Rekkles apologizes after Fnatic failure sees 2023 LEC Winter Split run end early

Immediately following Fnatic’s elimination from the 2023 LEC Winter Split, the team’s AD carry Rekkles took to Twitter to apologize to the fans for his poor performance. 

“It hasn’t been a good start to the new year,” Rekkles said in his video. “It’s been really rough, and I really wanted to say sorry for not being able to deliver.”

Fnatic were eliminated from LEC Winter contention after losing to SK Gaming earlier today. The team went 2-7 in the round-robin, ending their run on a four-game losing streak that allowed Astralis (who won three of their last four) to sneak in as the split’s eighth seed. Fnatic’s elimination ended a 10-year-long streak, as the team failed to qualify for the LEC playoffs for the first time in franchise history today. 

Related: Fnatic’s disastrous Winter ends historic European playoffs streak

Massive expectations were placed on Rekkles and Fnatic this split, especially considering the longtime League star was making his return to the LEC after a year away from the region playing in the LFL. His return to Fnatic immediately sparked talk of success on both the domestic and international stages. However, Fnatic have gotten off to an immensely slow start, losing seven of their first nine games in the LEC this season.

Thanks to the league’s new format, Fnatic will have to wait until the start of the Spring Split to play on stage again. Since the bottom two teams are eliminated from each LEC split after the first round robin, Fnatic will not participate in another LEC game until March. 

“I don’t think I have been able to contribute much to our team’s success,” Rekkles said. “On the contrary, I think I have probably contributed more to the team’s failure. I’m really sorry for all of this.”

This winter, Rekkles achieved far less than he usually does on the LEC stage. The former MVP ranked in the bottom three among all AD carries in KDA, average kills, and gold per minute, among other stats, according to League stats site Gol.gg. His 3.2 KDA in particular this winter is a full three points below his career average.

Rekkles said in his video that since his team will not be competing in the LEC for a few weeks, he’ll have more time to stream, and he’ll be able to answer more questions from fans. The next stage of the LEC Winter Split will begin on Feb. 11.