Follow an up to date transfer list here:

https://www.invenglobal.com/article...d-confirmed-rosters-for-the-2021-spring-split

But for anyone not following, two massive transfers for the LEC is pretty much confirmed. Perkz to NA to C9 and Rekkles follows Caps to G2. The two biggest names in the LEC, the two franchise players in Rekkles and Perkz are gone from their respective teams.

C9 reportedly bought Perkzs contract for US$5 million. If he can get back to his peak mid-lane prowess then you would say its worth it, but it's a big money gamble. Nisqy is young and has potential and was popping off earlier in the year, so Perkz needs to be bring his A-game for it to be considered a success and not a what if we kept Nisqy scenario. Paying that much for a player, if they don't make it out of worlds groups next year it will be a failure. However very few people have as much as experience as Perkz, and he is one of the best mid-laners in the world if he can return to form. For my mind though there is alot of ifs for such a hefty price tag, and than you have the good old NA is a graveyard where players careers go to die curse... Maybe Perkz will finally be the one to lift it? I hope he does well at any rate.

There are alot of big transfers this season in the LEC but I'll just focus on Fnatic and G2 mainly, because well that's pretty much the LEC... but for how much longer?

Fnatic

Spoiler

Current Roster:
Top: Bwipo
Jungler: Selfmade - (yet to re-sign)
Mid: Nisqy - (Nemesis dropped)
ADC: ? - (Lose Rekkles to G2)
Sup: Hylissang

Fnatic drop Nemesis and gain Nisqy from C9 and lose Rekkles. Pretty much since worlds ended it was rumored and a strong given that Nemesis was gone and he now is, as far as I know he doesn't have a team yet. For awhile Bwipo and Hyli were potentially shopped (looked) around before they re-signed. Fnatic loses Rekkles to G2 and have not found a replacement for ADC, and Selfmade hasn't re-signed yet as far as I know.

So I think Nisqy will be an upgrade to Nemesis, but there was one or two other decent mid-laners available. Prominently Lider has the potential to be top-tier and is a current freeagent, however given his reported attitude maybe they dodged a bullet there. Was Nisqy the best possible replacement? I'm not so sure, but at the least I do think he will be an upgrade. At one stage there was a rumour Perkz could of went to Fnatic which would of added real spice to the Fnatic-G2 rivalry, however It was only ever a rumour without any real creditability and didn't eventuate.

Selfmade is yet to re-sign with Fnatic. There was reports at one stage of G2 stealing both Rekkles and Selfmade, which would of been mind-blowing. Because while Jankos of previous years was clearly the best jungler in the LEC, Selfmade is definitely the better Polish jungler currently, or in this carry-orientated meta at least. I think the safe money is for Selfmade to renew his contract with Fnatic, especially since it looks like Jankos is staying with G2.

Which leaves Bwipo and Hylissang who ended up agreeing to new contracts with Fnatic.

So overall even though Fnatic gain Nisqy which is I think will be an upgrade they cop a massive loss and lose Rekkles... or is it a loss? Hear my out. When I say is it actually a loss I am not talking about skill, Rekkles has been one of the best ADC for years and his experience, skill and lane-management and being mister reliable will be missed. But maybe this shake up is what Fnatic needs mentally. No longer relying on Rekkles as a safety-net if all else fails, which I feel like they have been doing a lot in 2020 at least. Potentially, Hylissang will get punished harder in the bot-lane without Rekkles there, which might be the kick up the arse he needs to get some of his INT under control. As great as Rekkles has been for Fnatic maybe this shake-up will be good for them. If Bwipo and Hylissang mature and cover their int then add them two with Selfmade, they are all top-tier players that can break a game. Bwipo and Hylissang are as good as anyone when they are on form, so Fnatic will still be a devastating team on their day. It will be really interesting to see who they get to replace Rekkles at ADC.

So I don't know, I am hoping this will refresh Fnatic and make Bwipo and Hylissang mature a little and go to that next level consistently and reign in their int. If Bwipo and Hylissang get consistently good, they get a decent ADC, Nisqy ends up being an upgrade to Nemesis, and Selfmade continues to be Selfmade, Fnatic losing Rekkles could force them to potentially go to the next level and be up their with G2 legitmately.

