Rekkles opts for bold move to save his career
Swedish League of Legends veteran Carl Martin Erik "Rekkles" Larsson has joined the academy team of the South Korean esports organisation T1.
He will be joining the development team of the World Champion as a Support player and the only Western player on the team. T1 also announced Rekkles' new teammates as well as his new coach, Lee "GBM" Chang-seok.
A highly unusual decision
For a Western player to join a South Korean organisation is rare enough, but to do it at 27 after a decade-long career, in a new role, with young teammates, and with a self-admittedly large language barrier is unprecedented.
"It all kinda started in Spring to Summer," the former top-tier ADC carry shared in an announcement video. Rekkles explained that he realised he was unlikely to find his way back to the top in his former role and would instead try his luck on Support.
The intra-lane role switch from bottom to support player is more often seen as players age out of mechanical excellence and leadership as well as experience move into focus. The high-risk move arguably gives Rekkles’' career a chance to regain momentum, being able to practice in Korea against much better opposition and test his potential in the support role.
Unwilling to retire with a "what-if" hanging over his head, Rekkles says he has chosen his path to exhaust all feasible options. "I will fight for this chance," he shared in the announcement video.
T1 announces academy roster
On top of Rekkles, T1 has also announced former pro player turned coach GBM (aka Ganked by mom) as head coach of the academy team.
The T1 academy players of last season, Moon "Dal" Jeong-woon, Sin "Smash" Geum-jae, and Yoon "Poby" Sung-won have been re-signed. The latter had stood in for the main team in the mid lane during the injury-induced absence of Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok.
Jungler Koo "Guwon" Kwan-mo is the other new player on the roster who was nine years old when Rekkles started his career in 2012, Smash and Poby were seven.
A definitive start date for the LCK CL has not been announced yet, so you will have to hold out a little until you can watch Rekkles in action.
