It is reported that Rekkles is poised to join T1’s academy League of Legends team for the 2024 LCK Challengers League.
According to LEC Wooloo on November 20, the 27-year-old has verbally agreed to play for T1 Academy in 2024. Rekkles has been observed “frequently” at the T1 facility in Seoul, South Korea, and has actively participated in scrimmages with the team. This comes after Rekkles parted ways with Fnatic in October, following an extended period on the inactive roster.
When Rekkles left Fnatic, he touched on how he was transitioning from the AD carry position to the support role and said that “in a dream scenario” he’d be playing support in the LEC. LEC Wooloo reported that Rekkles considered options in the LEC, but opted to play for T1 Academy in 2024.
The report comes a day after T1 won the 2023 League World Championship, cruising past Weibo Gaming in the grand finals. The academy team, on the other hand, hasn’t won anything throughout 2023.
The deal sees Rekkles depart from the top table of European LoL in favor of Korea, which is, by all metrics, a stronger region. While the 27-year-old won’t be starting matches on the LCK stage alongside Faker, T1 does have a history of promoting players from their academy squad should their performances deserve it.
The deal will also bring European eyes to the LCK and its academy series, as many will tune in to see how Rekkles adapts to his new squad.
Rekkles made history in the LEC and was for many years the league’s own Faker. He helped Fnatic win numerous LEC tournaments and came close to winning the World Championship in 2018 when Fnatic lost to Invictus Gaming in the grand finals.
However, the 27-year-old hasn’t been the same since his controversial stint with G2 in 2021 and will have the opportunity to reinvent himself in LCK Challengers.