In what has been the least surprising bit of news, Fnatic have finally made official Martin "Rekkles" Larsson as the new AD Carry for the League of Legends team heading into the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne event. Johannes "Puszu" Uibos will be leaving the team, even though few would say he's fulfilled his role badly in the second half of the LCS's Season Three or The World Championship.
Throughout the entire Season 3 World Championship and the Summer Split of the LCS, Rekkles had been looming in the dark, gaining play time for amateur teams such as the Copenhagen Wolves team at various events across Europe. Even though Puszu played a strong AD Carry role, everybody in the team had been waiting for the young Swede to turn 17 so he could become an official part of the Fnatic roster.
On joining the team, Rekkles stated:
"I'm really excited to announce that I'm back as the Attack Damage Carry (Marksman) of team Fnatic. The last year has been a great life experience for me personally and I hope the future with Fnatic has more to offer.
After dropping professional gaming back in December of 2012 and leaving the team due to being underaged, it felt very frustrating for me since I couldn't affect this decision. The frustration followed me around for a long time, on and off summoners rift, but as the say "sunshine after the rain". I managed to join Copenhagen Wolves together with Youngbuck, Shook, Unlimited, and Cowtard as a substitute (still under contract for Fnatic).
I learned so much together with them, once again, on and off summoners rift, which I would like to now thank them all for. I still talk to them a lot and hang out with them at events, which is just a proof to how good we worked out with each other - that's probably also why we won so many tournaments. This brought me to joining Fnatic, taking the position of Johannes "Puszu" Uibos,I would like to offer a huge thank you to him for doing such a great job. Thanks to Fnatic and all of the fans for supporting me throughout the last year and hopefully in the future as well, without you I might not be where I am now. I'm very excited about the future!"
—Martin "Rekkles" Larsson, 2013
Season Four will now be the place and time where people will get to judge whether or not Rekkles will bring that little bit of extra to the Fnatic team that might push them to the very top of the global League of Legends stage. His skills as an AD Carry will not be met with much doubt, however, his biggest challenge might stem from the pressure he'll have to deal with, being hyped across Europe for nearly an entire year and replacing someone who played a more than decent hand in the Fnatic World Championship Season Three run.
It seems a lot to put on such young shoulders, but the chemistry between himself and the rest of his new team appears to be on par. This Sunday, November 24th, will be the first time the league community will get to see Rekkles play an official match for the Fnatic team since his IPL 5 run that made him an instant celebrity. In his farewell statement, Puszu, did not give any hints as to his own future in the competitive scene. Right now it's not quite clear whether he'll be given another opportunity to remain part of the professional circuit in Season 4.
"I have to thank Fnatic for even considering giving me a chance like this and hope I made them proud, as they made me. We weren't just 7 people in a house together and playing the game, we were a group of friends who could joke around about anything without the other one getting hurt, they were fun times and will be missed. I couldn't imagine being in a team where there would be better teammates, Fnatic got that part spot-on, I learned a lot about everybody, way more than there is to see online and hope that we will still stay in touch.
I could write a book here about these guys and become the most successful writer in history, but I won't make them more famous than they already are haha. I wish them all the best in the future of LoL and eSports - Win worlds for me in the years coming, alright!"
Current Fnatic.LoL roster:
Enrique "xPeke" Cedeno Martinez (AP Mid)
Lauri "Cyanide" Happonen (Jungle)
Paul "sOAZ" Boyer (Top)
Bora "YellOwStaR Kim (Support)
Martin "Rekkles" Larsson (AD Carry)
Source: Fnatic official announcement
