In League of Legends, there seems to be bad blood between the legendary esports professional Martin “Rekkles” Larsson and his former team, the ambitious Karmine Corp. The team’s coach has made allegations against the 26-year-old LoL player, who is now back playing for Fnatic. Fans are finding it amusing.
This was the situation:
- The Swede Rekkles (26) is one of the most well-known LoL players in Europe. He was the face of Fnatic, one of the most popular clubs on our continent.
- After an unfortunate guest appearance with rival G2, Rekkles joined the French regional league Karmine Corp in 2021, an ambitious team founded by YouTubers. The fact they could recruit a player like Rekkles was considered a big deal at the time.
- But that didn’t work at all: Karmine Corp and Rekkles fell far short of expectations in 2022, and Rekkles left the team again: in 2023 he is back playing for Fnatic. There he replaces the German player Upset.
What are the allegations? The team’s coach, Striker, has hinted on Twitter that Rekkles has taken liberties, necessitating crisis talks. From the coach’s perspective, there was no way to discipline Rekkles in any form (via twitter):
- They couldn’t bench Rekkles because it would damage his market value.
- Therefore, there was no good way to handle him.
It sounds further like,
- that Rekkles “rejected a double block of scrimmages.”
- treated “someone disrespectfully” who pays his salary.
- refused to participate in a team event because the taxi wasn’t there when he arrived at the airport.
The German counterpart to Karmine Corp
Players find the allegations against Rekkles hilarious, see blame on the coach
How is this viewed? On reddit, most seem to clearly side with the Swede: It is said that Rekkles is known to be such an introverted person that he never participates in any awkward team events. That’s just how he is.
The idea that Rekkles skips a meeting because there is no taxi waiting for him is considered “unbelievably funny.”
Others say: They would also have problems if they had to play with the awful drafts of this coach or had such extremely bad teammates.
Another reddit user explained in a satirical post: He is the janitor of Karmine Corp and has to report that Rekkles refused to participate in the mandatory team pee break. He just strolled off by himself, the rogue.
What does Rekkles say? No statement has come from the Swede, he prefers to showcase his new body artwork on Twitter.
Rekkles is considered an icon in Europe – fans defend him fiercely
What’s behind this: Even if the coach was surely asked later and had good reasons to explain why things didn’t work out with Rekkles, it feels like a probing and as if the coach is looking for a scapegoat when things are already sorted and done. Fans are not taking this well.
Rekkles, due to his calm, stoic nature and wise analyses, is one of the icons in the esports of LoL. Fans are fiercely protective of him. A coach could as well bench Faker:
LoL: Coach dares to bench Faker – receives severe backlash for it
