Mister Longevity: The Story Behind the Long Awaited Breakout of Ejby

One hundred and thirteen. That’s the number of players from Europe who made their RLCS Rookie debuts in RLCS Season X.

A lot of fans forget just how game-changing the inaugural Open Era season really was. The playing field was wide open. No clinging on to league play spots anymore.

If you were the number one team, you’d still have to fight for every inch against players that normally wouldn’t ever have a shot to play you.

There are plenty of notable debuts from Europe in Season X. Gentle Mates star Archie made his start in 2020, along with ExotiiK, Itachi, Joreuz, Joyo, Kash, Mikeboy, Radosin, Oaly, Rise, AtomiK, and ApparentlyJack, just to name a few.

Also, some guy named M0nkey M00n, if the name rings a bell.

Before breaking out alongside a Dane and an Englishman, he made his debut with one player of each nationality back in Season X

While you likely recognise pretty much every name listed here, there were plenty of players who were just mere drops in the bucket in comparison.

On one side, you have a two-time World Champion in M0nkey M00n, who is one of just 5 players to win his RLCS debut event from Season 2 to the present.

Didn’t win a single series

On the other, you have Eversax, who made exactly one Main Event under the name “Keep Calm and Improve,” and finished in 23-28th. He never made a Main Event again, and thus never lived up to his team name.

It’s safe to say that Ejby was definitely on the Eversax side of the RLCS X spectrum. Ejby played alongside a fellow Dane, Rexo, and an Englishman, Cloud. Sound familiar?

In their one Main Event, Fall Regional Event 3, the trio didn’t win a single series.

Ejby traded out Cloud for another fellow Dane in Creamyy, reforming the trio that had won the Nordic Championship before the season began. In the second regional of the split, the team, playing under the name “the Curling Kids” made it in.

The number of teams that qualified shrank with every passing split in season X, so even though they didn’t get a single Main Event series win, Ejby had outperformed his previous highest placement with a 17-24th place finish.

Despite going 0-2 in series, the Danes actually tested a good team in Wolves Esports, who at the time were represented by Oaly, LuiisP, and Rix_Ronday. The Curling Kids forced a game 5 after a lengthy 4 minute and 39 second overtime win, only to lose on Champions Field 5-2.

Redemption (Kash, Oscillon, and Mikeboy) sent them out of the tournament with a close 3-1 series win, and went on to make it all the way to the top 6.

2021-22: Still no luck

Ejby continued to play qualifiers, but wasn’t able to make it back to a Main Event in Season X. When RLCS 2021-22 rolled around, he was nowhere to be seen.

An entire year had now passed since his last Main Event series, and still, nothing.

That isn’t to say he wasn’t playing. Just that he wasn’t playing in the RLCS.

And that looked like it was the end of Ejby’s stint in the league. Another drop in the RLCS X bucket. A couple of second weekend series under the belt, and that was all.

Like a majority of the 112 other players who had joined him in league debuts of their own.

In May of 2022, two and a half years after his last RLCS Main Event, there was movement. A slight stir. The Great Dane had qualified for day 3 in the penultimate European regional of the season. His team went 0-3 in Swiss.

Build, build, build

When RLCS 2022-23 started up, he made back-to-back late open qualifier runs and clipped a hurdle both times. His teams bowed out with 3 wins to go on each attempt. Another season had passed without a Main Event appearance, but he was still grinding.

He was picked up by Simas and Compact ahead of the 2024 season on “F4WD.”

The duo in question had made one top 16 late last season and wanted to build off it. And build off it they did. Not only did they make it back, but they nearly went to the playoffs.

F4WD upset Moist Esports in the first round of Swiss, and tacked on another series win, this time over 100%, before being eliminated by Team3 in the final round of the preliminary stage.

But Ejby made his first Main Event appearance in over two seasons and posted the deepest run of his career.

F4WD went on to make five of the six European Opens in the 2024 season, and the team recorded at least one win in each of those tournaments. They finished in 10th place in the EU season standings.

