RLCS 1v1 Recap: Nass shines through, Kv1 punches his ticket

Will ConnellJune 24, 20267:01 AM

Another RLCS weekend has come to an end, and another Zen-Nass Grand Final clash is complete. The two had collided in three previous Grand Finals this season.

Once in the Boston Major, once in Europe Open 6, and once in the 2v2 Europe Open.

Nass claimed the Boston Major but has since been bested in two consecutive final matches, losing in 6 in 3v3s and getting swept in 2v2s.

Before we go over the fourth Grand Final matchup between the Moroccan and French standouts, however, let’s review the earlier stages of the tournament.

Some old faces, some new

This is year two of the RLCS 1v1 circuit, which means we do have some repeat qualifiers from the 1v1 Europe Open back in 2025. Frenchmen Mawkzy and GiuK qualified for the second straight time, with Mawkzy looking to defend his title from the previous EU iteration.

Certified 1s mains AppparentlyJack and Joreuz came back for seconds, hoping to build off of their top 8 finishes from last season. The other second-time qualifiers consisted of Hyderr, Toxiic, TempoH, and of course, Nass.

Danish player Tr3bla captured the hearts of RLCS fans around the world with his good vibes last season, but failed to make it in the 2026 iteration, finishing in the top 48.

All three members of the current Karmine Corp roster didn’t play this time around, hence their absence from the top 16.

Some new faces made up the other half of the 2026 playing field. English breakout Rebmob qualified after cruising through Swiss, only falling once in game 5 to Zen en route to an appearance in the second weekend.

Other prospects in Osaft and Pukis made splashes in the top 16 after making debuts under the WYLDE banner in the 3v3 circuit earlier this year.

Portuguese mechanical magician Vadyy also made it to the top 16, joining Zen, Rezears, Revezy, Mozzarella to round out the field.

Friday night lights, starting the weekend off right

While Group A was noticeably more stacked, most of the familiar faces managed to escape the GSL stage and qualify for the playoffs. Mawkzy crushed Revezy and Vadyy en route to a top 6 clinch, outscoring his opponents 50-19 across 6 games.

Zen beat TempoH and then took down Nass to clinch the other bye game out of Group A. Nass then defeated ApparentlyJack who had been sent down to lowers by the Portuguese pop-off Vadyy in the opening round.

Jack’s split 2 teammate TempoH avenged his former Geekay partner by dispatching of Vadyy in four games to move to the top 8.

Meanwhile, in Group B, it was the prospects that shined through in the Upper Bracket.

Rebmob captured the first bye out of Group B with a sweep over Joreuz and a 4 game win over GiuK, while German breakout Osaft defeated former teammate Pukis and Gameward Frenchman Mozzarella to make the top 6.

In the lower bracket, Mozza completed the shocking upset by taking out Joreuz in the lower bracket to clinch a playoff bid. The player he had upset in the opening match, Rezears, captured the other bid with 3-1 wins over Pukis and GiuK.

Narrowing it down to six

Saturday was quick, to say the least. Rezears took down TempoH convincingly in 4-0 sweep fashion, and Nass crushed Mozzarella to move to Championship Sunday. Rebmob did somewhat keep up with Mawkzy before the defending Champion pulled away in games 4 and 5 to secure the win.

Finally, Osaft showed the world that, one, Zen was in face human, and two, that Osaft was here to stay in the professional scene. The German crushed Zen 4-1 to make top 4.

The Final Day

Nass continued to cruise through the lower bracket with a 4-1 trouncing over Rebmob to set up a match against Osaft in the top 4. Zen and Rezears matched up in the blockbuster Lower Quarterfinal and delivered the first series to reach Neo Tokyo.

Despite a 12-2 destruction from Zen in game 1, Rezears managed to tie the series back up with a 7-6 overtime win. The players traded two large victories before Zen went on to match point and forced a Rezears timeout. The Vitality star closed out the series on Neo Tokyo to book a date with fellow Frenchman Mawkzy.

While Osaft put up a solid fight, Nass’s momentum proved to be too much and the Moroccan had reached new heights with an appearance in the Grand Finals.

In the other semifinal, Zen brought a crushing end to Mawkzy’s title defense with a 4-1 victory to set up the fourth Nass-Zen Grand Final clash of the season. The series delivered.

Zen took a convincing game 1 win as per usual, but Nass was able to remain calm and get two big wins to take the series lead. After a Zen timeout, Nass took a tightly contested win and move to match point.

The former World Champ managed to stay strong and force a game 7, however, but it was all for naught, as Nass took a convincing 7-3 win on Champions Field.

The Boston Major MVP will find out his opponent at the conclusion of the NA 1v1 Open.

South of the Equator

Meanwhile, during the South American 1v1 Open, Brazilians dominated the field. Only two of the players were from nationalities other than Brazil, Reysbull from Chile and Rmnn from Argentina.

In Group A, Wisty and Swiftt went 2-0 in their matches, with Wisty sending defending champion Yanxnz to the lower bracket. Royales clutched up against Rmnn in game 5 in the lower semifinal to make it to Saturday, and Yanxnz crushed deliivery to join him in the top 8.

In Group B, Lostt and Kv1 made it through uppers, and Suco and Bemmz both won game 5 thrillers to qualify for Saturday with a single life left to spare.

Yanxnz and Suco both dominated their Lower Round 1 matchups, winning 4-0 and 4-1, respectively. Swiftt and Kv1 both won their series in game 5 to clinch a spot in the Top 4.

On Sunday, Yanxnz crushed fellow FURIA foe Lostt to earn a matchup with Kv1 in the semifinals, while 1s main Wisty took down Suco to advance to play Swiftt.

Both BS+Competition boys (Kv1 and Wisty) bested their respective panther opponents to face off in the Grand Finals. After jumping out to a 3-1 lead, Wisty was unable to close the series out on Parc de Paris, meaning the series would at least go to game 6.

Wisty held a 5-4 lead and the ball with time melting off the clock, but a heavy touch coming around his defensive corner wall turned the ball over to Kv1 with four seconds to go.

Kv1 popped the ball off the ground and over Wisty with less than a second to go, and Uno was able to control it and score the 0 boost, 0 second equalizer to force overtime. He then capitalized off a brutal whiff 10 seconds into the additional time period to force game 7.