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Rekkles makes an incredible start to his G2 Esports career
Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson is new to G2 Esports, but he's already stepping up to the task and driving the team forward each week in the LEC.
Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson has been regarded as the best AD Carry in the League of Legends European Championship for many years now, so when he joined G2 Esports for the start of the 2021 season, everyone predicted that they were going to have yet another great year in the LEC.
Of course, whenever a player joins a new team, they need to settle into a new style of playing, a new training regime, a new living situation, and they need to integrate well with their new team-mates. For most, this usually takes a while, and we don’t see improvements until a few weeks into the regular season. But with Rekkles, his introduction to the G2 way seems to have been instant. Given his track record since he burst onto the scene, perhaps we shouldn’t have expected anything less.
G2 are currently sitting in second place in the LEC standings, just one game off the pace set by Rogue, who are still undefeated. Other than the single blip against Schalke 04 on Saturday, G2 have dominated their opponents so far, and Rekkles has been a standout performer. The veteran ADC didn’t even die during their first two victories of the Spring Season, which is a real statement of intent for the rest of the year, and he appears to be having a lot of fun doing it.
Rekkles has grown a certain mystique around him over the past seven or eight years. He rarely speaks to the press, he keeps a fairly low profile on social media, and appears to keep it strictly business while playing on Summoner’s Rift. Some wondered if he would fit into the atmosphere of G2, and all the joking around and trash talk that comes with the name. However, as proven by G2’s weekly Voicecomms videos, Rekkles already looks to be joining in. “Hello, it’s me. Fnatic Rekkles,” he joked with his team-mates before the game against MAD Lions.
“I think we should go Sivir, and I’ll just figure out the build on the fly,” Rekkles continued during the champion select phase. “How hard can it be?” Then, much to the amusement of the rest of the team, when the game started he said: “Hmm, what the fuck do I build?”
He need not have worried, as Rekkles ended up completely taking over the game. He reached a kill/death/assist ratio of 9/0/9 by the time MAD Lions’ nexus fell, and also stole away a Dragon thanks to a well-timed Boomerang Blade from out of the shadows. “You are so good,” exclaimed G2’s jungler Marcin ‘Jankos’ Jankowski, before they turned and wiped their opponents off the map by diving deep past two of their towers.
Rekkles continued his form into the next match against SK Gaming. It was a closer game, with SK actually gaining a lead early on, but G2 played the macro game better, earning the Dragon Ocean Soul and taking towers to switch the tides in their favour. Meanwhile, Rekkles was surviving, farming, and getting kills, and was able to snowball his team to victory with a 3/0/6 game on Jhin.
“So happy,” said Rekkles as he and his support, Mihael ‘Mikyx’ Mehle, got themselves hyped up before the next match. The invincible AD Carry went into G2’s game against Excel Esports with the best KDA in the league, and they didn’t let off the gas. G2 grabbed a lead early on and held on for the next 30 minutes, taking everything in their sight. It was their bloodiest game yet, and Rekkles got an amazing 13 kills this time on Jhin, although did end up dying, just the once.
Another kill-fest followed against Astralis the following week, as Rekkles got 10 of his team’s 30 eliminations, only dying a couple of times to once again try and show he was the best choice to step into Luka ‘Perkz’ Perkovic’s shoes. The win streak came to an end against Schalke the next day, but there’s still no doubt that G2 are one of the most dangerous teams in the league right now off the back of their first four performances.
“I promised I would win Worlds,” said Rekkles in his G2 roster announcement video, “and I will.”
We’re still a long way from the 2021 World Championship, but if G2 are already playing this well as a unit, then the rest of the teams around the world will be taking notice. In every role, G2 arguably have the best European player available. They’re not perfect just yet, but 2021 could be their best chance yet at capturing that Summoner’s Cup.
