The Island Battlebox League, or IBL for short, is a competitive esports league founded by Chandiggitydog and DCody in late 2023. Since then, it has grown throughout three seasons, with the kickoff of Season 4 on the horizon. I spoke to Chandiggitydog about the league, the inspirations behind it, and what to expect in this new season!
Despite Minecraft’s popularity and sandbox nature, there are surprisingly few competitive esports leagues in the Minecraft world, so I was curious to know what inspired the founding of the IBL. “There are a few inspirations,” Chandiggitydog, or Chan, tells me. “First being the Blockey Hockey League – it’s very similar to the IBL, but it’s Minecraft hockey. I wanted to create something that was a little more generalised to Minecraft, but with a similar structure.
“Another inspiration is the NBA and NHL. I just think it would be cool to replicate this kind of league in Minecraft, having that feeling of being drafted, to playing a full season, to winning awards, and maybe even a championship to build your legacy! Third is just Valorant – VCT (Valorant Champions Tour) is definitely one of my favourite esports, and I want to help build something similar in Minecraft.”
With this in mind, Battle Box seemed like a good place to start. “At the time, my main source of content was Battle Box and MCCI in general,” Chan tells me, nodding to the Noxcrew’s public server, MCC Island, where the IBL has found its home. Battle Box as a minigame was first seen in the second ever MC Championship, back in 2020, and has been a fan favourite ever since, with players leaping at the opportunity to play it themselves when MCC Island launched into Closed Beta in 2022.
For those unfamiliar with Battle Box, it’s a PvP-based minigame where teams have one minute and one life to capture the objective in the middle of the map. They do this by breaking the concrete there and replacing it with concrete of their own team’s colour. Before each match, each player can choose a kit, which will grant them items to suit a particular playstyle.
“I think it can play very similar to team-based objective shooters like Valorant and Overwatch,” Chan says. “It’s a 4v4 team game, with different pieces of utility and a clear objective. The format for IBL games was inspired by Valorant. Teams pick and ban maps, and then they have to win a certain number of rounds on that map to win it. The first to a certain number of map wins, wins the game!”
Basing an esports league based around one specific minigame or niche requires a dedicated fanbase. “I really have to shoutout Noxcrew here,” Chan says. “Battle Box is a fun game and the most popular on MCCI. It already had such a good community at the time of the creation of IBL, so a lot of players were interested in joining a league for it.”
For those interested in competing in the league, sign-ups are available between seasons. Players can sign up as a solo player, and enter a draft where the sixteen teams pick new players to join their team. Anyone who doesn’t get drafted enters “Free Agency”, where teams can sign them for a certain number of seasons. Players who remain in Free Agency after this may still get a chance to play however, as they can sub into games as an emergency substitute if needed.
With Season 4 about to start, sign-ups are currently closed. “The season starts in a week roughly, so we’re just playing the waiting game right now,” Chan says. That said, the games will all be streamed for anyone who wants to watch. Every game is streamed on the IBL’s Twitch, with VODs uploaded to YouTube.
So what’s new for Season 4? Firstly, the League has expanded to match its growth, with sixteen teams now competing instead of the previous fourteen. This comes with matching growth in the season length and number of games, with the season now being ten weeks long instead of eight. Behind the scenes, however, there also seem to be some exciting plans brewing. “We have something very epic set to come midway through Season 4,” Chan says, “we’re just waiting on some coding!”
There have also been some team rebrands, new players joining, and new team-ups. “I’m looking forward to watching the new look Nocturnal team,” Chan tells me. “I’m curious how well a duo of Doozim and xKyoi will be with two rookies. Some other players I want to shoutout are Jfeg, bearXV, revolverz, and of course all of Divine Rising – the team that I own and am totally not biased towards. They’re going to win it all!”
Whether Divine Rising will be taking home the crown remains to be seen – but what’s clear is that the new season will be bringing a lot of exciting gameplay, tense moments, and fierce competition. “I’m just looking forward to watching everyone play again,” Chan says. “I’m always excited to see a new season start!”
The new season of IBL will begin on 5th January 2025. You can follow along with the latest news in the IBL Discord and on their X.
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