Karmine Corp And Koi Legends Showmatch Smashes All LCS 2021 Viewership Numbers
European League of Legends has been stunned in the off-season transfer window, as some of the region's best talents have found themselves leaving, or re-joining, the LEC, as teams prepare to overcome the region's worst performance at a World Championship in years.
One of the talents without a spot on a team is four-time LEC MVP Martin "Rekkles" Larsson, whose new squad Karmine Corp has now smashed the LCS' viewership figures in a showmatch with Koi Squad, despite competing in the European Regional Leagues rather than the elite division.
Karmine Corp vs Koi Squad Eclipses LCS Viewership Stats
The match between Karmine Corp and Koi Squad (a brand-new team operating under the organisation formed by FC Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique and colossal Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos), was an offline event in which the two second-tier League of Legends teams went head-to-head, unveiling their respective line ups.
With Rekkles making his official debut for Karmine alongside Jules "Hantera" Bourgeois and Doğukan "113" Balcı (who joined as Raphaël "Targamas" Crabbé left to G2 Esports), hundreds of thousands fans of the French organisation tuned into their stream as Koi Squad was also unveiled.
Koi Squad, competing in their first match ever, had a wealth of support from Ibai, one of Twitch's highest-grossing streamers, with over 300,000 people alone tuning into his broadcast of the game.
Despite having no English broadcast of the game available, the show match peaked at just over 477,000 viewers, which is more than the peak audience for any fixture during the North American LCS season - peaking at 415,000 during the Spring Split Grand Finals.
It was Koi Squad who came out on top, despite the ability of Rekkles being on full display, as the Spanish org won the local derby 2-1 on games.
The huge following for the game bodes greatly for the future of the LEC, as both organisations are expected to be competing at the highest level within the next couple of years.