G2

Spoiler

Current Roster:
Top: Wunder
Jungler: Jankos
Mid: Caps
ADC: Rekkles (Perkz contract bought out by C9)
Sup: Mikyx

G2 lose Perkz from ADC but retain everyone else since they are all contracted to 2022. Unless someone buys out their contracts too which doesn't seem to be happening. And they gain Rekkles from Fnatic. (which I wonder how much for since Perkz buyout was $5million Rekkles wouldn't of signed for cheap) I don't think much needs to be said for Rekkles vs Perkz at ADC, Rekkles should be an upgrade... or is it?

On paper G2 is as strong as ever if not stronger with Rekkles in the ADC position. But I don't think slotting someone into a role that is better than the previous person than saying 'Hey, we upgraded' quite works. There is potential here for this not to be the mega upgrade some people are touting it as. Tbh I really am interested in seeing what is going to happen in the bot lane next year for G2.

I can see two likely scenarios.

Scenario One
Rekkles is still too passive, and while Mikyx is a god, Rekkles and Hylissang were considered the best bot lane at worlds 2020 for a reason. Was it because Hyli is an int god? So when Rekkles was passive and controlled lane Hylissang would int hard and somehow it just worked. Mikyx does not have that level of Hyli int in his game naturally. Maybe he will develop it to better suite Rekkles. If Rekkles stays passive, I don't think G2 will downgrade from when Perkz was ADC, but maybe it wont be the upgrade they were hoping for even with Rekkles skill and experience.

Scenario Two
Rekkles has only been as passive in lane as he has because he was playing with Bwipo, Nemesis and Hylissang. It's a given Bwipo and Hylissang will int. At some stage. And Nemesis could pop off on some games, and get completely outplayed in others. So all this time Rekkles has been passive, has it been because he has always had to be the passive late-game carry to cover for his teammates? Will playing with Wunder, one of the best top-laners and no where near as much as int as Bwipo, will playing with Caps, one of the best mid-laners in the world and playing with Mikyx one of the best supports in the world free Rekkles up to be that more aggressive ADC? Will he be able to make some more aggressive plays now knowing the rest of his team has that capability and maturity to carry games and not int as often as his old teammates?

So scenario one I think G2 will still keep their winning ways but it wouldn't be much different compared to if Perkz had stayed.

In scenario two though... if Rekkles starts to pop off and get that early game carry threat going, and not be as passive as he has been/forced to be, maybe, just maybe, this is the super team some people are touting it as... maybe this is THE team the LEC has been waiting for to take worlds... maybe.

tl:dr:

For Fnatic losing Rekkles actually has the chance to make them even stronger... or potentially bottom out and lose their top two status.

For G2 losing Perkz and gaining Rekkles mightn't be a straight forward upgrade like it looks and might just make them the same old G2 or... it might just make G2 into the super team that can finally take worlds.

Either way it'll be weird not seeing Perkz in a G2 jersey and extra weird not just not seeing Rekkles in a Fnatic jersey but a G2 one instead.



A lot of other interesting transfers as well, but I mainly follow the LEC and the other regions loosely so I wanted to talk about this. Biggest transfers in LEC for years. Origen gutted. Alphari to NA aswell. What are you thoughts on this offseason no matter the region you are currently following?

 

I think that none of this matters for NA because NA refuses to change its basic infrastructure and will never be able to develop good talent, which means that they will never have a team competitive enough to play against the best teams in the world.

 

I'm excited for both NA and EU. The G2 superteam keeps, on paper, getting better, and Perkz should, on paper, shake up NA's landscape a fair bit.

 

I wish Perkz would uplift NA as a region, but I think it's more likely that the clown fiesta will drag him down to its level. See: Bang and other NA retirement home imports.

G2 consolidating EU talent by nabbing Rekkles would maintain their dominance but it could make the region suffer long term.

In other news, T1 is picking up literally anyone else as support and dropping Effort. Won't make too much difference because Damwon squad looks like it's staying together which means they'll stomp another season, but it might be enough for Faker to drag another set of corpses to Worlds one last time.

 

I'd be significantly more excited for G2 if they didn't still have Jankos as a jungler. He has good performamces, but always disappoints when it matters. He doesn't hold a candle to the best junglers in the world, unlucky that jungle is such an important role.

 

G2 consolidating EU talent just makes EU fanboys think their region is on par with Korea or China.

G2 is on par with Korea and China. Maybe Fnatic if they can rebuild properly. But the rest of EU is just as dogshit as NA.

The only difference being that the closest thing NA ever had to a superteam was 2016 TSM and that roster had a Lee Sin OTP and Biofrost on it.