Zen vs Rw9 | THE REMATCH | Rule 1v1 Invitational | Match 1 

Top comment for no spoilers, ur welcome

Zen in this match is unrecognisable, rw9 is such an incredible defender and counter attacker that zen has to do a full 180 on his style

I respect that zens mentality/behavior/sportsmanship has improved. No ragequit and respectful in defeat. Well played to both.

What's interesting about Rw9's ground defense which I don't see with many others, is that even before Zen is comfortable or setup with a ground dribble, he pre-jumps but with the intention to go back to ground. As soon as Zen sees the pre-jump he tries to move the ball off his car to go under or a low 50/50, but of course, Rw9 is already anticipating that flying back to ground. Masterful defending

We need comments from the players after the game, I feel thats rly missing and I believe I speak for many about that. Please implement that. Awesome series

I think this is good for Zen. He started out so dominant that everyone put so much pressure on him. Also at such a young age being so good it's easy to form an ego that you are just different, but now after a second loss he can shake that off and get on with being himself. Apparentlyjack is an example of someone who has a very strong mentality because he took so many losses on his come-up.

Notice how many of RW9 goals come easy while all of Zen's goal are hard fought over. RW9 seems to have a much better understanding of time and space. He is much more aware of where he, his opponent and where the ball are in relation to each other than what Zen is. Frequently he will be able to capitalize on small errors in Zen's place while Zen is rarely able to do the same to him. Zen don't get ANYTHING for free here, RW9 seems to know exactly where he is and what he could do at any time and is able to prepare for it.

RW9 has a understanding of positioning and pressure that we haven’t seen before. Instantly a fan the first time I saw him.

I love how 2 of the best mechanical players in the world doest risk getting clips on each other in this matchup lmao, just pure IQ

Truly a game to remember. One of my fav matchups

You can tell Jonny studies and does his research cause this man knows everything when it comes to rl. Very informative & smart. I think that’s what makes him entertaining above other streamers and content creators. Keep it up man. Love from Pennsylvania!

RW9 is so clinical. Groundbreaking effiency and boost managment...doesn't really seem to make many small mistakes...except for those open nets haha

Man. Beating Zen in a rematch is the highest rated thing to do ever, in 1v1. This performance by RW9 is no less than a Fairy Peak! 's Legendary match. Incredibly impressed

This was like a game of chess. It’s crazy to see how rw9 is the only player who can get a read on zen. It is clear that rw9 is one of the or the smartest 1s player of all time. Zen and rw9 seem levels above the other pros in 1s. True young legendary prodigies

Incredible match! Defensive masterclass by Rw9, currently my favorite player. It’s very interesting to see the difference in aerial creativity from Zen to Daniel. Daniel is the only player I’ve seen recently have soo much in his bag that Rw9 couldn’t defend against it. Perfect 1s trifecta, Zen most versatile, Rw9 best defender in the game, and Daniel the most unstoppable mechanically. Zen beats Daniel, Rw9 beats Zen, Daniel beats Rw9. I love the state of RL 1s right now, soo many different play styles.

Zen vs Rw9 is like an unstoppable force vs an immovable object 😮‍💨

spoilers: It's crazy how Zen can seemingly beat every other top player and most of them with ease. I mean a top player like Daniel barely scraped together one game win against Zen in their series. Then suddenly he's made to look second best by Rw9. I thought the first series they played was a fluke, but I guess not: Rw9 is just that good

One of the best rl matches ive seen in my whole life ngl

Absolutely amazing series. Thank you, Johnny. I'm glad someone is around to try to keep Zen humble lol

I didn't know this was coming. Schedule cleared.

Ggs. Zen is incredible. Rw9 is incredible. Twitch chat is toxic

rw9 clear number 1 and zen clear number 2 the others r debatable for top 5 but these 2 r clear in their positions

ggs I love watching players compete. Thanks for the match Johnny

RW9 really one of the best defensive 1’s players ever completely just took zen out the game from 13:26 - 15:23 because of his defensive and then the counter attack too

This and 2v2 is so much more exciting than 6 mans. What a match

This was probably the most anticipated rematch of 2023 ❤.

