Cover-Credits:
In December 2023, Swedish League of Legends player Martin “Rekkles” Larsson joined Worlds 2023-winning organization T1 to participate in the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) Challengers League (CL). He took up the role of support in T1 Esports Academy, T1's CL team.
Following this, the LCK CL kicked off its 2024 season on 15th January with the Spring Split. While T1 Esports Academy faced Freecs Challengers and lost the series, it managed to create a new viewership record. This massive spurt in viewer numbers is likely related to Rekkles playing in the league.
Rekkles’ LCK CL Debut Breaks Viewership Record
On the second day of play in the LCK CL, T1 Esports Academy went head-to-head against Freecs Challengers. This series recorded a staggering 159K peak viewers, according to Esports Charts. The previous record was 38K during HLE Challengers vs T1 Esports Academy in the LCK CL 2021 Spring.
The third highest viewership peak was recorded in LCK CL 2022 Summer during a series between the academy teams of DRX and GEN.G, which stood at 35.9K.
This peak can be attributed to veteran player Rekkles playing in T1's challenger roster which boasts the following players:
Moon “Dal” Jeong-woon: Top lane
Koo “Guwon” Kwan-mo: Jungle
Yoon “Poby” Sung-won: Mid
Sin “Smash”Geum-jae: Carry
Martin “Rekkles” Larsson: Support
Lee “GBM” Chang-seok: Head coach
T1 Esports Academy, as mentioned earlier, lost the series to Freecs Challengers with a 1-2 scoreline. Despite the loss, support player Rekkles was given the "POG" [Player of the Game] award for his performance in Game 1 on Senna. He had a KDA of 4/0/6.
In the previous season, Rekkles had issues with European organization Fnatic after it secured 9th place in Winter, 6th in Spring, and an 8th-place finish in Summer Split. AFter two disastrous splits with Fnatic, on 28th April 2023, Rekkles announced his decision to roleswap from ADC (attack damage carry) to support.
Rekkles is a well-known figure in the League of Legends esports landscape. He has played in multiple European League of Legends Championship Series (EU LCS) and League of Legends European Championship (LEC) splits for the majority of his career. Despite having multiple LEC championships against his name, Rekkles has not won Worlds, the ultimate goal of any League of Legends pro player.
He came close to clinching the Worlds title and trophy in 2018 when Fnatic went up against Invictus Gaming in Seoul, South Korea.
