Martin “Rekkles” Larsson is one of the most well-known European players in League of Legends. With Fnatic, he won the highest European league, the LEC, and even became the runner-up at the World Championship. In 2022, he surprisingly switched to the second league and immediately secured the most important title there.
How has Rekkles been doing lately?
- Rekkles was a fixed part of the Fnatic team from 2015 to 2020. With them, he won the LEC playoffs four times and also impressed at the World Championships. In 2015, they reached 3rd/4th place, in 2018 even second place, and in 2019 and 2020 they at least made it to the quarterfinals.
- For the 2021 season, Rekkles then decided to switch to the G2 Esports team. They dominated Europe in recent years and reached 2nd place in 2019 and at least the semifinals in 2020. They wanted to build a European super team and finally become world champions.
- However, the season went terribly wrong. The bot laner did not fit into the structure of the team, which often relied on very aggressive plays. However, Rekkles was more of a tactical player who focused on his strength in the endgame. It was not enough for either a national title or qualification for the World Championship.
- At the end of 2021, Rekkles surprised everyone by switching to the second league. He moved to Karmine Corp, the strongest team in the French LFL.
- However, the start was anything but good. They only barely reached the European Masters, a tournament where the best teams from all second leagues in Europe come together. But in this competitive situation, Rekkles was able to convince once again.
Difficult start in what is probably the strongest second league in Europe
How did the season go? The regular split did not go too badly for Karmine Corp. They finished 2nd behind LDLC OL, the esports team of Olympique Lyon. However, they had already suffered 6 losses in 18 matches during the regular season. Many fans thought that the season with Rekkles would be a walk in the park.
In the playoffs, there was then a severe setback. They lost the upper bracket final against LDLC and fell into the lower bracket. There, they had to beat BDS Academy to advance. However, they lost that match and only reached 3rd place – actually too little for the top team.
This also meant that they did not qualify directly for the European Masters, but had to take the detour through a play-in tournament.
The German LoL team Eintracht Spandau from HandOfBlood also participated in the EU Masters:
How did it go at the EU Masters? Karmine Corp won their group in the play-in tournament with 6:0. In the knockout stage, they faced Iron Wolves, who they also defeated without a loss, 2:0. They made it to the EU Masters without any issues.
In Group B, Karmine Corp finished in first place with 5 wins and 1 loss. Their only loss came from Team X7 with former Korean world champion Haru. Both teams ended up 5:1 and had each secured one win against each other. In the decisive match, however, Rekkles’ team prevailed, thanks in part to a strong performance from their bot laner.
In the knockout phase, they first defeated the German team Unicorns of Love Sexy Edition and then Vitality.Bee, also a French team.
In the final this weekend, they then faced LDLC OL, the team that had won the split and playoffs in France and had given Karmine Corp several defeats.
Karmine Corp wins EU Masters, especially thanks to Rekkles
How did the final turn out? LDLC won the first match of this best of 5. One had the feeling that the regular season could repeat itself, although the match was quite close overall. In the end, LDLC had 4 kills and about 5,000 gold more, which was not much.
The second round also started positively for LDLC. But the ancestral dragon for Karmine Corp turned the match on its head. Suddenly, they won the team fights and could gradually take down the base.
Karmine Corp managed to secure matches 3 and 4, which also meant victory in the EU Masters Spring 2022. Another EU Masters will take place in summer.
How significant was Rekkles’ contribution to the victory? Very high (via gol.gg):
- Rekkles has the best KDA (Kill/Death/Assist) of all players in the tournament at 13.3
- He has the best farm rate (10.5 minions per minute)
- He was ahead of his direct opponent in the bot lane in 87.5 % of the games at the 15-minute mark
- He also achieved a quadra kill (only Deadly got 2 quadra kills) and 11 double kills (best value)
For Karmine Corp, this is the third win of the EU Masters in a row.
France dominates EU Masters
What stood out at the tournament? Three out of four teams in the semifinals came from France and the final was only contested between French teams. France is currently dominating the leagues below the LEC.
The German teams unfortunately performed worse than hoped. Eintracht Spandau even failed in the group stage, although they had strong opponents in Vitality.Bee (a French team) and AGO Rogue (the only semifinalist not from France):
LoL team from HandOfBlood fails in the group stage of the European Cup – Shows morale in the end
