FNCS Division Cups Explained

The new season has started and we’ve wasted no time starting the FNCS, the FNCS Division Cups are beginning already. These tournaments are the first stage, where players compete to try and make it into the finals.

This year, we’ve got a late start to the FNCS. We took the whole of Chapter 7 Season 1 off, with just Reload Elite Series qualifiers happening. But the FNCS Divisional Cups will get things started again. These are a tournament held in a few different tiers. Players compete to rise up the tiers. At the end, the top-ranking teams move on to the next stage of the FNCS.

They’ll still need to make it through heats and play-in if they want to compete for a slot at the LAN. However, the Division Cups are the first step. With an expanded season this year there’s a lot more at stake in the first Major. Running so early, it’s also playing on a new version of the game that’s borderline untested. Bugs, unbalanced weapons, tons of weird factors. These events are going to be a key look at how the game is playing this season. This is what you can expect:

FNCS Division Cups Format

The FNCS Division Cups are the opening round to the Fortnite Champion Series. It’s more open than the later sections, with players competing to rise up the multiple divisions that sort them by skill level. As players take part, the top-ranking Fortnite players move up. At the end of the events, players in Division 1 move on to the later sections of the FNCS. Those below miss out for this season.

Division 1 is being played regularly over the next weeks. We’ve got an early FNCS happening to make room for the Major 1 Summit later in the season. Which means these are playing on a looser schedule. The format is the same though.

The tournament is played in Duos. The Division 1 will have three sessions per week. Where played get 12 matches to try and score points. Players need to get placement and kills to make it up the leaderboard. At the end of the session, the top 50 move forward for the next round.

The finals come at the end of the week with a six-game set. The lower divisions compete in similar sessions, with the top placing Duos over the sessions moving ahead. This gives them a few weeks to try and climb up to the FNCS lobbies. It can take new players a while to go from the bottom to tier 1 in the FNCS Division Cups though.

The Division Cups in the past have shown incumbents have an advantage. Those already in the highest tier of the FNCS Divisions usually sail through. It takes a real emerging talent to climb all the way up. but the FNCS Division Cups do provide the opportunity for that to happen. We could see some new names in Fortnite esports rise up through these events.

How Many FNCS Division Cups are There?

If you’re trying to follow along, how many cups are we getting? These run until the next stage begins. This season that’s all happening very quickly. Chapter 7 Season 2 has a shorter run time and both a Major and a LAN to get through. There’s going to be five weeks of Divisional Cups this season!

Can You Watch Them?

The FNCS is by far the most entertaining way to watch Fortnite esports. But is the Divison Cups broadcast? Not officially with a fully produced broadcast happening, with casters and everything. But you have options.

For the most part, we follow the FNCS Division Cups through re-streamers. There’s quite a few, including some of the official casters and AussieAntics. These use replay tools to broadcast a version of these events and commentate as they go. The Divisions aren’t as stacked as the FNCS though. Fortnite streamers are keen for content so broadcasts are out there. The smaller regions probably won’t be findable though.

Like with the FNCS itself, there’s a focus on NA and EU. You can catch a few of the other Fortnite regions but those are largely limited to the final.

The official broadcast doesn’t start until the later round. Even then, it’s only in the big regions. Not everywhere. We do see the broadcast come back on for the Heats onward. Plus, some Fortnite streamers still cover the smaller regions. With a LAN coming right after this major there’s more reason to follow each and every server region this time.