When Evan ‘Cented’ Barron joined FaZe clan in March 2021, fans worldwide had sky-scraping expectations from him. To be fair, he did gain a ton of followers across Twitch and Twitter and significantly improved his skills as a pro.

However, the former FNCS finalist and Cash Cups winner has been kicked out by FaZe Clan for using hate speech.

Why did FaZe Clan permanently remove Fortnite pro Cented?

While playing Fortnite recently, Cented joined Twitch streamer nothellfire1’s party and wasted no time in dropping a racial slur. It seems like he was not aware that nothellfire1 was live on Twitch.

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This was followed by FaZe immediately announcing Cented’s permanent removal from the clan for using hate speech. The post clearly mentioned how the Esports org is constantly evolving and there is no room for racial slurs/discriminatory language.

Soon after, Cented himself admitted to using the slur on stream and claimed that he should’ve known better. The streamer apologized to the Fortnite community and acknowledged his immaturity and ignorance.

He said, “Somewhere along the way I let my ego get the best of me.”

Fortnite community reacts to FaZe Clan removing Cented

While some players are shocked that FaZe has parted ways with Cented instead of giving him sensitivity training, others like prominent leaker HYPEX did not hold back from making him aware of his mistake.

The mixed response from the Fortnite community is understandable, to say the least. It is fair for people to expect organizations to take rehabilitative measures, and it is equally justified for others to expect more maturity from adults like Cented.

This isn’t the first time that Cented has faced consequences for his blunt behavior. Back in June 2021, Epic Games warned him for abusing a young player and recklessly ranting about the Battle Royale game on Twitter.

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Incidents like the one mentioned above have played a major role in decaying the image of Fortnite’s competitive community. Rather than being role models, the pros are infamous for being toxic and disrespectful.

Guild Esports has added another EU Fortnite pro to their roster: 18-year-old Denmark native Anas El-Abd.

Guild Esports are continuing to pad their Fortnite roster with EU talent, this time signing six-time FNCS and five-time Dreamhack finalist Anas El-Abd. This signing follows their recent addition of Nikolaj “Flikk” Andreas Frøsle and Henrik “Hen” McLean to the team back in November.

The organization backed by David Beckham has continued to grow its Fortnite competitive roster over the past few months, with its latest signing announced via a Twitter video on January 11.

Anas has racked up over $95,000 over the past two years of his Fortnite career, placing third last season’s FNCS tournament. Now, the pro will represent Guild going into the next competitive Fortnite season.

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“Guild is an organization I’ve enjoyed watching grow, so it’s exciting to now be a part of that journey,” Anas said. “I’m sure I’ll have great success with the Guild team, using my previous wins and past experience as a finalist. Make sure you’re tuned in for the next match!”

Guild has been jumping into several popular competitive esports since its creation, with rosters for Rocket League, Valorant, FIFA, and Fortnite.

You can watch Anas compete with his new organization in all of the upcoming Fortnite events, including Cash Cups, Bragging Rights tournaments, and, of course, the Season 5 FNCS.

With only three Fortnite pros on their roster, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Guild picking up more tier-one EU talent in the first quarter of 2021. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more announcements.

Images via: Guild Esports

Keyboard and mouse players routinely call for a nerf to aim assist. They say that controller players have no skill or are cheating. Even some high-profile controller pros like Av and Scoped have claimed that aim assist is too powerful.

What about the upside-down controller though? One competitive Fortnite player and streamer, ComboWombo_, uses a flipped controller to dominate high-end lobbies.

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According to his Twitch channel, the streamer began playing video games when he was five. The controller was too big for his hands at that age, so he flipped it and learned how to play that way.

It’s mind-boggling to think about using a backward controller on any game, especially Fortnite. Fortnite lets you re-map your entire controller and it seems like ComboWombo uses the directional pad more than most controller players.

At the very least, you can tell that he plays with his default sticks, meaning that they aren’t inverted. He probably got used to this throughout a variety of games before Fortnite.

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This has to be one of the most unique gaming setups in existence. AussieAntics highlighted the streamer during one of his recent viewing parties. His chat was understandably stunned.

