The 2026 RLCS 1v1 regional Opens are complete, and the four-player World Championship field is set. Europe, North America, South America, and MENA each received one berth. Every regional final went the distance:
- Europe: Nass defeated zen 4-3.
- North America: diaz defeated Firstkiller 4-3.
- South America: Kv1 defeated Wisty 4-3.
- MENA: defending World Champion Nwpo defeated trk511 4-3.
OCE, APAC, and SSA also held regional 1v1 Opens, but the 2026 rules did not award those regions a place in the four-player Worlds bracket. The Fort Worth semifinals are Nwpo vs Kv1 and Nass vs diaz, with every match played as a best-of-seven.
Europe: Nass completes the run
Mawkzy entered Europe with the clearest RLCS duel résumé. He won the inaugural 1v1 Major 4-3 over yANXNZ in Birmingham, then finished runner-up to Nwpo at the 2025 World Championship. His 2026 Open started 3-0 in Swiss, and he beat Rebmob 4-1 in the playoffs.
That run ended one round short of the final. zen beat Mawkzy 4-1 in the semifinal, but Nass denied zen the ticket by taking the Grand Final 4-3. Europe therefore sends a new representative to Fort Worth rather than either finalist from the previous year's World Championship.
North America: diaz survives Firstkiller
Firstkiller, a starter for Shopify Rebellion, went 3-0 in Swiss and reached the Grand Final. diaz matched him through six games, then won Game 7 by a 7-6 score in overtime to secure North America's berth.
Wahvey and Evoh finished joint 3rd-4th after reaching the semifinals. Firstkiller finished runner-up and did not qualify for the 1v1 event; the regional winner was the only player guaranteed to advance.
diaz was already headed to Fort Worth for the 3v3 World Championship with Spacestation Gaming. The NA Open adds a second event to his week.
South America: Kv1 stops Wisty
Kv1 claimed South America's place by beating Wisty 4-3 in the Grand Final. yANXNZ went 3-0 in Swiss but did not win the event: he lost 2-4 to Kv1 in the semifinal and finished joint 3rd-4th alongside swiftt.
yANXNZ and swiftt remain Fort Worth-bound in both 2v2 and 3v3, but neither qualified for the 1v1 bracket. Kv1 is SAM's sole representative in the duel championship.
MENA: the champion earns his defense
Nwpo won the inaugural 1v1 World Championship 4-1 over Mawkzy in Lyon. His place in the 2026 field was not automatic: he had to win MENA again, and teammate trk511 pushed him through all seven games of the regional final before Nwpo secured the berth.
The result creates a semifinal against Kv1. On the other side, Nass and diaz meet for the second Grand Final place. One returning champion, three first-time Worlds qualifiers, and no second-chance path once the bracket starts.
What comes next
The 2v2 and 1v1 World Championship fields are now complete. Five 3v3 berths remain unresolved: four through the European, MENA, North American, and South American Last Chance Qualifiers, plus OCE's guaranteed place through the PWR-Wildcard tiebreaker.
Those results land in late July. For the duel field, there is nothing left to project: Nass, diaz, Kv1, and Nwpo will decide the second RLCS 1v1 World Championship in Fort Worth.