Olivia R. July 28, 2019
Fortnite duo David "Aqua" Wang and Emil Bergquist "Nyhrox" Pedersen won this weekend's World Cup Duo finals, taking home $3 million.
The 17 and 16-year-old Fortnite competitors scored 51 points during the finals' six games, which were largely dominated by lesser-known players. The only popular players that performed especially well were Kyle "Mongraal" Jackson and Dmitri "Mitr0" Van de Vrie, who placed sixth.
"I'll remember this moment for the rest of my life," Nyhrox said to CNN Business.
The teenager said he will save and invest most of the money, but he can't wait to upgrade his gaming set up so he can start streaming.
"Everything is amazing and I can't really believe that this all really happened," Aqua added, stating he would also be buying a new PC.
The Fortnite World Cup duo competition
Aqua and Nyhrox weren't really on anyone's radar when the tournament began, representing a smaller esports organization called Cooler Esport.
"I'd never heard of Aqua and Nyhrox so I was surprised," said Kevin "MRKN Kawzmik" Tellez-Torres, a 14 year old pro competing in singles today.
The unknown duo beat out a lot of popular pairs, including Mongraal and Mitr0, as well as Megga and Danny "Dubs" Walsh, both backed by FaZe Clan. Karim "Airwaks" Benghalia, who won the Celebrity Pro-Am on Friday, also didn't place too well. He finished in 29th place with his duo Nicolas "Nikof" Frejavise.
Instead, Aqua and Nyhrox beat out 49 other teams when they popped off in the fourth and fifth game. This put them ahead of second-place finishers, Dave "Rojo" Jong and Jaden "Wxlfiez" Ashman from Lazarus Esports. The second-place duo took home a staggering $2,250,000.
"I’m still in shock, I can’t believe we actually won yesterday. We were top 30 or so after three games then everything turned," Nyhrox said on Twitter, where the duo have started to accumulate fans and support.
While it may sound quite shocking that some lesser known teenagers took out big-name competition, an announcer at the World Cup stated that the average age of the Duo tournament was 16.
Nyhrox called the Fortnite World cup "life changing." He said the tournament was the best moment in his life so far.