You can take a look at ComboWombo’s Twitch channel here. He currently has just over 1,800 followers on Twitch. We think that this unique controller choice, alone, should be enough to draw in a few thousand more followers

Cheating is going to happen in any online competitive game – both big and small. In Fortnite, it’s particularly hard to catch cheaters and teamers without community review and whistleblowing.

This weekend, we saw two high-profile cheating allegations come out of the NA-West region; one on console and one on PC. The PC allegations were more serious, as they involved a player DDoSing a contesting team in the grand finals.

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Console wasn’t free from controversy, either. Three console pros have been dropped from their organization, Team Talon, after reports of cheating during the qualification heats.

This controversy began when a member of the first-place duo, Paul1x, shared screenshots of DMs from three Team Talon members, agreeing to feed the team of Drew and Ruben free points to help them qualify for Grand Finals.

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Drew and Ruben ended up placing 15th in the Grand Finals. Fayde and his teammate failed to qualify. Paul1x likely obtained these DMs because his partner, zScary, is also on Team Talon.

The screenshots of the conversation are pretty damning. They even show Ruben telling the duo not to make it obvious when they contest them for free points.

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This is, of course, against the FNCS rules. XXiF and Ronaldo did the same exact thing during the World Cup qualifiers and received a two-week ban along with the “cheater” tag from most of the community.

Since then, however, Epic have issued a 60-day competitive ban for Bucke, Kreo, Keys, and Slackes after the Storm Surge “teaming” from FNCS Week 1. Epic have yet to take action on this situation.

Interestingly, as these players get dropped from their organization, Kreo was signed to Built By Gamers. The Fortnite Guy covered all of these topics in a recent video.

(6:27 for mobile viewers)

After some initial posturing, the players involved have mostly admitted that they regret their decision and have learned their lesson.

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Interestingly, we have yet to see any action on the part of Epic Games. Console is a lower-profile platform, but the prize pool was identical to PC in the West region.

Ruben and Drew earned $875 apiece for their top-15 placement. Without the free points, however, it’s unclear whether they would have qualified for Grand Finals, at all. We’ll update you if and when Epic take action against these players.

FaZe Clan continues to bolster their Fortnite talent with the addition of Bizzle, following the high-profile signings of players like NickMercs, Mongraal, Funk, Sway, and many more.

Bizzle is one of the most decorated professional Fortnite LAN players in the world. He’s incredibly consistent and has placed highly in almost every competition he’s entered.

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One of the names that were synonymous with Ghost Gaming Fortnite is now on FaZe Clan’s side. He and the organization announced the new partnership on April 6.

Bizzle left Ghost Gaming over the weekend, as did Aydan. These were two of the bigger names in Ghost Gaming Fortnite parting ways with the organization.

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Bizzle didn’t go into details about the split. He told his followers that the decision was mutual and that he was open to offers from other organizations.

Aydan’s explanation of his own situation likely extends to Bizzle, as well. Both Aydan and Bizzle were unknown players when they signed with Ghost, and they both outgrew their starting contract. Now, Bizzle gets to start over with FaZe Clan.

Bizzle has a long list of accomplishments in professional Fortnite. He placed first in the Secret Skirmish, has the most top-five finishes at LAN, and has earned over $500,000 playing Fortnite.

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FaZe was quick to get their new recruit in on the action. They even ordered him a pizza from his local pizza place. He received it on-stream.

It’s interesting to see such a quick turnaround on the signing. Only a couple of days have passed since Bizzle left Ghost. We shouldn’t be too surprised, though, since Bizzle is one of the best players in the world.

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Bizzle will be representing FaZe in the upcoming FNCS Grand Finals. We’re excited to see how one of the most consistent Fortnite players finishes with his new organization.

Ghost Gaming has been a player in esports for a while, but they may have reached the height of their name recognition when Fortnite tournaments began.

Once competitive Fortnite started ramping up, it became clear that Ghost had one of the most talented rosters in the game. Bizzle, Aydan, Saf, Issa, innocents, thwifo, Kayuun, Sean – the list goes on and on.

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Over time, as competitive Fortnite began to die down, the organization started to break ties with some of its Fortnite talent. Some pros quit the game and others were dropped from the roster.

Throughout all of this, the two names that were synonymous with Ghost Gaming Fortnite remained: Timothy ‘Bizzle’ Miller and Aydan Conrad. These two players came up under the Ghost umbrella, and eventually became household names in the Fortnite community.

