One of the biggest surprises that professional League of Legends has ever brought us happened this year, namely when Martin “Rekkles” Larsson decided to bench himself. Rekkles is, of course, the star AD carry of Fnatic and probably one of the most famous and beloved players of all time. Him benching himself was shocking to say the least, although there was extremely good reason for that to happen.
The primary reason that Rekkles benched himself was due to the downfall of AD carries in the game. Rekkles was an AD carry player which meant that the champions that he excelled on were suddenly completely gone from the meta. After a lackluster performance on some other champions in week 1, Rekkles decided it would be better for the team to play with two top laners, Soaz and Bwipo, as this would give the team a much better shot at success.
Now that Riot has recently brought up the power of AD carries, Fnatic has decided it would be a great time to bring back Rekkles into the squad. They released a short statement on Twitter and coupled that with an interview that they held with Rekkles. In the interview, Rekkles delves deeper into the time that he wasn’t playing with the team and how the experience was for him.
Our full starting lineup against @GiantsGamingENG:
TOP: @BWipo
JNG: @BroxahLoL
MID: @FncCapsLoL
BOT: @RekklesLoL
SUP: @FNCHylissang— FNATIC (@FNATIC) August 9, 2018
The interview is quite insightful and Rekkles even says that he stopped playing scrims with the team altogether. He feels that bringing him back on the team is quite a gamble as he is doubtful of what he can contribute within the game. Rekkles has always been known as a player that is very prone to stress and anxiety so being put in such a situation must have been quite the burden for him. Nevertheless, the team has decided to start playing with him again so he has no choice but to step up.
Fnatic has also revealed that they will be playing with rotating rosters depending on what team they’re facing. In Fnatic’s first match this week against Giants the team has decided to put Bwipo in the top lane. Whether we see SOAZ against Splyce on Day 2 is still unknown. The rotating top laners might give Fnatic an advantage in the League as they put in the top laner that they feel will perform best against certain teams.
A lot of people have strong opinions on our starting roster (especially top) and I would kindly ask them to keep judgement until they know the rosters for each day. We plan and decide rosters ahead of time regardless of day 1 performance and usually play two different rosters
— Joey Steltenpool (@JoeyYoungbuck) August 9, 2018