I’ve been waiting for this rematch

Had to subscribe been watching all these 1v1s never thought this would be so entertaining 😄

amazing matchup, loved every second

RW9 is just so smart defensively

Best defense I've ever seen

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Now that you're here, Johnny (or whoever edits these) I'm begging you (and Feer) to please add 'dead time' at the end of every video so that we don't get spoiled by looking at the time remaining in the video. It's hard not to look at the timer, especially with ads and skipping dead time. It makes the match so much less interesting when I know who's going to come out on top by game 5 of this series.

5:18 that recovery was too smooth 😮‍💨

The unstoppable force meets the immovable object round 2. What an amazing series Just love all the ass blasted french kiddies too, zen fans are becoming the new squishy fans.

Both players are insane, way ahead of the competition in their own ways. Zen's speed and ability to hit shots that nobody else can hit are in a league like we've never seen, it's also worth mentioning that Zen's overall strategic mind is pretty good - it's not like he's just relying on mechanics to destroy opponents, he can play smart as well and his mindgames are all the more dangerous because of how insane his mechanics are, which is part of what makes him so unbelievably dominant. Rw9 is just different. His consistency in his 50s, positioning, boost management, and ofc goal line saves is just unbelievable. And like how Zen is more than just a flashy player, Rw9 is more than just a crazy defender - he has the mechanics to perform the flashy outplays when he needs to as well. Both of them are monsters, of a different kind, but equally scary. I feel like Rw9 might have the edge in 1v1s simply because his more solid playstyle favours punishing mistakes, which in 1s can lead to very easy goals. Rw9 turns Zen's natural all-in playstyle into a weakness, because if it doesn't work then the counters are basically unstoppable, which forces Zen to play much more conservatively than he usually does. Still, games 4 and 5 (and 6 tbf, though Rw9 was too strong) demonstrate that Zen has the capacity to play at the level required to meet Rw9 solo on the pitch. Great players and another great series by them, I look forward to a long and healthy rivalry between them!

Rw9 humbled zen once again, love to see it

i know its a lot to ask, but adding an extra 30 min or so to each video like you used to was so nice. getting to game 6 and seeing only 5 min left in the vid its clear that rw9 wins unfortunately. ik that takes time to edit and stuff so i get that you cant do it all the time, just figured id mention it.

Nah bro Zen is Rw9’s son💀

Anyone know what Rw9's winstreak is on Johnny's stream? I know he's not as active as Zen, but it's gotta be up there.

absolute owned, destroyed and snap back to reality

highest level 1v1 ive ever seen. the zen vs rw9 saga is goated

Esports stuff like this is relatively new when compared to sports in general. It’s awesome to see such young professionals being so mature and giving everyone a great show. 🏆

zen is a karate master. he’s water, gracefull and acrobatic. rw9 does kravmaga, he sits back, finds your exposed vital point and just kills you. amazing players

Rw9 defense is unreal. What a player.

Ppl said zen was unlucky and wasn't being himself the first time but the second time you see rw9 isn't allowing him to play like he usually does. Rw9 is undisputed number 1

This could probably become the greatest matchup in RL history. Id say it's not quite there yet, but it's getting close.

Is there a way to see these matches from a single player perspective?

The twitch chat 💀

RW9 is no 1... dude is on another level

OMG! in a game between Rw9 and Zen, my favorite offensive clip came from Rw9 19:18 and the defensive clip from Zen 27:54! what a game ggs for both goats

It’s crazy how everyone in chat are clowning on zen like he didn’t literally just come into the 1s scene and run through every top player besides rw9

Zen just looks like he's playing freeplay in every match, I like him going for different approaches.

Hey JohnnyBoi, can you upload the video in 1h length? I've just got spoiled the result base that I was on game 6 and there was only 10mins left. By adding 10minutes of black screen would be real nice. I have loved your work for many years 💓💓

