Three of North Americaâs most promising prospects will be teaming together for the RLCS Club Championship Open, sources have told SheepRLE.
Aj âMonkâ Holmes, Justin âJuiceâ Holzer, and DappDapp will enter the fray to try and qualify for both the Kick-Off LAN in December and the 12 team North American league play in early 2027, with Gonçalo "beyond" Cunha expected to take the helm as their coach.
Juice and Monk both made their RLCS debuts in the 2026 season, with Juice first qualifying alongside Robert âCommâ Kyser and Alexandre "Taroco" Reis Pedrogam in Open 2 under the name Apple Slices. Juice quickly got his first RLCS Main Event series win with a 3-1 victory over fellow up-and-comers Pigeon, Resonal, and Lev before falling to Shopify Rebellion in the upper qualifying match.
The trio would bow out in 9-12th following a 3-0 defeat to Lotus8 Esports.
Juice would qualify for two more Main Events under the KrakenSeas banner before going on a deep run in the North America Last Chance Qualifier, where he, alongside Monk, would finish in the top 6.
Monkâs time in the league before teaming up with Juice was a bit more short-lived, as the 16 year old teamed up with Carson "Forky" Howard and Zander "Nitrous" Shah for back-to-back last place finishes. The trio failed to take a game in any of their four series.
DappDapp is the youngest and least experienced of the three, but arguably has the biggest win of the group, as he took down Virtus.Pro on day two of an Open Qualifier. Wahvey, 2Piece, and Tawk survived in lowers and were able to make the main event, but that win helped to put the youngster on the map.
The American recorded a top 8 finish in the North American Last Chance Qualifier alongside fellow up-and-comers Leland âFadeâ Carrasquillo and Wilmer âPlexiâ âBig Glassâ M., as the trio tallied wins against âheyâ and âSpace Bound Cowboysâ before being eliminated by M80.
New talent galore in North America
A flurry of young North American talent has been popping up this season. Most notably Rexton âSqlarâ M., who got the call from Spacestation Gaming to replace JoĂŁo âDiazâ Henrique earlier this offseason.
Other promising players such as the aforementioned Pigeon, Resonal, and Lev, as well as former M80 standout Trevor âLifeâ Liuzzo, who is reportedly looking at teaming with Rafael "Mech" Franco and Plexi for the Club Championship Opens.
The emergence of all of this new talent in North America is sure to put some pressure on some of the old guard players of the region, and the wave of newer players getting big call-ups havenât been limited to just the North American region.
Swiss standout SimĂŁo "prozy" Santos got a shot from Spanish mainstays Cristian "crr" Raigal and Gaspar "stizzy" Andres on NIP, and Karmine Corp opted to stick around by placing prospects Bibbaba and Reyyn around French legend Evan "M0nkey M00n" Rogez for the upcoming season.
