In the absence of an official 1v1 league, Rocket League personality John “JohnnyBoi_i” MacDonald has taken it upon himself and started a 1v1 league of his own. Well-known for his shoutcasting, analysis, and hosting of show matches, JohnnyBoi has a long history of professional players duking it out on his Twitch and YouTube channels.
Demand for a 1v1 league
With no official 1-versus-1 league in existence, the closest we’ve gotten was League of Rocket’s Twelve Titans tournament, where the world’s best 1s players were invited for a best-of-1, winner-takes-all $10K tournament. With this new setup, however, we will finally have a reliable way to say who is the undisputed best 1v1 player in the world.
It’s an exciting incentive JohnnyBoi took. While most of the tournaments are in a 3v3 format, there is also one major 2v2 tournament with the Universal Open. There have been repeated requests by both fans and 1v1 mains for a big tournament for 1s players but to no avail. And while the Twelve Titans was exciting, it’s in no way representative of who is the best player. Hopefully, with the Mannfield Night League, JohnnyBoi has sparked the interest of event organizers. $5000 might not seem like a lot, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that this is an amateur event hosted by a passionate fan. Fortunately, the creators of the popular gif-creating software Gif Your Game were kind enough to patron the event to give the contenders something to play for.
The setup
The league consists of eight of the best 1v1 players in the world and will be played throughout December as a best-of-5 round robin, one match-up every day. This results in a final league standing, which then continues into a best-of-7 single-elimination gauntlet bracket, where the players are seeded based on how well they finished in the league.
The contenders
Five players are taking part in the league through an invite, while the three remaining players managed to qualify through the closed qualifiers, which were also hosted by JohnnyBoi in the preceding weeks. While some already have an impressive track record, others have yet to show they belong in the conversation of “best in the world.”
Due to the online nature of the tournament, JohnnyBoi chose to only host European players for this iteration. Hopefully, we’ll also see a North American version sometime down the line. The eight players are as follows:
- Victor “Fairy Peak” Locquet (Renault Vitality/France)
- Kyle “Scrub Killa” Robertson (Renault Vitality/Scotland)
- Francisco “Kuxir97” Cinquemani (Flipsid3 Tactics/Italy)
- Dylan “eekso” Pickering (Unsigned/England)
- Gabriel “OSM” (Unsigned/Sweden)
- Dan “Bluey” Bluett (Savage!/England)*
- Hrant “Flakes” Yakoub (Unsigned/Netherlands)*
- Marten “Oscillon” van Zee (The Clappers/Netherlands)*
*Qualified through the closed qualifiers.
With proven players such as Fairy Peak (considered to be the best 1v1 player in the world), Scrub Killa (winner of both Twelve Titans tournaments), and former RLCS world champion Kuxir97, the newcomers have their work cut out for them. It’s going to be very interesting to see who can remain consistent and take the first real 1v1 league title.
Day one started on December 3 with a match between Fairy Peak and OSM. For a full explanation of the event by JohnnyBoi himself, as well as the match itself, check out the video linked below! The featured image at the top is courtesy of Stressful_89.
