Should FNC Rekkles swap to support?

With FNC and Rekkles having a disastrous start to 2023, should he consider role-swapping to support the upcoming split? Here are some of the reasons why it would make sense (or not).

FNC, Rekkles and the disappointing results

Fnatic had one of his worst splits in the organization’s history, going 2-7 in the LEC Winter Split and finishing 9th, only ahead of XL Esports. Aside from the results themselves, the general sentiment behind the current FNC lineup is that they are struggling in playing as a team, coupled with some major draft issues. Despite having great individual players like Humanoid and Rekkles himself, FNC is currently worse than the sum of its parts.

Why should FNC Rekkles swap to support?

Playstyle and champion pool do not fit the meta

Rekkles has always been a great ADC player and what we can consider a “late-game insurance”. In other words, the player would always guarantee to deliver when it came to late-game teamfighting. This is partially due to the nature of his own playstyle, as well as the champions he’s always known to be strong at. Champions like Xayah, Sivir, and Tristana are all scaling marksmen that shine the most once they can get lots of items.

Unfortunately, the current meta is not favoring him and he didn’t have a good showing on stronger early-game champions like Varus. While it’s not a big deal on its own, especially if he can deliver later, drafts do become a handicap and it’s not something that can be fixed in a short period like the Winter Split.

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Upset is on the bench…

Even if the meta doesn’t fit much, it would be suicidal to remove Rekkles from the AD position… that is only if FNC doesn’t have a suitable candidate to replace him. FNC, however, does. And they have one of the best in the region: Upset. The German ADC was unable to find a new destination in 2023 and is still registered as an FNC player on the GCD.

This means that he could potentially make a return to the starting roster if Rekkles does move to the support role. Given the insane value that the Swedish player brings from a business perspective thanks to the legendary career he had, paired with the great charisma he brings, it would make zero sense to completely remove him from the roster. For that reason, the most logical thing would be to make him play as a support.

FNC Rekkles plays support often in solo queue

Rekkles has periods where he plays as a support in solo queue. He explained how it avoids him from playing with autofilled support players while also allowing him to better understand the limits of specific lanes and matchups. He also considered swapping to support during the offseason this year but eventually ended up still playing ADC.

On the ranked ladder, Rekkles usually plays Janna as his main support: he had a 62% win rate on the champion over 100+ games in 2022, according to his op.gg. While it’s only one champion, it wouldn’t be weird to see Rekkles pilot other enchanters or supports at a reasonably high level. If he can find a strong synergy with Upset, who is also known for being a good scaling player that can play also aggressively, then FNC’s bot lane should have a higher potential on paper.

Chance to alternate with Rhuckz?

If this happens, though, support player Rhuckz will end up getting the short end of the stick. After a good debut match at Worlds, Rhuckz struggled to make a great impact in the winter split so far. Mainly known as engaging support, the player struggled in a meta where this class of champions is obsolete. There is potential for him in the upcoming splits, especially with Riot trying to push engagers back into the meta.

For that reason, FNC might have the best solution by having the two share on-stage time depending on the drafts or playstyle that the team wants to go for. It wouldn’t really make sense to let one of the two go, especially given that the Rekkles experiment is a high-risk, high-reward call. Whatever happens, though, seeing Rekkles leaving FNC immediately seems very unlikely…

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