NEW YORK — The boos when Fortnite player Damion “XXiF” Cook appeared onscreen at the Fortnite World Cup were only matched by the cheers when he was eliminated.
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XXiF and fellow Canadian competitor Ronald “Ronaldo” Mach took part in the duos competition Saturday at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The two, who were subject to 14-day bans on May 3 for allegedly colluding with other players during qualifiers for the event, received ire matched only by the jubilation surrounding the final Victory Royale of the event.
The crowd, which was relatively quiet throughout the day, found a new decibel level when XXiF and Ronaldo got screen time, but their presence at the event was based on a decision from game developer Epic Games. Despite issuing that two-week ban from competitive play, Epic decided the two would be allowed to continue to attempt to qualify for the two-player tournament, although XXiF was banned from the solo event. Epic did not elaborate on the reasons behind the decisions when asked to comment.
Both XXiF and Ronaldo deny that they cheated but said they expected the ridicule going into a Fortnite tournament that featured the second-largest prize pool in esports history.
“We were accused of cheating for collusion, pretty much, for feeding kills,” XXiF told ESPN on Saturday. “That’s how we got banned. From my point of view and how it happened for me, I just landed in my normal spot that I’ve been landing in for the past six months. Two people landed on me. It just kind of blew up. People said that others were feeding me kills and I got banned. I personally didn’t think I was going to get banned — that’s just what happened.”
The bans also cost both players their contracts with Rise Nation, the esports team co-owned by Tennessee Titans guard Rodger Saffold. Both players qualified for the main event June 2, less than a month after their ban expired, while competing with each other.
“For me, it was pretty emotional because I qualified in solos and then it got revoked,” XXiF said. “I was pretty emotional about that. After sitting out those two weeks, we could play again; I wasn’t too worried about not being able to qualify because my performances in duos — we pretty much placed top 10 every week in duos, so one of the weeks we were going to get it. And we did.”
Despite Epic affirming that qualification was legitimate, the previous ruling followed XXiF and Ronaldo. Online, popular personalities, like Benjamin “DrLupo” Lupo and Turner “Tfue” Tenney, reacted strongly to XXiF and Ronaldo’s qualification for the main event in New York.
“A cheater qualifying for a $30,000,000 tournament is a kick in the junk to the integrity of the Fortnite competitive community,” DrLupo said on Twitter in June. “Love or hate the game, this should be unanimously agreed upon.”
“What kills me is, they’re good players,” DrLupo said on a livestream on the same day. “Why did they have to cheat in Week 3? We would all have been cheering them on now, but they had to f— around. F—, man. What should happen if they’re caught cheating again? Full stop, ban. Fool me once? Shame on me, dude. Fool me twice? Go f— yourself.”
During that livestream, Nick “NICKMERCS” Kolcheff asked DrLupo if he was excited to commentate XXiF and Ronaldo during the World Cup Finals.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is DrLupo, and today pushing for the World Cup championship are a whole lot of gamers who worked their ass off, and two assholes who don’t deserve to be here,” DrLupo said.
That vitriol translated to Saturday’s event with their performance at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Both XXiF and Ronaldo were greeted with boos by the thousands during their introductions.
“Damn today was rough,” Ronaldo wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “Quick message to my supporters, all of you guys know who you are. I know the crowd and a lot of people still aren’t with us. But I really appreciate everyone that has been with me since the beginning. Things will only get brighter and I will continue to improve. Thank you so much to all you real ones.”
“[We got booed] because of our reputation,” XXiF said. “It doesn’t really bother me, to be honest. I kind of expected it, so I wasn’t too worried about it, to be honest. It didn’t affect me. It didn’t bother me.”
“Obviously we weren’t surprised that happened,” Ronaldo added. “We knew it was going to happen. What people think about us, I don’t really care. It doesn’t affect me.”
Their results were deflating, though. The crowd, ecstatic each time the two went down, must have been pleased with the duo’s 28th-place finish as well.
Ronaldo’s former duo partner, Rocco “Saf” Morales, finished fourth after being on the top of the leaderboard for the majority of the six-game series. In the player lounge after the duo competition, both XXiF and Ronaldo kept to themselves, along with their fellow Riot Squad teammates, sectioned off from the rest of the pro player community who were mingling with one another. The two looked down and deflated.
“Honestly, I was happy when we qualified, but after the performance, it just feels like I could’ve done better,” Ronaldo said. “It just sucks.”
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