Fnatic sign ADC Noah and Support Trymbi for 2023 LEC Summer Split, Rekkles benched after role-swapping to support

Fnatic has a new bot lane, KOI has a new support player for ADC Comp, and Rekkles is out of the LEC. The upcoming 2023 LEC Summer Split will be a nail bitter with many teams fighting for a berth at the 2023 World Championship. Question is, can KOI make it back there with this roster shuffle?

Rekkles benched by Fnatic after role-swapping to support

Changes in esports are always expected after the competition ends. Shortly after the 2023 LEC Spring Split ended, many teams started planning. But the big change that changed Fnatic’s plans was Rekkles role-swapping to support. The Swedish bot laner became a global icon dawning Fnatic’s orange and black jersey, mostly playing ADC champions. But if his ranked matches history in the last 15 months is any indication, he has planned this all along.

Rekkles shared the news on his Instagram account, and Fnatic immediately took action. The team revealed on their official Twitter account that while they support his decision, they are focused on winning. This meant that Fnatic was looking for a new ADC, and that Rekkles wasn’t considered for the starting support role. Maybe that’s because he gave them a short notice. Rookie top laner Oscarinin recently went on a Spanish podcast called La Previa and said that he and the entire organization, including controversial team manager Dardo, were blindsided by his decision. Rekkles reportedly informed the team a few hours before making his decision public, so it’s understandable they chose to go in a different direction.

Fnatic sign Korean bot laner Noah from Zero Tenacity

Roster changes in the middle of the year are tough tasks for most Esports organizations. Most of the teams have their players under contract until the year ends, and the pool of free agents is nothing to be excited about. The only viable option would be to import or promote players from the tier-two scene. But as we already know, most LEC teams including Fnatic don’t have an Academy team anymore. That’s why Fnatic is taking a mixed approach, importing a Korean bot laner from the Serbian team called Zero Tenacity which competed in the Polish Ultraliga.

Apart from being one of the best bot laners in terms of stats across the ERL’s, he has also topped the EUW server with impressive win rates. Fnatic had one of the worst performing bot lanes during the Winter Split, but were fairly decent in Spring. The addition of support Advienne helped things out but now he is gone as well. Noah will face stiff competition in the LEC, as the ADC talent pool is flourishing in Europe.

Fnatic and KOI trade support players: Trymbi signs with Fnatic, Advienne will play for KOI

This mini offseason created so many narratives and potential spark plugs for a rivalry. Initial reports came out a week ago that KOI had allowed their starting support Trymbi to explore his options for the upcoming split. And while Rekkles, Advienne, and some ERL supports were rumored to be trying out for the spot, in the end, it was Advienne who got the job. This means that Rekkles is out of the LEC once again, this time, entirely self-inflicted. 

In the meantime, Fnatic and KOI are swapping supports. With Advienne reaching a verbal agreement with KOI, the only viable option Trymbi had was to join Fnatic. Trymbi always looked like the odd man out of this year’s KOI squad, with that entire collective struggling to find their former groove after rebranding from Team Rogue. He has a chance to rekindle his form on Fnatic, alongside a new dominant ADC in Noah. Fnatic has silently filled out their roster with promising youth, while KOI is searching for answers. If jungler Malrang is struggling in this meta, is there hope for them to bounce back? Advienne for them is purely a band-aid solution before they reconsider their roster makeup in the offseason.