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On April 4, Aydan and Bizzle left Ghost Gaming. Both posted a TwitLonger explaining the situation.

The statement of Bizzle and Aydan were remarkably similar. They both thanked members of the organization, said that the split was amicable and that they were open to free-agent offers.

Aydan, who has more of a YouTube presence than Bizzle, released a video that went more in-depth about the situation. He expressed what most fans assumed was the case.

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In the video, Aydan explained that he was a “nobody” when he signed with Ghost. They took a chance on him and he was grateful for that.

After the infamous PAX tournament – where Aydan repeatedly killed NickMercs – Aydan began to blow up. “Basically, as the time went on, I fell like I was just growing so fast and … growing Ghost and Ghost wasn’t really growing me,” Aydan explained in his video.

It’s safe to assume that Bizzle was in the same boat. Fortnite made the two players extremely popular while they were still under their first professional contract.

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We’ve seen this play out several times in the Fortnite community – most notably with FaZe and Tfue. Tfue became one of the biggest streamers on Twitch while still on his first esports contract. He outgrew his org.

This situation appears to be far more civil than FaZe vs. Tfue, of course. Bizzle and Aydan have nothing but good things to say about Ghost Gaming. With both pros still in the Fortnite scene, it will be interesting to see where they land. FaZe? 100T? Liquid? TSM? Only time will tell.

Yesterday, March 9, Epic announced the Fortnite Champion Series for Season 2. This will be the first major Fortnite tournament where PC and console players will be competing for individual prize pools.

The news was fantastic for console players, who have been begging for separate lobbies for a long time. Many PC players weren’t so happy, though, when they learned that the console and PC prize pools would be identical for each region.

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All of the high-profile Fortnite pros play on PC – both on controller and on mouse and keyboard. The thought process is that PC should have a larger prize pool since the group is largely made up of more skilled players.

NickMercs, a veteran in the pro gaming community, thinks that the mentality of Fortnite pros is evidence that none of them “know about playing for breadcrumbs.”

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The streamer ranted about how spoiled the Fortnite pro community has become with their massive prize pools. “They don’t know any better,” he said.

“Bro, they never played for anything but billions of dollars, man,” Nick went on to say. “They’re f**king spoiled. They’re completely spoiled, bro. Guys, for the rest of time, the Fortnite community will – not Fortnite, but any younger, newer game community – they’re always gonna be full of little complaining, little b***hes, man.”

“I’m sitting here, arguing, with little 12-year-olds on Twitter, man, with anime avi’s and s**t, who have, like, no grasp of how things actually work,” Nick told his chat.

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Whatever you think about the even prize pool across console and PC, it’s difficult to argue with Nick’s point. Winning $70,000 (the top prize for the EU region) for playing a game from the comfort of your own home would have been unheard of a few years ago.

Nick also took to Twitter to argue with PC pro, Yung Calculator. The former argued that the separation is the first step to separating controller from mouse and keyboard – something that a ton of PC pros have been asking for.

Separating the platforms makes sense on paper, but it’s easy to understand the frustration of some PC pros out there. All of the best players are on PC. Epic should, in theory, give the most money to players with the most skill.

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That’s not how things are shaping up for the FNCS. If Nick is right, though, this could be the first step towards controller and M&K having their own tournaments. The low-priced FNCS might be a trial run.

Fortsettings.com conducted a survey of over 120 Fortnite pros to see what gear they used. This is the most popular gear at the highest level of the game.

We’ll start with what most people came for: the mouse selection. 28% of the surveyed pros use a Finalmouse Air58 Ninja. This mouse is incredibly lightweight, decreasing the friction between the mouse and the mousepad.

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The second most popular option, the Logitech G Pro Wireless, is an unsurprising addition because it’s one of the options that Epic offers players at a lot of LAN events.

Not many players are going to copy a professional mousepad setup, but it helps to know the most popular in the game.

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The SteelSeries QcK is the most popular option, here, with the Glorious 3XL right behind. Truth be told, any of these mousepads will be a good choice for a variety of games.

The monitors are likely the second most copied Fortnite pro gear item, at least if you have the budget. The Alienware AW2518H has the biggest margin on this list with 34% of surveyed Fortnite pros.

