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What went down at the first-ever Red Bull High Grounds Fortnite tournament!
Who took home the $50,000 in prize money? What were the game types and how did the points system work? Who was at the meet and greet? The play of the day and so much more!
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Wow, just wow. First and foremost thank you to everyone that made it along on the day for Red Bull High Grounds.
The players for creating such a fun tournament and the fans at The Star and those watching the live streams for making it even more special and bringing the wiiings. It showed that the Australian Fortnite community continues to grow each year at an ever-increasing competitive level!
So much went down so we'll look to cover as much as possible. We're talking commentators, our great partners, meet and greets, points systems, game types, who won each round, the drops, the final standings and, of course, eventual winners.
01
Commentators/Casters
Red Bull High Grounds Commentators Mac, Timmy and Zennox
© Ken Leanfore
While the players brought all the action we have to recognise the insane chat and energy from our casters who didn't miss a thing all day! They bounced off each other from the first game to the last moment and shared split-second plays to keep viewers in the audience and those at home in the know.
Thank you Mac, Timmy, Zennox, and special mention to Fluke for jumping in from time to time. You all made this a super fun tournament and set the benchmark extremely high for the Fortnite commentary game moving forward.
Also, another special mention must go to our host with the most Nattea. Such a warm welcome to kick Red Bull High Grounds off and ongoing comms with players throughout and the winners at the end.
Red Bull High Grounds Nattea
© Ken Leanfore
02
Meet and Greet
Red Bull High Grounds Meet and Greet
© Ken Leanfore
Naturally, there can be some nerves for meet and greets as players and fans come face to face for the first time but this was one of our favourite parts of the day.
What started out with a few nervous smiles turned into a stream of smiling fans that packed out the room. Those lucky enough to make it through grabbed photos and signatures from their favourites from the PWR team as well as some of the TOS crew.
A big thank you to Loserfruit, Fasffy, Lazerbeam, Sync, Develique, Muselk, Paladin Amber, Lachlan, Overstrand, Chanzes, iamfallfromgrace and Vindooly for taking the time to meet fans and give them an experience like no other.
03
Prize Money
Did you know there was actually a prize pool of $50,000? Yep, that's right, a lot of players took home some serious cash on the day.
All in all the prize money made its way down to sixth place and looked like the below:
First place: $25,000
Second place: $12,000
Third place: $6,000
Fourth place: $4,000
Fifth place: $2,000
Sixth place: $1,000
Not a bad day on the tools for some great Australian Fortnite players!
04
Partners
Red Bull High Grounds Maybelline
© Ken Leanfore
There were more than a couple of tense gaming moments throughout the day but Maybelline New York took care of everyone and provided some great skin care advice and makeup for a number of players and creators to keep us all looking our best!
Red Bull High Grounds AOC
© Ken Leanfore
AOC was another integral partner on the day providing monitors for all competing players. These things are incredible for gaming and a must-have for anyone gaming at home and looking to get that added edge!
05
Play of the Day
Red Bull High Grounds Muselk
© Ken Leanfore
There were several moments during Red Bull High Grounds that had us shook, from a clutch duo win in round two to a couple of team wipes and even a few favourites getting knocked out early - no one could have predicted how the day would pan out.
There was one moment that stood out for everyone and that was Muselk's frantic minute-long escape after having two of his teammates -- Realms and Radius -- dropped early on by alecc, mau, and jxsn.
Thankfully packing the latest ODM gear he was able to dip from that initial trio encounter. When he landed and jumped into a car he ran into another team which saw skits and suns almost wreck his car.
Once he was in his second car skits was still chasing and almost wrecked that as well. What we didn't see on the stream was that suns landed in the car and hopped out to engage. Muselk quickly jumped out and ODM'd away to safety ending the chase.
If that wasn't enough he then managed to reboot both his teammates Realms and Radius.
Go Muselk! A well-earned play of the day. Jump to 2:17:53 on the livestream below to watch it pan out.
06
Points System and Game Types
Red Bull High Grounds Points System
© Red Bull
The points system adopted for this tournament was to support the unique team structure of a professional, content creator and amateur player in each trio.
It meant that points were awarded not only for placement but for eliminations too. The point system worked out like the below:
Placements
1st: Three points
2nd - 3rd: Two points
4th - 10th: One point
Eliminations
7+ eliminations: Three points
5-6 eliminations: Two points
3-4 eliminations: One point
This meant teams needed to find the right balance of aggression and strategy to find themselves in the final circle and a potential win. In other words, place 10th or higher and get more than 3-4 eliminations each game to get those points!
Game Types
For game types on the day, it was originally planned to have three rounds of no builds followed by three rounds of builds.