Ejby had solidified his spot on the F4WD squad, and in the 2025 season, they traded out Simas for Mikeboy.

It was a move that didn’t exactly move the needle to start the season. The team missed the first Main Event of the season, losing to French prodigies Rust ez95, Ever, and Mayko in the fifth and final round of the Swiss Stage qualifiers.

Then they made back-to-back main events to close out the split, but bowed out tied for last place in both, and both times at the hands of 100%.

Career about to skyrocket

In the trade window, Mikeboy was gone, and in came Growlii, previously of Hogan Mode and Kuxir’s Minions fame. The Englishman seemed to be just what the duo needed in a third, as F4WD made back-to-back playoff appearances to start off the second half of the season, the first of Ejby’s career.

After exiting early at the hands of 100% in the final regional of the season, however, Ejby’s career was about to skyrocket.

Ejby’s kryptonite was gone. 100% had officially disbanded, and Ejby was able to use a third of his greatest weakness to his advantage.

100%’s Accro joined forces with Ejby and fellow Dane TempoH to form the team “2 Danes 1 Bruv” for the 2025 Rocket League World Championship Last Chance Qualifier. One more open-format tournament with the winner heading to Lyon to compete at the biggest Rocket League tournament yet.

Accro had been Ejby's kryptonite all season, until they teamed for the LCQ

2D1B quickly stormed through Europe’s opening weekend and had an easy Friday as well. Their consecutive wins to start off the day had them safely into the top 6, with two lives at their disposal.

On Saturday, they matched up against one of the two favourites of the tournament in Gentle Mates. It was an instant classic.

The Danes struck first, taking game 1 in overtime, before the Mates answered right back with two overtime wins of their own. 2D1B tied the series back up at two apiece with yet another golden goal, and swung in front over on Aqua Dome to force a timeout from Gentle Mates.

Their pause worked, and we were headed to game seven.

Accro struck first for 2D1B. He caught Juicy cheating off the far post and pinged it behind him to open the scoring. After a back-and-forth affair, Accro again took possession and carried it past two before pinching it off the corner wall that Yujin was forcing him towards.

It zipped across the net, and an awaiting TempoH was there only to slam it right off the post. The lead stayed at one.

The Rocket League gods were furious and rewarded Gentle Mates with the easiest counter-attack for their lives. Yujin airdribbled the ball the other way, sent Accro’s car flying, and set up Seikoo for the equaliser with 1:38 to go.

With the ball being sent back into the 2D1B box again and again, and all of the defenders on empty, it seemed certain that the Mates would eventually pounce. Luckily though, both Accro and TempoH were able to secure full boost and looked to clear the danger.

Accro dove first and got beat out by Seikoo. TempoH went next and was overpowered by Juicy. And as if on cue, to appease the one Twitch chatter to predict the goal scorer and the time of the tally, Yujin fired one towards the back post and past the outstretched, boost-starved car of Ejby. Ballgame.

2D1B were able to rebound on Sunday with a sweep over Team BSK, but they were no match for the rookie run of destiny by a peaking Team BDS.

NIP was able to get revenge on the rooks and qualify for Lyon, but a top-4 finish for 2D1B, even on a lighter playing field, was eye-catching for a lot of fans looking forward to next season.

They won a couple of smaller-stakes tournaments in the off-season and then qualified for the Coupe de France Slash tournament. They would play against the three big French organisations, as well as two other French squads, for a spot at the four-team LAN finals.

Knock, knock, City is there

The Danes (and Bruv), now under the Lyost banner to meet the tournament requirements, beat out two solid French teams to make it to the LAN portion of the tournament.

While they were dispatched relatively easily by Gentle Mates, they had shown up and shown out, and gotten the chance to showcase their skills against some of the best talent in the world.

Come December, a huge opportunity came knocking. Manchester City, who had been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the perfect roster to scoop up in the RLCS, gave the trio a call. The 2 Danes and 1 Bruv were blue.

