Rekkles played his first League of Legends match with T1 Academy in LCK Challengers on Jan. 16, pulling in over 150,000 viewers and selling out the arena.
The match peaked at 159,000 viewers on Twitch, according to Esports Charts, smashing the previous record of 38,000. HLE Challengers vs. DPlus Challengers also garnered 42,000 viewers this week, showing Rekkles’ influence on the Korean league as a whole.
Rekkles and T1 Academy faced off against Kwangdong Freecs Challengers. They lost 1-2, but the support won the hearts of Western fans by paying homage to former team Fnatic at the end of the match.
League fans were curious to see how Rekkles would perform in the LCK CL, not only because it was his first official match in the Korean league but also due to his role swap from bot laner to support during the offseason.
Ahead of the 2024 season, Rekkles quickly climbed the ladder on the Korean servers and reached Challenger with his new role.
Rekkles still has a lot to prove in Korea. He’s playing with a roster full of Korean players and almost certainly has an uphill battle. T1 Academy are set to face off against Dplus KIA Challengers in their next match on Friday, Jan. 19.
