The Snakening Part Deux or What just happened in Fortnite OG?

 The 'snakening'

It all started years and years ago with the one Fortnite player you might have heard of, 'Bugha'.

This young kid won a few million dollars after he brought home the fortnite world cup during what could be called the golden years of esports. 

That made the news... everywhere. It's not everyday that a teenager makes a three million dollars. 

But esports, where reaction times and peak mental capacity is everything, is actually a young persons game. He wasn't the first, and not the last to make millions from gaming at such a young age. 

But inevitably things can only go downhill from there. 

A dry spell, as he changed settings and playstyles developed rapidly, and led the infamous Bugha to become questioned. Was he 'washed'.

No. He won again. But how? Well that changed the world of Fortnite, the world of young players battling for millions, forever. 

He picked up Mero. A young player who had already brought home two North East American Championships in the Fortnite Competitve Series (FNCS). Bugha had none. Together with Muz they won it all, a cool few hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bugha had won again. But what seperates a winner, from a WINNER. A history maker. A legacy definer. A Michael Jordan? 

The fortnite world was about to find out.

The next competition. For another few million dollars, was merely weeks away. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, the saying goes. Winners seem to know that if it ain't perfect, you must fix it. At least that was Bugha's attitude. He dropped Muz and picked up Dukez. Leaving the rest of the teams on the region shaken, changing. Everyone, and I mean everyone, doubted, and were shocked by the last minute change. But then he won it all again. No one could doubt him now.

Fast forward a few years. Bugha is as prestigious in fortnite as it can get. People in the game don't say, I'm the best. They say I'm Bugha. 

He still competes, but a few years older. Many think his best years are behind him. 

One player was watching all those years ago. He is playing now. He got so good, that he even played with Bugha himself. Not for long. 

Now they have gone their seperate ways, and Peterbot has just gone on his own generational run, a run which players and fans had been predicting for years, but had yet to come to fruition. In the year of 2024 he had won almost everything that there was to win, with his duo Pollo. 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

After their win at the Global Championships, the rebranded World Cup, Trios were announced again. Crucially the FNCS would not start until a few months later. Leaving a gap where only minor tournaments would be played. Would people set their teams in stone now, and get a chance to practice, or wait to the last moment?. It was the first time that three player teams would be the dominant format since Bugha, way back when. Peter immediately added Cold, one of the most infamous 'fraggers' in North America, to his team with Pollo. It was a scary combination. Cold for the last few years had been one of the most consistently high placing players at tournaments the world over. It seemed Peterbot, joining the goat debate already, was now deciding to cement his legacy by getting his trio together early, for another year of dominance,

But something was wrong. Not even a week after they had announced their teaming together, Peterbot went live to speak to his fans, annoucing his partner, Pollo, was dropped. Instead they would be playing with none other than Bugha. 

Online, fans went wild. Trios were back and already Bugha was messing with teams, shaking things up, just as he had done before. Were they right?

It seemed so. To most peoples eyes Bugha had no right to be in the trio. Whilst Peter had won everything Bugha had not since his trio domination multiple years ago ever really touched the top of the esport again. Now here he was, playing with two players (Peterbot and Cold) who are viewed as arguably the best players in today's game.

Nevertheless it happened. The team was announced. Bugha could only smile. 

It didn't last long. European Veno, who without a few missed shots in a few crucial matches would have been in the Fortnite Greatest of all time debate, coming off a run with world famous player Clix, was stepping into Bugha's shoes. Kicking him out of the trio that had only been his for a week.

But Bugha isn't considered one of the greatest of all time merely for his playing ability. Fortnite, a 'battle royale' where one hundred players drop onto a map is about knowing your competition. About knowing how many materials other teams have, how much damage they have done, where they are going to be looking, all without ever truly knowing. It is a game of psychology. Of gamesense, but crucially of 'people sense'. 