Man City had a quick chance to get their name out there to even the casual viewer, as the first regional of this season would be half online, and half on LAN. If a team qualified for the top 6 of the first open in either EU or NA, they would play out the rest of that tournament in a studio in Stockholm.

Then, the top 4 from each region would play in a gauntlet bracket to decide who would get an extra LAN spot for the season.

They bulldozed Magnifico and GentleBench, earning their spot in the top 6. They were then sent to lowers by Karmine Corp in another seven-game thriller, meaning they would be facing off against NOVO Esports in the lower bracket for their first-ever RLCS LAN series.

Man City jumped out to a hot start and were looking dominant, Nico and GiuK, two-thirds of that Team BDS roster that crushed Ejby and company in the LCQ, seemed to be doomed to fall in line for the 2D1B revenge tour.. NOVO began chipping away, though.

Even without a timeout left, they managed to escape with game 4 by one goal. They did it again in game 5. Then game 6. In the first ever RLCS LAN series for Ejby, his team was on the wrong side of a Best of 7 reverse sweep to end their run after a single series.

Ejby lamenting after falling to NOVO in reverse sweep fashion

An earlier-than-convenient exit in Open 2 meant that City would need a big event to make a push for the Boston Major. That’s exactly what they got. They capitalised on a Geekay Top 8 exit and made it to the semifinals to clinch a tiebreaker.

Again, though, City came up just short. Joyo scored the winning goal in game 6, and it would be Geekay, not City, taking advantage of the fifth spot earned by Europe in the kickoff LAN.

The perfect mantra

If there’s one thing about Ejby, it’s that he’s going to rebound. Minor setback, major comeback. That’s the go-to mantra for an esports org after a bad result.

And while cliché, it is the perfect mantra for the story of Ejby.

His good friend and fellow Dane TempoH got the call from Geekay Esports during the trade window, and while he was a bit bummed, he and everyone else at Man City knew that this may have opened up the door for City to get their get back in split 2.

Former World Champion and 2021 Rookie of the Year Seikoo was traded to Manchester’s finest, and City finally had that veteran presence they so clearly needed to get over the hump in big spots.

While Geekay collapsed in the preliminaries, City soared. Even though they were forced to go up against the Boston Major Champions and Runners-Up in back-to-back series, they swept Mates and took Vitality to five before qualifying for the playoffs through the lower bracket.

Ejby and company then outlasted Kaydop Corp (Radosin, MtzR, and Alpha54) in game 7 to advance to Championship Sunday. They continued to climb in altitude over Geekay, beating Synergy to reach the top 4.

They repeated their success in Open 5, and even though an early exit in Open 6 made things a little too close for comfort, Ejby was heading back to LAN, and not just any LAN, the Paris Major. One of the most electric atmospheres in esports. And you can bet this one doesn’t end with a best-of-seven reverse sweep.

This team clicked. It was obvious. City only dropped one game in the group stage, and not even to the previous French RLCS LAN winners in NRG. They dropped a single game to MIBR.

Man City celebrating after their sweep over NRG

They swept Five Fears, and they swept NRG to clinch a spot at Championship Sunday. Two seasons ago, Ejby had made his first-ever playoff appearance, and now he was going to play in at least two playoff games at an RLCS Major.

That sweep over NRG rocked the Rocket League World. From two middling Season X results to sweeping the defending World Champions.

Grind, grind, grind

Ejby is a testament to all the bubble players out there: if you grind long enough, you can make it all the way into the upper echelon of play.

So many players get so down on themselves for not breaking through to the second weekend or for not getting a win once they get there.

Look at Ejby. If you work hard enough and stay dedicated to the goal in front of you, you will get there.

While City ended up losing their two playoff series, it didn’t really matter. Ejby had made it. Accro had made it. 6 seasons later, and the Great Dane was going to be playing at the 2026 Rocket League World Championship.