Two eSports players are confused when they accidentally win a match in Fortnite and qualify for the Grand Finals. They actually wanted to lose.
What is behind the unplanned qualification? On August 1st and 2nd, 2026, the “Major 2 – Grand Finals” will take place in Fortnite in North America Central. The duo of Nathan “Reet” Amundso and Cooper Cole Smith (referred to as “Cooper”) qualified for the upcoming finals through an epic victory – albeit a bit earlier than planned.
During a match, when they were among the last remaining participants, they wanted to “gift” the victory to their opponents. However, they went down through the zone while Cooper was still standing on both feet. So, the duo accidentally won and qualified for the Grand Finals when they actually wanted to lose.
Why did they want to give up the victory? This is not quite clear, but in the Fortnite universe, users discuss various reasons that could provide a possible explanation. Here are the most plausible explanations:
- They were sure that they would qualify anyway and wanted to play more matches to gather more practice. In this case, it was practically seen as preparation for the actual tournament.
- They aimed to allow inferior opponents, whom they could easily defeat, to qualify for the finals. The goal would be to potentially prevent players they do not want to compete against or do not want at the finals from qualifying. Even in this scenario, they had to be sure that they would qualify in any case, even if they gave up the victory.
However, the duo has not explained their actions on social media. Since there are no VoDs available from the Twitch streams of the two Fortnite professionals, the possible explanations remain mere conjectures that we cannot confirm.
This is how it’s being discussed: For many gamers and sports fans, the behavior of the duo is absolutely inexplicable. After all, there is the ambition to win, and one wants to ensure that one earns such a qualification.
Twitch streamer Jynxzi, known primarily for the competitive tactical shooter Rainbow Six: Siege, reacted in disbelief when he saw the behavior of the Fortnite duo in a clip (via X). In a tone of horror, he shouted: “What kind of eSports is this?!”
Other users believe that such behavior should have consequences and harms the integrity of eSports. What do you think of this behavior? Do you find it okay and strategically clever or does it seem unsportsmanlike to you? Let us know in the comments!
In the Grand Finals, Reet and Cooper will likely face PeterBot, who started his career early and is now one of the best Fortnite players in the world. In this article, we take a brief look at his career: Talented Fortnite kid wins his first $250 in prize money at 13, just a few years later becomes one of the top players in the world
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