The two top-ranked Fortnite competitive duos in the North America East region were allegedly spotted cooperating with each other to take strategic damage to avoid storm surge this weekend. A Twitter user posted a video that allegedly shows the No. 1 ranked duo of Slackes and Keys and the No. 2 ranked duo of Kreorr and Envy Bucke repeatedly teaming over the course of several games.
Storm surge is a mechanic in competitive Fortnite where players who deal the least amount of damage will sometimes receive damage until the storm surge ends or until they deal enough damage to no longer be the lowest damage dealer. As a result, it’s usually a good idea to avoid being in the lowest damage bracket to prevent suffering from storm surge damage.
In these clips, the two duos appear to be abusing the unlimited shields supplied by the waters of Slurpy Swamp to deal non-lethal damage to each other, allowing both teams to benefit from increased damage without serious risk of death.
Envy Bucke posted a TwitLonger to defend himself, claiming that they weren’t teaming. “Even when other teams land at Slurpy Swamp, we bloom battle them because there’s unlimited shield,” Bucke said. “There have been multiple times in scrims/tournaments where we kill each other because we’ll get triple dinked or naded.”
But the video shows suspicious behavior that wasn’t explained in Bucke’s TwitLonger post. Adding further suspicion to the situation, another Twitter user posted a screengrab that apparently shows Kreo watching Key’s stream.
“There is no excuse,” Fortnite pro Liquid Chap said during a Twitch stream. “They target swapped. Kreorr would break one shield and then swap to the other. They were editing windows, sitting still, and shooting each other in the head. There is no excuse. That is just plain teaming. They didn’t make it look legit at all.”
Epic has not yet publicly commented on these allegations of teaming. Epic has been strict on Fortnite cheaters in the past, including banning over 1,200 accounts during the 2019 Fortnite World Cup qualifiers. Teaming could carry a penalty of a two-week suspension or even a permanent ban from competitive play in some cases.
