Fortnite player Diego “Arkhram1x” knew that qualifying for the Fortnite World Cup would be hard in the North America West servers.
The only way he could qualify in his region was by placing first in duos or second in solo, at worse. That’s different from players in other major regions such as Europe and North America East, who could place eighth and sixth in solo or fourth and third in duos to qualify, respectively.
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But like most competitive players, he still wanted to be in both World Cup Finals. And in week nine, Arkhram became the only player in North America West to qualify for both Fortnite World Cup Finals after placing first in the solo qualifier. He’d already qualified for duos with Falconer in week two when the duo placed first to secure the only West spot that week.
Arkhram knew his only option to qualify for the World Cup was to perform better than all other players from his region. Getting a single point more than the player in second place would be enough. But he chose to set an individual goal instead of comparing his score with that of other players.
“Knowing there was only one spot for duos was really intimidating at first,” Arkhram told Dot Esports. “But we didn’t focus on getting first. Falconer and I set a goal to get 100 points in the [qualifier] finals. We knew if we got 100 points that we would qualify, and that’s what we aimed for. But we just played our game, played consistently, and didn’t tilt.”
That strategy worked great, and they were the first duo in North America West to qualify. But Arkhram still wanted the solo spot.
“In solos, there were only two spots for West,” Arkhram said. “So I did the same as in duos, and I set a goal to get 80 points.”
He said that in week nine, he only got one point in two games, which put him far behind in his goal.
“I knew I had to do something big, and I won the next two games bringing me back from the bottom to top 10,” Arkhram said.
He realized that making aggressive plays going for player eliminations was the only way to get more points and climb back to the top.
“So I pushed everyone I could see and was expecting to die, but I didn’t,” Arkhram said. “I went on to win with about 14 kills.”
And this is the same playstyle that Arkhram used to qualify in duos, he said. Being qualified with Falconer just gave him more confidence to do well alone.
“I feel like West wasn’t the highest level of competition, but there is a drawback,” Arkhram said. “Most West players are pretty dumb, in my opinion, and push when they shouldn’t. Therefore you have to make really clean early and mid game rotations or else you will get pushed hard.”
Now that the solo qualifiers for the Fortnite World Cup are over, no other player in North America West can accomplish what Arkhram did. And he wants more when he plays in New York at the World Cup Finals starting July 26.
“I expect Falconer and I to get at least top five in New York,” Arkhram said. “Solo-wise, for me it depends. I think I will get at least top 10, but if my mentality is good and I don’t miss my shots, I think I definitely have a shot for the first place.”
