Team New Age (TNA) has signed three of the best OCE players to represent them in North America. Speedy, Muz and Looter are back-to-back FNCS champions, a rare feat indeed.
Team New Age (TNA) recently signed the top Fortnite trio in Oceania (OCE) after the players won their second straight FNCS title in Season 6. Now, the organization looks to bring some of the top talent in OCE to North America. Speedy, Muz and Looter will now represent Team New Age in North America.
Speedy, Muz and Looter showed they are the best in OCE
Very few Fortnite players hold the title of being two-time FNCS Champions. Even fewer players have won back-to-back FNCS tournaments. The trio of Sebastian "TNA Looter," "TNA Muz," and Nick "TNA Speedy" can boast of being back-to-back two-time FNCS Champions. They won the Season 5 FNCS then brought home the Season 6 Championship.
When asked which FNCS title felt better, Speedy said, "It had to be the first one. I don't think you can compare to winning that first time."
Over the past two seasons, the trio not only won FNCS, but three additional Trio Cash Cups. In fact, the trio placed inside of the top 10 in every single Season 6 Cash Cup. For the past six months, Looter, Muz and Speedy have been unstoppable. Their run of dominance compares to only a few in the history of Fortnite and they are undoubtedly one of the best trios in the scene right now.
Team New Age could not help but grab a piece of this success and help them excel beyond OCE. TNA signed the trio before Season 6 FNCS Semi-Finals. The organization's leadership believed strongly in the people and talent. Jacob "TNA Japple" Applebaum, General Manager of TNA, went as far as saying, "Because of their extremely dominant
performance in OCE, as well as their passion and maturity, Speedy, Muz & Looter, were beyond the perfect candidates to take that bet on."
Dreams become reality for the two-time FNCS Champs
Speedy shared how it feels to move to North America and compete. "That was always the dream. To go overseas, to compete internationally, it was pretty much everyone in OCE's dream," said Speedy.
"Unfortunately, COVID-19 put those dreams on hold. "When COVID hit. No one in OCE could travel overseas," Speedy added.
The restrictions were not limited to just OCE. Players across the world itched for LANs or an opportunity to compete in the top regions. As the light begins to shine at the end of the COVID tunnel, the option to travel returns. Players from multiple regions hinted at moving in order to compete in FNCS. One of the top players in Brazil, Thiago "FaZe K1nG" Lapp, tweeted he also planned to move to North America to compete.
Everyone dreams, but not everyone has the opportunities to achieve their dreams. Speedy acknowledged how helpful TNA has been to help the trio travel to North America. "There would be no way for us to get into North America without TNA. I am definitely very thankful for that!" said Speedy adamantly.
The match between the trio and the organization is perfect. Looter, Muz and Speedy needed help and TNA wanted to challenge the status quo. TNA continues to stay ahead of other organizations and this move highlights their strive for excellence.
How does OCE's best stack up against NAE?
It is rare for players to change regions in order to compete. It is even more scarce for an entire trio to move to another region. The only notable example was in Season X, when Zoreh, Jаhlyn and Parpy moved from OCE to NAE. The trio showed promise in their own region and decide to challenge the players from North America. Overall, the trio finished in 6th place during FNCS Finals showing that they could compete with the best.
Fast forward almost two years later, a new OCE trio of Speedy, Muz and Looter stare down the same challenge. The new trio possesses a far greater resume. Additionally, TNA's trio began playing together over six months ago. They are ready for this new challenge.
In OCE, Speedy, Muz and Looter decided to play a mid to low ground layer. They found success in the consistency of the low ground. Instead of sticking to a single layer, Speedy wants the trio to be able to play any layer possible.
"We are just going to play our game. Choose what's best and not focus on one or the other. We will put up a fight where ever we are," said Speedy.
Speedy's confidence in himself and his teammates showed when speaking with Esports.gg. As the oldest member of the trio, he leads them. The in-game leader or IGL can be a very difficult role, but the respect between the trio creates a dynamic relationship. Speedy highlighted this when he choose both his teammates, Muz and Looter, to remain the last alive, if given an option. Speedy respects his teammates' skills and knowledge. And the respect is a two-way street as his teammates reciprocate his approach.
Also read:
Team New Age eyes its third FNCS Championship
Winning is the standard at Team New Age as it is the only Fortnite organization to win an FNCS title in two different regions. This incredible feat is one of effort and circumstance. The team remains as one of the few to sign entire trios to their organization. Most trios represent several different organizations. At the same time, no organization had a single member on any FNCS winning team, that too in two different regions.
As for the OCE winning trio, that was more of a team effort with Kirsh taking the lead by starting conversations with Looter. Then the discussion began to turn towards brings the entire trio to NAE instead of just Looter. Eventually, Team New Age signed the entire trio and began planning their trip to NAE. TNA's support of entire trios is unique in the competitive Fortnite scene.
TNA continues to push boundaries in Fortnite
In the competitive Fortnite scene, organizations regularly appear and disappear. Most of these organizations leave little to remember as they cycle through. However, Team New Age broke the mold, investing in a '0 ping mansion' in Virginia and combined lifestyle content with competitive Fortnite. This move proved extremely successful.
"It comes down to our extremely smart management team. Early on we were able to identify a gap in the Fortnite market. We didn’t see any other orgs producing high-quality lifestyle content while also competing for championships," said Japple, TNA's General Manager.
Team New Age clearly shows an incredible understanding of their audience and marke, taking risks that continue to pay off as they grow more and more every day. Now, all eyes focus on their newest risk, bringing the best OCE trio to NAE.
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