Loved watching this

12:23 the last touch was weighted properly to ensure recovery and possession. Rw9's challenge covers the entire net and ignoring this fact and continuing a normal airdribble would be neutral at best and potentially losing... And Zen converts this advantage successfully. 18:02 Zen has this weird tendency to try to boom the ball forward into Rw9's possession. He's done it at at least 3 times so far and conceded after every one. Instead of throwing the ball away in a manner that is admittedly very mechanical, he should opt to send it softly to his corner, away from the opponent if he can't control it. In all these situations he has low boost but definitely a workable amount if he just maintains possession. If one is to dribble/guide the ball along the sidewall 50/50s become 25/25/50s where the wall is completely solid and a great defensive asset. Maybe Zen has kept his 2s/3s mindset and expects a teammate to connect and counterattack these clears that not only give the ball away but seem to completely compromise his position. Maybe Zen dislikes defense and doesn't feel comfortable on the backfoot. Personally as someone with basic mechanics I enjoy frustrating attackers, all though Rw9's style is very effective and minimalist, I suppose I'd crumble psychologically if I faced him. Zen also tends to bluff on defense in plays where it doesn't hurt Rw9 to test the simple option Zen presents. Sometimes when I'm tilted I will consciously leave an opening and just hope it's too obvious for the opponent to consider. This almost always backfires as the attacker need only proceed honestly to easily score. 36:30 45:38 here's Zen doing exactly what I prescribed earlier. Soft touch into corner so Rw9 doesn't have much of an angle. Alas it's too little, too late. Definite improvement though.

RW9 is just simply a better player and easily #1. Zen needs to beat him in 3 show matches in a row to deserve #1.

Unlucky to Zen, If he had one more hour of sleep, he might've taken this one, ggs though.

Rw9's defense actually made me jump out of my chair

Rw9 is just That Guy for zen

These comments are so cringe. Rw9 is just better

The amount of 13yo diamonds talking shit in the chat is beyond comprehension That was an insane game, I was hoping for the reverse sweep but Rw9 seems to be just one step ahead of anyone else Rw9 also looks extremely frustrating to play against, props to anyone challenging him to a 1v1 and not ragequitting

i can watch those 2 play for a day...well played boiz

Damn, I was really hoping the video length wouldn’t spoil the result for this one

nice a good ego check for zen

I wanna see Zen vs Flakes showmatch. Like the Flakes vs Dark showmatch. Another Mechanics vs countering game

Tbh even when khalid was winning against anyone he was sayin the best 1v1 player was rw9

Rw9 is the goat because he has a twin he's trained against since he was in diapers. 1v1 is him

Hey Johnny, one of the critiques I have of your channel (and all esport channels), is that the time of the video literally spoils who is going to win. At minute 41 I already knew who was going to win, it sucks all the suspense and excitement out of watching it. Is there anyway you can normalize your video lengths to all be 60 - 80 minutes so no matter what I can't deduce who wins purely based of the time? Thanks.

Damn RW9 is just a unmovable wall when it comes to defense.

When Johnny said last game was a blowout win for Zen I was so confused 🤣

Lil bro got humbled. Now u can count it as a defeat ; )

all the kids in johnnies chat typing EZ after goals in one of the best 1v1 series ever seen. lol.

rw9 reminds me a bit of flakes.. he has the mechanics to pull off everything but he is very smart in doing only stuff that’s safe and most effective

#1 attacker vs #1 defender, what a match.

Unstoppable Force vs Immovable Object

Thank you Johnni

Who else has been waiting for this vid to come out?

Such an interesting game wow!

Id love to see toxiic vs zen once again, i feel that the Englishman really had a fighting chance against him.

Zen just looks too uncomfortable against rw9

This game was insane. But I want to call out the twitch chat. Really sad the amount of toxicity towards the best 2 players in the world

RW9's skill is out of this world. The talent and skill in RL is unbelievable for a 15-year-old. And now you guys got to witness how the Arabs once were able to sweep the entire world under the rug. They still have the potential to defeat every country in the world, as in the past.

Unstoppable Force vs Immovable Object 🔥🔥🔥

21:17 "RW9 has landed pretty pearly here" :)

I hate how i can predict the ending by the time left 😫

Dude rw9 is just insane

Insane match

RW9 is Zen's kryptonite

Damn finally someone to stand up to Zen

whats the decal zen uses in the 4th game called?

Gg to both, Rw9 habibi bro ❤

exquisite content

What was scrub killas win streak back in the day?

Spoilers It’s not even as though zen is ‘worse’ than rw9, he just gets hard countered. Rw9 can go and lose to Mawkzy but has zen downloaded comfortably.

What did zen tweet when he lost against rw9 the first time?

I HAVE BEEN . W A I T I N G . FOR THIS

Ez clap for rw9

this matchup is such an Anakin vs Obi-Wan kind of matchup.

mans cracked

Rw9 🐐