Legendary Fnatic AD carry Rekkles is changing his professional League of Legends role to support, he announced today.
As a result of this change, Fnatic has made the decision to bench Rekkles and remove him from the starting lineup ahead of the 2023 LEC Summer Split. It’s likely that the team will part ways with him entirely once another team offers to buy out his two-year contract.
Rekkles’ decision came to fruition after the veteran player realized he was “treading water” at the AD carry position. In an update video posted on his personal Twitter account today, Rekkles said the “best course of action is to revamp [himself].”
Rekkles and Fnatic have struggled immensely in the first half of the 2023 League season, failing to qualify for the LEC playoffs in back-to-back splits. The team intends to sign a replacement for the AD carry role “in the coming weeks,” according to its Twitter post. It is presumed that starting support Advienne will continue with the team.
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It’s unclear if Fnatic intends to keep Rekkles on the roster and eventually re-promote him back to the LEC stage later in the 2023 season or ahead of the 2024 campaign. Rekkles’ current contract lasts through the end of the 2024 season, according to the LoL global contract database. It’s possible that his contract could be purchased by another LEC contender in need of a support player.
“Game knowledge is there, communication is there, so there’s honestly no reason for me not to pull this off,” Rekkles said in his personal video.
Although Rekkles’ brazen role swap comes as a surprise, the 10-year veteran has played support champions on the LEC stage in the past. His Janna play in the 2018 season gained attention due to the extreme nature of a bizarre meta, while he also dabbled in champions such as Karma and Sona the following year.
It’s still unknown how or when Rekkles will train his support skills in a competitive environment, although Fnatic has promised to support his transition however the organization can, as per its announcement.
No start date for the 2023 LEC Summer Split has been announced as of yet, although it’s likely the second half of the EMEA League season will begin in early June. That gives Fnatic approximately five weeks to find a replacement ADC to fill the void left by Rekkles.