This meant early on, bunkers and shield bubbles were a must while later it came down to resource management for building and getting the high ground for the final circle.
There was a small technical difficulty during the day so gameplay was paused for an hour or so. We were able to get back to it shortly but meant there was two rounds of no builds followed by two rounds of builds.
Big respect to our players and fans for working through this one with us and getting back to the action soon after for a very memorable day.
The Drop
Red Bull High Grounds Overview
© Ken Leanfore
It was decided pre-game where each team would land. This was a random allocation so an element of luck came into play. Who got Mega City? Who got Brutal Bastian? The Citadel or any of your other favourite POIs?
While this meant the game started at a different pace than usual, it created an equal standing for every team being able to loot and ready themselves for battle and figuring out some solid strategy moving forward.
When teams did finally cross paths the action did ramp-up big time!
07
Livestream
Red Bull High Grounds Players
© Ken Leanfore
Have to give a huge shoutout to our streaming partner ESL who handled production duties on the day!
They provided a live stream on both Youtube and Twitch and kept viewers in the know with post round and leaderboard updates.
They also provided instant action and map overlaps with multiple screens running showing different players and teams and never missed a thing.
08
Players and Teams
Red Bull High Grounds Players and Teams
© Red Bull
All up there were 15 teams made up of three players each, so 45 players in total.
Each team was made up of a professional, a content creator and an amateur. The amateurs were those that placed in the top 15 of the qualifiers held ahead of the tournament online and at Fortress in Sydney.
The amateurs then got to pick one other team member be it a professional or content creator based on their qualifying position, ie first qualifier got first pick of a professional or creator.
From there, the order was reversed and the 15th qualifier then got to make a pick for their second teammate. All in all, a very fair system!
This unique format meant teams were made up of a mix of skill sets. There were often amazing builders, great zero-build players, and all-rounders working together in each trio.
Another thing to consider was none of these players had played together as a team before. How would their comms go? Movement and mobility? Actual team work? It was all up in the air!
See all the teams below:
Falloco: Cody, iamfallfromgrace and Looterz
SMA: skits, Paladin Amber and Suns
The Fortnitiens: NJayyee, Overstrand and Pumpkin
USOs: Spiker, Develique and Fisher
Jupiter Mars Venus: Jupiter, OasisonOverwatch and Volx
CIJ: Jarrod, Loserfruit and Cazi
The Respectful Chonkers: Tuckle Buckle, Jacquebunny and Jynx
Crowd favourites on the livestreams had to be eggman, Worthy and Jxsn!
09
Round Wins
Red Bull High Grounds Lachlan, Jace and Mooteea
© Ken Leanfore
There were four rounds in total, one zero build and three build. All teams did well but a few in particular kept that consistency across all rounds.
Check out the winners from each round below:
Round 1: goats feat vague, Phos and Anon
Round 2: USOs feat Spiker, Develique and Fisher
Round 3: Jupiter Mars Venus feat Jupiter Mech, Oasis and Volx
Round 4: The Respectful Chonkers feat Tuckle Buckle, Jacquebunny and Jynx
At this point it was interesting to see that round wins were scattered across the board and eliminations would come into play to decide the final winner.
Read on to see the leaderboard after each round.
10
Post Match Results
After Round One
Red Bull High Grounds Leaderboard 1
© Red Bull
After Round Two
Red Bull High Grounds Post Match 2
© Red Bull
After Round Three
Red Bull High Grounds Round Three Post Match
© Red Bull
After Round Four
Red Bull High Grounds Round Four
© Red Bull
11
Winners
Red Bull High Grounds Players
© Ken Leanfore
This is what you scrolled for right? Who took home the $25,000?
With one game to go, there were multiple ties for all places and it would literally come down to the final game elinations to crown a winner.
At the end of the day, there can only be one winner... but there were also some other teams that placed and meant cash in hand. Who were they?
Sixth place: USOs winning $1000
Fifth place: The Respectful Chonkers winning $2000
Fourth place: SMA winning $4000
Third place: Good Morning USA winning $6000
Second place: goats winning $12000
When all the smoke cleared and the circle had closed it was one team that stood above the rest.... it was team 'Jupiter Mars Venus' which was made up of Jupiter, Oasis, and Volx who took home $25,000!
Red Bull High Grounds Winners
© Ken Leanfore
They were consistently strong through the day and their balance of skills saw them take the top spot for the first-ever Red Bull High Grounds Fortnite tournament.
Watch the full livestream on YouTube below.
For more gaming and gaming culture coverage, follow @redbullgaming on Twitter, Instagram now Tik Tok and like us on Facebook.
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