Fnatic Benches Rekkles As He Announces Swap to Support
The League of Legends community was left quite stunned when Fnatic announced that Carl Martin Erik “Rekkles” Larsson won’t be on the starting lineup in the 2023 LEC Summer Split.
On Twitter, Fnatic admitted that while the team’s synergy and overall performance have improved, the organization won’t be satisfied until it is back where it used to be. Part of the problem is Rekkles. The long-time League of Legends veteran has been struggling in his position as an AD carry and recently announced that he’s making a big change.
“I’m just gonna go with the flow…Long story short, I’m re-rolling to support. I know it sounds very crazy and it might be…But I’ve been having a feeling for a while now, and this year confirmed it…I’m a really good AD carry I think but I reached the point where I’m really just treading water. I’m trying really hard but not getting anywhere,” Rekkles explained.
After 12 years as an AD carry, Rekkles said he’s going to put in the hard work to change his position to support. He said he has the game knowledge, experience, and skills to pull it off. But only time will tell.
Rekkles is far from the first prominent AD carry to make this decision. Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black famously made the swap in the early days of competitive League of Legends to form the legendary "Rush Hour" bot lane with Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng. Other notable AD carries who made the switch include Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in and Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen.
Unfortunately, it was this decision that led Fnatic to drop him from the starting lineup. The team’s Twitter announcement went on to say that the staff will continue to support his decision but feel it’s best to not move forward with him on the starting lineup. Instead, Fnatic will be searching for an AD carry “in the coming weeks.”
Benching Rekkles left the League of Legends community shocked, but Fnatic has failed to qualify for the LEC playoffs two splits in a row.
It’s unclear if Fnatic plans to re-introduce Rekkles onto the main roster after he practices support but some fans speculate that he will be dropped entirely and Henk "Advienne" Reijenga will remain on the roster. Rekkles' current contract lasts through to the end of the 2024 season but another team in need of a support may purchase the contract from Fnatic.
While Rekkles has been an AD carry for over a decade, it’s no secret that he’s also played support. He even played as a support on the LEC stage in the past, including when he pulled out Janna in the 2018 season. In 2019, he also played Karma and Sona.
Fellow pro players and fans alike offered coaching and support to Rekkles. Many expressed belief in him and expect him to flourish in his new role. But it will be interesting to see how he fits into Fnatic’s roster going forward — if at all.
The 2023 Summer Split is expected to begin in early June. This gives Fnatic five weeks to find a replacement ADC.
