Nickmercs thrived in his return to competitive Fortnite.
In case you missed it, veteran Fortnite player and all-around gaming titan Nick "Nickmercs" Kolcheff returned to the competitive scene in this past weekend's Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS). The popular Twitch streamer, who regularly averages tens of thousands of viewers, began playing Fortnite again in November of 2020; he had found an unfathomable amount of success in Call of Duty: Warzone leading up to that point. Nickmercs came back to Fortnite with a positive mindset and nothing but respect for the game and its top players.
Although his Fortnite streams fizzled out over the next few months, Nickmercs continued to play off-stream, intending to compete in tournaments once again. Fast-forward to week one of the FNCS, where Nickmercs, Ali "SypherPK" Hassan and Sean "Coop" Cooper embarked on a harrowing quest to overcome some of Fortnite's best trios.
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Nickmercs, SypherPK and Coop in Rounds 1 & 2
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This team's expectations were cautiously optimistic, given that Nickmercs and SypherPK do not scrim or play competitive Fortnite regularly. G2 Esports controller player Coop, a former FNCS Champion, would ultimately assume the in-game leader (IGL) role while his two teammates provided support. This team finished 70th in session one, with one Victory Royale and 59 eliminations, which amounted to 158 points in total. It was an admirable round out of three players who had just joined together mere days before the competition. However, the difficult task would be for Nickmercs, SypherPK and Coop to remain consistent as the competition grew more complicated.
They kept the momentum going in round two. The three players churned out an 86-point performance, good enough for 580th place. It was not astounding by any means but certainly reassuring for Nickmercs, SypherPK and Coop. They needed top-250 to advance to round three, so they didn't quite make the cut. Nevertheless, all three contributed something to the overall effort. A few critical mistakes prevented them from round three, but it did not deter them.
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Nickmercs Pulls 93k Viewers
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Nickmercs, SypherPK and the former two-time Fortnite Champion took positives away from their first competition as a unit. The most significant takeaway was Quite possibly was Nickmercs's ability to draw a massive audience during his FNCS stream. A recent email from FaZe Clan, the organization representing Nickmercs, indicated an impressive viewership number.
"The legend FaZe Nickmercs recently made his return to competitive Fortnite," the statement read. "He had over 93K viewers tuning in to his Twitch stream! Nick has been putting in work in Warzone but he hasn't lost a step in Fortnite." In terms of viewership, it's challenging to argue the organization's statement.
The competitive Fortnite landscape had undoubtedly evolved since the days when Nickmercs and former adversary turned friend Aydan "Aydan" Conrad battled it out in Tilted Towers. Fortnite is now much more reliant on building, editing and piece control. Most people won't agree that having Nickmercs back streaming the FNCS in front of 93k viewers is an absolute win. The consensus regarding the once iconic Battle Royale title has soured over the years. Fortnite still has some juice left, and that lies particularly within its competitive events.
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Nickmercs will compete in round two of the Fortnite Champion Series this coming weekend. It'll be interesting to see how his viewership numbers shake out after a successful first week.
Stay tuned to ESTNN for more Fortnite news and updates!
