Fortnite: Benjyfishy, Mitr0 and Many Others Confirmed for the Australian Open 2020 Summer Smash

The competitive Fortnite fandom has only seen a handful of LAN competitions. The Fortnite World Cup and ESL Katowice Royale are two of the most significant events in its short history. Last year, the Australian Open Fortnite tournament flew under the radar as it featured players primarily from the Oceania region. The year is now 2020, and we are gearing up for what should be an incredible event. Earlier this month, ESTNN previewed the upcoming Australian Open Summer Smash 2020 Fortnite tournament.

High Stakes Australian LAN Tournament

The $500K USD prize pool will undoubtedly pique the interest of both players and fans alike. Players will participate in a trios charity event and then a solo event. Since our preview article, the list of high-profile professional Fortnite players has increased. This event is rapidly shaping up to be one of the best in the history of competitive Fortnite.

Ready to play at @FortniteGame Summer Smash 👊

We can't wait to see you @benjyfishy @mitr0 @vividfn @jaomock @zayt @ghostsaf @epikwhale @Replays @Loserfruit @lazarbeam @LachlanYT @muselk @mrfreshasian @x2twins

More about the #AO2020 event and tickets 👉 https://t.co/r4fcT5dxpQ pic.twitter.com/cgkEDdRauj

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 16, 2020

A Tweet by the official Australian Open account gave insight as to who we can expect to see at the Fortnite tournament next month. The list of confirmed attendees by region is as follows.

North America

North American players:

• 100T Cecie
• 100T Elevate
• NRG EpikWhale
• Vanguard Jaomock
• Maddie
• Liquid Vivid
• FaZe Replays
• Ghost Saf
• CLG Symmetrical
• FaZe Tilt
• TINARAES
• TSM Vinny1x
• NRG Zayt
• TSM ZexRow

Analysis

Both NA East and NA West will be represented well at the Summer Smash tournament. Notable names on this list include both Williams “Zayt” Aubin and Rocco “Saf” Morales, who've accomplished quite a lot as a duo including a win at the previously mentioned ESL Katowice Royale and fourth place at the Fortnite World Cup. Shane “EpikWhale” Cotton is worth mentioning as well considering how well he's performed. One of his career highlight finishes is a third-place finish at the Fortnite World Cup in solos.

Davis “Ceice” McClellan and Hayden “Elevate” Krueger will also make an appearance at the Summer Smash as solos. They notably finished in third place as a duo at the Fortnite World Cup. Ceice and Elevate recently appeared at the DreamHack Winter 2019 event where Ceice finished in 67th and Elevate did not reach Grand Finals. Anthony “ZexRow” Colandro and Vinny “Vinny1x” Gilgan are both veterans in competitive Fortnite. ZexRow is not recognized for his solo career but will look to improve upon that at the Summer Smash. On the other hand, Vinny has a LAN victory in solos at the ESL Katowice Royale. Therefore, North America's representation at this event will give the other regions a run for their money.

Europe

lil free dub for benjyfishy maybe https://t.co/J9sB0Nn8cu

— benjyfishy (@benjyfishy) January 16, 2020

European players:

• Solary Airwaks
• COOLER aqua
• NRG benjyfishy
• Mitr0
• Nyhrox

Analysis

Although a much shorter list, Europe is sending some heavy hitters to the Fortnite Summer Smash tournament. A safe place to start is with Benjy “benjyfishy” Fish, who is arguably the best player in Fortnite today. He holds multiple victories in the Solo Cash Cup tournaments, double-qualified for the Fortnite World Cup and has solid finishes in both of the Fortnite Champion Series events. He will likely be one of the favorites heading into this tournament.

David “aqua” Wang and Emil “Nyhrox” Bergquist will both be in attendance at the Summer Smash as well. This former duo is famous for their winning effort in the duo tournament at the Fortnite World Cup. Aqua went down as one of the best overall players in 2019 with consistently high placements in Cash Cups and a sixth-place finish at DreamHack Winter. Nyhrox tapered off a bit after the World Cup but managed a 19th place finish at the previously mentioned DreamHack Winter event.

The inclusion of Dmitri “Mitr0” Van de Vrie in this competition makes it all the better. We've only seen bits and pieces of Mitr0 on LAN, and many recognize him as a top-five player in the world. The 17-year-old Dutch standout rarely places poorly in the Solo Cash Cups. With so few LAN events under his belt, it will be interesting to see how Mitr0 performs amongst some high caliber players.

South America

South American players:

• drakoNz
• Blackoutz

Analysis

Two Cloud 9 players by the names of Igor “drakoNz” Fernandes Theophilo Amorim and Patrick “BlackoutZ” Garcia Da Silva will represent South America at the event in Australia. Blackoutz has performed well in smaller solo online tournaments. Drakonz did qualify for the Fortnite World Cup as a solo and finished in 75th place. As a duo, these two are amongst the best in their respective region. It is time for them to showcase their skills as individual players at this important event.

A complete list of Oceania players is in our previous article regarding the Australian Open 2020 Summer Smash. There will be a strong representation out of the OCE region due to the players' proximity to the event. All of these players are looking to defend their territory from some outstanding European and North American players.

The Australian Open website states that “Additional player names will be revealed over the coming weeks, stay tuned via the Aus Open website and Twitter channels.” We will be eagerly watching to see what players decide to make the journey to Austalia to compete for the $100K USD grand prize.

Stay tuned to ESTNN as we learn more details regarding the Summer Smash 2020 event.