The 4.0 student who never stopped grinding for his second chance in the LCS

He had three kills, two deaths, and 17 assists. It wasn’t a bad showing for a player who spent most of the past nine months playing primarily solo queue – which is a completely different environment from high-level competitive play.

ended the loss streak and keeping the playoff dream alive

here's what it sounds like to beat DIG #DSGWINpic.twitter.com/FC13Ly4dWy

— DSG (@Disguised) May 11, 2026

“I went into it pretty anxious because I have not played competitive [recently],” Joyce said. “I did really well versus all these top ranked scrims. So, I was like,’ You know what? Actually, this feels pretty good.’”

Joyce’s arrival wasn’t completely random. DSG coach Ian “Ido” McCormick tends to have a strong sense of players who would fit his roster.

Cho was the lone holdover from the team that survived a relegation battle and built around him with veteran support Pedro Luis “Lyonz” Peralta, well-traveled Korean mid-laner Oh "Callme" Ji-hoon, and rookies Sajed Ziade (bottom laner) and Christian “KryRa” Rahaian (jungler).

“You have the space here to make mistakes,” McCormick said. “Winning with rookies is even better.”

Given DSG’s status as the guest team, McCormick likely had Joyce on a shortlist, similar to how he recruited Rahaian to join DSG, which in turn brought Ziade.

“He knows me pretty well,” Rahaian said. “He’s been helping me, and now we’re actually on the team together.”

Joyce spent the first few days in the DSG house observing and listening. He didn’t want to walk in and change things. Rather, Joyce wanted to see how he could fit in and adapt himself to the situation.

Joyce said McCormick told him that he could fill a void the team needed due to Cho’s departure but also address other factors.

It’s a role that Joyce humbly accepts.

“Who knows how I’ll be able to fix the specific issues or play a part in fixing the specific issues that any roster has, but I think I was pretty fortunate that the issues that the team did seem to have weren’t related to player skill,” Joyce said. “Instead [the issues] were really related to other factors, which I think I can definitely help with. Everything’s going a lot better. The vibes are really good right now, which is amazing for the weekend.”

Joyce’s contract is through the end of the split.

Whether or not Joyce’s second run in the LCS continues into the summer will be decided after DSG wraps up this spring, regardless of if its Sunday or sometime in the coming weeks.

Joyce, however, isn’t thinking past that. He’s focused on changing the fans’ perception of him based on how 2025 went.

“I know that I didn’t have the best showing in this past, but I hope that I can rewrite that narrative with my performance,” Joyce said. “It’s a performance-based industry. If I don’t perform well enough, then I don’t actually get the spot right? Whether I do or don’t have the spot, I’m really enjoying my time playing pro because it gets me so excited about what we’re doing.”

That’s the thing about high-level competition. It can end as quickly as it starts.

But it’s important to stay ready, as a call can come at any point and give another chance to perform.

Paul Delos Santos covers esports for The Sporting Tribune. He is also the founder of Inside Esports, a newsletter covering the Fighting Game Community and Riot Games ecosystem. Subscribe at insideesports.media.