Bugha knew the game. He threatened Peterbot. There is only so much loot on the map that all one hundred players load into. Player will try and 'claim' a spot with loot, guns and building materials etc. so that they will not have to fight early on, ensuring they survive the game for longer. 

Bugha suggested to Peterbot that, if he was dropped, he would land wherever Peterbot and his team went, and steal all their loot, forcing them to either play with reduced loot, or fight, and risk dying, early in the game. Bugha was willing to grief his own placements, if it meant griefing Peterbot as well. It scared Peterbot enough for him to 'undrop' Bugha. 

Fans went wild. Bugha had done it again. Played his teammates as he always did. Those same fans could only speculate as to how the team dynamics would be after all that craziness.

Meanwhile Pollo, Peterbot's teammate all of last year, was having no such drama. His team had stuck together, and had been performing exceptionally. Peterbot, who above all wanted to be on the best team, pulled a few strings and suddenly Rapid, the team leader of Pollo's team, was dropped for Peter, who threw caution to the wind and dropped Bugha AND Cold. Peterbot and Pollo were back, playing with up and comer Boltz.

Suddenly Rapid Bugha and Cold, were all looking for a team. Suddenly some of the world's best players were all available. Players from other trios jumped at the opportunity to get on a team with them. Throwing the whole Trio situation again into chaos. 

Then Boltz, on Peterbot and Pollo's team for merely days was dropped for Rapid, who Peterbot had initially replaced. 

It didn't last long. Boltz and Rapid finally had enough of being thrown around by 'big pete' and so went back to each other, with Pollo in tow. So Peterbot jumped ship in the chaos again to Khanada and Acorn. Or as they should be known, old but gold. Some mature players, intelligent, and having been at the top of the game for years, were delighted to pick up this new GOAT.

How long would it be for? Would it last more than a few days? No one seemed to think so.

The first tournament they played together they placed 3rd. Considering the hundreds of thousands of other North Americans competing it was not a bad placement. But for a player, like Peterbot, who had just come off the back of incessent victories the entire previous year, was it enough?

Peterbot decided to let it run for one more tournament, but he warned the goldies, if they didn't start winning, they wouldn't last long. Khanada, 1xFNCS champion, took this to heart. He became the ultimate support player, doing anything and everything for Peterbot in game in the hope that such support would keep him onside. It was almost comical to see Khanada, one of the greatest players of all time, doing anything for another player, lowering himself so. It went viral, people loved to watch as he played his heart out every second in the hope of not getting dropped by Peter. 

But that second tournament together started badly. They died early in two of the six games that the tournament was being held over, leaving them well down. The vibes were bad, people started to wonder, was it all over? Would Support-nada (Khanada's new found name) lose Peter that quickly. 

The oldies but goldies, aren't goldies just because they are signed to team Dignitas and its golden shade branding but because they never seem far away from their next first place. They turned the tournament around. Winning three games of the final four to bring it home. What a turn around it had been. Peterbot must have felt the same. The new team stuck together. 

The next tournament was at the end of the week. They won again, in dominant fashion. Had Peterbot finally found a team he was happy with?

The answer was shockingly, no. 

Despite back to back tournament wins together, Peterbot dropped Acorn and Khanada, to go back to his 'first love' in Trio's Cold. Together these two would team up with Rituals. How would they fare? They won their first tournament together. The goldies placed third, respectable for a new team. Bugha had been having his own dramas, playing with Reet, an incredible fighter, then dropping him briefly for former teammate and greatest controller player of all time Mero. Then eventually going back to Reet. For now. 

The same could be said for most of the region. Peterbot's antics, now arguably even more notorious than the infamous aussie antics, had stredded an entire region. An entire cohort of players with earnings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars before their twentieth birthday, into chaos. Destroying the vibes and chemistry of half the best players. Destroying half of Peterbot's competiton's chemistry. Many began to wonder, was that what he had been doing all along?

The only question we can now ask, with FNCS less than a fortnight away, is is it really all at an end?