Microsoft's streaming platform Mixer creates even more excitement in live events. Last week a new tournament series started with the Fortnite player Tyler "Ninja" Blevins. And ZACK, there was a ban.OP Mixer streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins recently announced that he will host his own tournament. Here's how the Ninja Battles featuring Fortnite event works and what happened in Week 1.
Our FIRST Thursday Ninja Battles featuring Fortnite is going on RIGHT NOW! 80k up for grabs today. Tune in here https://t.co/d21XV8MWPv pic.twitter.com/YIZXRe6rRT
— Ninja (@Ninja) May 28, 2020
The Mixer background
The Ninja Battles featuring Fortnite tournament will last for a total of six weeks and has a net prize pool of $480,000. That means there's a weekly prize pool of $80,000 for grabs. The weekly tournament series began last week on May 28 and will run every Thursday through July. The goal is to get the most points. Kills give 1 point each and the ranking up to 10 points.
The event will be streamed on Ninja's Mixer Channel, currently, the platform's most popular channel since the streamer left Twitch last August to join their competitor under a lucrative multi-year streaming contract. Ninja's high-profile departure, partly orchestrated by his team at management firm Loaded, sparked a wave of new contracts that spanned the entire live streaming ecosystem. In the months after Ninja left Twitch, several popular gaming entertainers followed him and signed new contracts with other streaming platforms.
The tournament
60 Fortnite professionals and other big names from the live streaming world will be attending the tournament. Among them will be Nicholas "Nick Eh 30" Amyoony, Fortnite World Champion Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf, Faze Clan streamer Nate Hill and Soleil "Ewok" Wheeler. All will be live from home during the pandemic.
Ninja himself is of course the centerpiece of the event, as the tournament is also co-produced by Ninja himself and his management team Loaded. He will take part in the competitions, while "BallaTW" and "MonsterDface" comment on Ninja Battles.
The winner of Week 1 will be disqualified
As a result, the tournament started on May 28 with some of the best Fortnite players, while Ninja broadcast the game on his mixer channel. The tournament was played in trio mode. The professionals from TSM, Anthony "ZexRow" Colandro and Mack "MackWood" Aesoph, as well as Jonathan "Calc" Weber won week 1 of the competition and collected 59 points. The trio thus took home a sum of $25,000 for the reigning leader.
3RD ($10,000) IN THE @Ninja BATTLES, LITERALLY SO FUN TY FOR THE INVITE pic.twitter.com/PHzVpVFs9r
— FaZe Megga (@Megga) May 28, 2020
It seems, however, that ZexRow got carried away with the victory and finally cursed his competitors without worrying about the consequences.
After winning the tournament, the TSM player joined the two commentators for a post-match interview. When asked about the last shoutouts or projects he is working on, ZexRow attacked his rivals from the last FNCS Invitational. He said:
Everyone that didn’t place in top 10 can suck my d***. They’re f***ing s****ers. I don’t know why they talk s***, they’re actually also dogs*** and braindead.
Not words you'd expect from a "pro" player.
— Stay mad (@staymadbot) May 28, 2020
However, he realized his mistake soon after the end of the broadcast and apologized to Ninja, the organizers, TSM and the fans for his immature behavior. Yes, but as the saying goes: too little, too late!
I am actually really sorry about that, it was a really bad lapse in judgement and I didnt think in the moment and forgot that there was kids watching, and even so it was too far. Thank you to @Ninja for hosting the tournament and im sorry I ended it on that sour note
— ZexRow (@TSM_ZexRow) May 28, 2020
Although Ninja congratulated him on his victory, he also mentioned that this will be his first and last placement in the Ninja Battles. Good, because such behaviour should have consequences.
Congrats on your first and last Ninja battles placement!
— Ninja (@Ninja) May 28, 2020
Soon after, TSM supporters demanded that ZexRow be expelled for his unprofessional behaviour. The latter also mentioned leaving TSM voluntarily. He replied.
Since you guys really want me to get dropped from tsm, I'll ask them if I can leave. It was a big mistake but I've made a lot of those so at this point I feel as I'm 2 much of a pr nightmare, I just feel bad for tsm and all the hate they'll get for this.
— ZexRow (@TSM_ZexRow) May 29, 2020
- READ MORE: Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 3 will be epic
The next Ninja Battles featuring Fortnite tournament will take place as planned on June 4 without TSM ZexRow. Whether he will really leave TSM is not yet clear. At least it looks as if Week 1 didn't have any other incidents like cheating. Week 2 will take place shortly before Doomsday and the beginning of Season 3. Let's just hope it doesn't get rescheduled again. Stay tuned for more Fortnite news and make sure to check out EarlyGame regularly.
