Fortnite Pro Replaced in Text Message Days Before Championship

A Fortnite pro just found out his duo tried to replace him 10 days before a 2 million dollar global championship by text. Here's everything we know

Two Fortnite pros qualified to a world championship as a duo. One of them attempted to switch his teammate out — chaos ensued. / EXC Kwanti

The Fortnite community is in uproar after Duos pro player 916Gon attempted to swap out his duo Kwanti 10 days before the Fortnite Global Championship, and that's not even the worst part — Kwanti found out he was being replaced by text.

Who are Kwanti and 916Gon?

Jarvis "Kwanti" Duong is a 24-year-old Fortnite player signed to Exceed Esports (EXC) and a Fortnite DreamHack Champion. Kwanti is mainly a Fortnite Duos competitive player. He participated in the Esports World Cup 2024, placing second. While formerly signed to Agent Gaming, he participated in DreamHack San Diego 2023 and won. These are both S-Tier tournaments. Kwanti has 24,000 followers on Twitch and is also active on YouTube, Twitter and TikTok.

Erick "916Gon" Dalfert, a 16-year-old Brazilian pro signed to Hero Base, is Kwanti's qualifying Fortnite Duos partner for the FNCS Global Championship. He is active on YouTube and has over 110,000 followers on Twitch. 916Gon has placed in multiple FNCS Major Finals and qualified for the FNCS Global Championship.

What is FNCS and why is it important?

The Fortnite Championship Series (FNCS) Global Championship is Fortnite's most prestigious S-tier tournament. The Global Championship has a 2 million dollar prize pool and attracts the best and brightest in the Fortnite world to compete. It will occur on September 7 and September 8, 2024. To qualify for the FNCS Global Championship, Fortnite players must progress through several lower-level tournaments within the FNCS circuit and secure a spot through their region. After they qualified in these respective regions, Kwanti and 916Gon registered for the FNCS Global Championship as Duos partners.

What happened between Kwanti and 916Gon?

These (censored) texts are how Kwanti found out his duo planned to swap him out. / Kwanti Twitter

Everything seemed to be going swimmingly until August 27 2024, when Kwanti posted a mysterious WhatsApp screenshot on his Twitter. The chat appeared to be with his duo 916Gon. In the messages between Kwanti and 916Gon, 916Gon informs Kwanti that he is "playing with Stryker" (referring to another player signed to F4TALITY) and saying "good to play with u". 916Gon proceeds to say, "hope u get a duo for globals [...] ur cool [...] bro."

Don’t know what to say. Got replaced by someone who isn’t qualified for Globals or a backup/reserve player. I got told they made him an “exception.” 🤷🏻‍♂️

— EXD Kwanti (@ItsKwanti) August 27, 2024

Kwanti took to Twitter to call for help from Fortnite's tournament organizers. At 12:12 P.M. on August 27 2024, he lamented 916Gon's decision and questioned why he was being replaced in a world tournament by a player who "isn't qualified for Globals or a backup/reserve player."

Will Kwanti and 916Gon play together in FNCS Duos?

After multiple complaints and tickets. I have received the spot for Globals. Thank you Fortnite, but this shouldn't have even been a problem in the first place. Can we just follow the rule book?

Kwanti x 916 Gon

Still landing Mount Olympus

— EXD Kwanti (@ItsKwanti) August 27, 2024

Five hours later at 5:38 P.M. on August 27 2024, Kwanti updated on Twitter informing fans that his spot in the FNCS Global Championship had been reinstated. He followed up with another tweet stating, "Thank you Fortnite for absolutely destroying the vibes." It seems Kwanti and 916Gon will enter the FNCS Global Championship as a duo, but at what cost? It's hard to imagine the two wouldn't face some serious tension after this situation.

How did 916Gon respond?

poh, sla

nao sei o que dizer, eu ia jogar com o stryker mas descobri agora que foi um erro de comunicação e nao vou jogar com ele mais gg

— HERO 916Gon (@916Gon) August 27, 2024

916Gon responded on Twitter after Kwanti's reinstation with two Tweets. In the first, posted at 5:42 P.M. on August 27 2024, he says: "I don't know what to say, I was going to play with Stryker but I just found out it was a communication error and I won't play with him anymore gg." Some fans, sensing bad blood between the two, questioned if they could mutually switch duos for a better tournament experience. This led 916Gon to clarify "for those who are asking and telling us to change duos [...] I can't change duos or resort to anything else."