera, as it’s not something that comes naturally to either Benjy or myself. Any apprehension quickly evaporated as the producer Beth Sciallis and her professional film crew put us completely at ease. I would say that I count the filming process as one of the special moments leading up to the finals.’
Johnny: ‘A few days later, the crew filmed Martin and his big brother Mikael back home in Oslo, Norway. It was surreal to open our home for three days to a crew of five people. They were very nice and professional, and it turned out to be a memorable experience.’
The official player profile videos
Here they are:
Benjy’s player profile: youtube.com/watch?v=SuZwTzd44ZM
Martin’s player profile: youtube.com/watch?v=6V00cilpAYs
The duo’s player profile: vimeo.com/425247163
The film crew from Victory Pictures during recording of the duo’s player profile. From left to right Noah Alexander, Benjy, Beth Sciallis, Aaron Mendez, Martin, and Bill Roach.
Friday Fortnite
From left to right: Chris Teitsworth, Benjy, Martin, and Luke Davies. Photo credit MrSavage.
Anne: ‘During the filming process, Benjy and Martin took part in an online duo tournament called Friday Fortnite and streaming on Twitch was an essential component. Unfortunately, we didn’t have sufficient internet capacity at our house and therefore we had to quickly make other arrangements. Luckily I managed to find a local computer shop, called CLD Computers, who were willing to help us.
Thankfully the owner, Luke Davies, allowed Benjy and Martin private use of the shop’s gaming centre so the boys could compete. Luke has been helping Benjy with his computer setup ever since.’
“Thanks to CLD Computers for allowing Benjy and me to use their gaming center in Surrey so that I could stream the Friday Fortnite tournament last Friday.”
Anne: ‘The film crew also came with us to film some shots of the boys practising together. The footage featured in the Benjyfishy and MrSavage duo profile film, which premiered during the World Cup Finals. After filming with us all day, which included an early start, the exhausted film crew left us about 8pm to fly to Oslo to prepare for filming Martin at his home.’
Johnny: ‘The Friday Fortnite tournament was based on a bracket system, with duos playing in a best-of-two format within a double elimination bracket (winner’s and loser’s). The duo with the most eliminations after two games moved on to the next round. The final was between the finalists of the winner’s and loser’s brackets. The games took place alternately on EU and NA servers to balance out differences in ping delay and lag between EU and NA teams.’
Anne: ‘One of the positive sides to Fortnite is how palpable the strong community spirit is among the players and the support they offer each other. For example, during the tournament, NRG Williams “Zayt” Aubin tweeted his words of encouragement during one of the matches, as the boys definitely needed the support.
Benjy and Martin managed to beat Issa “Issa” Rahim and Liam “Kamo” Fillery (both members of Ghost Gaming Europe at the time) in the winner’s bracket final.’
Anne: ‘We were all exhausted, running on adrenalin and completely oblivious to the fact that a duo must win two rounds of the winner’s bracket finals to be crowned the winner. So, when Benjy and Martin defeated Issa and Kamo, our celebrations were premature and we discovered that the boys had to play another round. At the end of the first game Issa and Kamo said to them, “It’s not over yet, what are you guys doing? It’s not over, you have to win twice, you came from the loser’s bracket – did you think you already won?”‘
A recreation of the final matches in the Friday Fortnite brackets. Each match was two games, alternately on EU and NA servers. The team with the most eliminations won.
“We got it, we definitely got it this time!”
Anne: ‘I’m not sure how, but the duo remarkably managed to summon all the energy they could muster to play again and they won! Claiming victory around 5.30am.’
Benjy and Martin during the Friday Fortnite tournament, 1st June 2019. Photo credit benjyfishy.
“Friday Fortnite was probably one of the hardest tournaments that I have ever played just because of how exhausting it was, as it was so long.”
Johnny: ‘After the tournament, we managed to get back and get a few hours of sleep, but Benjy and Martin both had to be back at the gaming centre the following day, as they wanted to compete in the week 8 duo World Cup qualifiers. Unsurprisingly, the boys didn’t do as well as they had hoped and failed to qualify for the Sunday weekly finals. Parents and players should both be aware that playing at a competitive level for long periods of time is not something that can be sustained.’
Friday Fortnite vlog
Martin made a vlog titled “Went to London to visit Benjy” which got more than 4.5 million views. You can watch it at youtube.com/watch?v=G_1j_EpUrZ4.
Next part
The story continues in New York during the days leading up to the solo and duos finals. Leave your email address below and hit the subscribe button to make sure you don’t miss out on it.