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This 240hz monitor gives players the fastest refresh rate you can find. It’s one of the smoothest monitors on the market with, predictably, the lowest-possible response time.

As for headsets, the ASTRO A40’s and HyperX Cloud II’s are likely two of the most popular in all of gaming due to their price and performance.

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Both of these headsets are used by 12% of the surveyed Fortnite pros. I have a pair of HyperX Cloud II’s, myself. They represent some of the best performance for your dollar.

The keyboards, like the mousepads, are another area that doesn’t seem to generate too many copycats. Most Fortnite pros in this survey used the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL.

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The Logitech G Pro is another common option, which makes sense due to Epic’s deal with Logitech for most LAN events. Still, you can likely find a more budget-friendly option if you’re looking for one.

So, there you have it: the most popular gaming gear for professional Fortnite players. You can now feel better about your setup if one or two of your selections are included in this list.

Arten ‘Ballatw‘ Esa is one of the most respected analysts and casters in Fortnite. He’s done his homework to become one of the most knowledgeable commentators in the game, regularly hosting VoD reviews for his fans and the competitive community.

On February 3, Balla took aim at professional Fortnite players via Twitter. He shared a clip of Thorin discussing the ‘Mamba Mentality’ during a CSGO cast. Balla claimed that this mentality “seems to be completely missing in Fortnite.” The context is that a lot of pro players are skipping DreamHack Anaheim because it’s too much of a “risk.”

Balla went on to clarify his statements in a follow-up tweet. “This was not referencing people who don’t have the financial means. Please don’t take stupid risks,” he said. “I’m talking about pros who have turned down invites, or clearly have the means to get to tournaments, but choose not to.”

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“They make up excuses like I listed, they get caught up in the stream numbers, or lose the love to trying to be the BEST,” Balla continued. “You unfortunately can’t prove you’re the best sitting at home. Only people you’re proving it to is youtube clickbait, and gullible people.”

Fortnite pro Jonathan ‘Yung Calculator’ Weber played devil’s advocate in a response to Balla’s first tweet. ” You realize how complex bringing your own PC and s*** like that is. I agree some people just aren’t grinders but calling people out for not going to DreamHack Anaheim is really dumb,” he said.

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Balla responded, further clarifying his take on the issue. “Valid excuse for plenty – not the pros who are SIGNED, AND for who the expense would be negligible in comparison to their earnings.”

Ballatw continued to like, retweet, and respond to his replies. His opinion is clear: he wants to see professional Fortnite players compete at the highest level.

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It appears as though Balla is looking out for the health of Fortnite as an esport while a lot of pro players are looking out for themselves. You can’t fault either of them, here. It’s just the way things are. Let us know what you think in the comments.

When it comes to Fortnite, TSM have pretty much paved the way for signing talented players to their organization throughout the title’s lifespan.

TSM broke into the Fortnite scene by signing Ali ‘Myth’ Kabbani, who quickly rose to become one of the most popular players across the entire scene. Although Myth didn’t see that much success in professional tournaments, he still rose to the top of the community alongside TSM.

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On Friday, August 30, TSM revealed that they have signed Emad ‘EmadGG’ Nasif and Theo ‘Crue’ Ferrer to their Fortnite roster.

The official announcement can be found below.

We're thrilled to announce our two newest signings to #TSMFortnite, @EmadGG_, and @TSM_Crue! Please welcome them aboard https://t.co/ly5HR4F2bA pic.twitter.com/EutFJeiuxV

— High Warlord TSM (@TSM) August 30, 2019

Emad has played in a collection of Fortnite tournaments, including Summer Skirmish, Fall Skirmish, and PAX East, but is mainly known for his streaming career.

Crue solidified himself in the professional Fortnite scene with a 6th place finish at the Fortnite World Cup Solo Finals and also took 22nd in the Duo Finals.

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Both Emad and Crue will join a long list of incredibly popular players under the TSM banner, including, but not limited to, Myth, Daequan, HighDistortion, Hamlinz, and many more.

Following the announcement, Emad took to Twitter to show his excitement for joining TSM in a bit of an unconventional way – jumping off a roof into a pool.

Joined @TSM pic.twitter.com/oPTv1gu7uK

— TSM EmadGG (@EmadGG_) August 30, 2019

Which organization do you believe is the best in Fortnite? Let us know below!