Rekkles is back. He made his long awaited return to the EU LCS this week in Fnatic’s matchup against Giants Gaming. Fnatic has been doing just fine without Rekkles in the bot lane, but now that ADCs are back in the meta, so is Rekkles.
He played Ezreal and was fine. With a 3/2/11 stat line, there really isn’t a lot to complain about, but it also wasn’t the monster performance many expected. Instead, it was Caps and Hylissang who stole the show.
Hylissang popped off with Pyke and recorded an impressive seven kills and only one death. Caps showed off the new and improved Akali and proved just how impressive (and annoying) she can be. He executed her new shroud impressively and pulled off a series of tower dives that landed him a 5/2/5 stat line.
While Rekkles’ performance might not have been amazing on paper, he brings another element to games. Hylissang, Caps and even Bwipo and Broxah have more flexibility and freedom when the opposing team has to worry about Rekkles. His presence can pull attention away from the other members of the team and gives them a better chance to have monster performances.
How much more Rekkles will we see this split?
But it won’t be the Rekkles show for the rest of the season. The roster for their second game of the week has already been announced and it’s Bwipo who will be taking back the ADC role, for one game at least.
Next week’s lineup might depend on the outcome of Saturday’s game against Splyce, but more likely is that Fnatic are just looking to ease Rekkles back into things. We wouldn’t be surprised to see a fluid roster from Fnatic for the rest of the season and possibly into playoffs and worlds.
Having two severely different team comps available is a great way to prepare for specific matchups and it’ll keep opponents on their toes. The big caveat is that the whole Fnatic team needs to be on board. If sOAZ, Rekkles or Bwipo are harboring a grudge about not always playing, then that could ruin the team’s chemistry.
Fnatic has managed to juggle and experiment with the roster all season, but it’ll be interesting to see what they choose to do as the games continue to get more and more important.