G2 Esports have made the biggest moves of the League of Legends offseason, but the one they did not make was the most significant. Faced with Luka “Perkz” Perkovic’s discontent with his role as a bot laner and his wish to return to the mid lane, G2 allowed him to explore his options in Europe and elsewhere.
The scale of his buyout may have dissuaded many from pursuing him, but Perkz's status as a team legacy defining player, asserted over years of European dominance, retained the interest of many others.
Nevertheless, there was a catch all along: G2’s regional rivals, FNATIC, would not be one of them. Despite needing a replacement for Tim “Nemesis” Lipovsek, they sat on the sidelines and watched, denied the opportunity to speak to or to negotiate with him and with G2 on terms. The matter left FNATIC fans crying foul over perceived disloyalty from G2’s owner, Carlos “ocelote” Rodriguez Santiago, to Perkz especially after star AD carry Martin “Rekkles” Larsson donned G2’s black and white colors.
Some of those fans stoked the flames by reminding people of ocelote’s perceived vow to accommodate his player’s wishes no matter what his choice was, only to find out that FNATIC was the exception—independently of inquiring about Perkz's interest in a Rekkles-led FNATIC in the first place, a matter which is unknown at this time. Others would come up with more reasons pertaining to their perception of ocelote, but the outcome remains the same: neither Perkz nor Rekkles are in FNATIC, and many fans of theirs are heartbroken.
From a business standpoint, nobody can blame ocelote for vetoing any (eventual) talks between Perkz and FNATIC, as he looked after G2’s competitive prospects. G2 needed an AD carry to replace the departing Perkz, and there were several options.
The biggest of those were three free agents with no contract and no transfer fee attached to their names: Jus “Crownshot” Marusic, Elias “Upset” Lipp, and Europe’s crown jewel in the position—Rekkles. It wouldn’t boggle the mind to think that the latter was G2’s target all along once it became clear Perkz was no longer an option. However, persuading him to move to G2 was another story.
Rekkles was still considering his options with FNATIC heavily into the mix for his services: if they offered him the best possible environment to win the World Championship, they could entice him to sign once more.
However, both 2019 and 2020 had to be on the back of his mind as his team failed to prevail in Europe, playing second fiddle to G2 Esports after they hired his former-turned-current teammate Rasmus “Caps” Winther through free agency. It wouldn't be too difficult for him to project himself as their AD carry, in Perkz’s place, and assume that they would be just as successful—or that he would experience that success.
FNATIC’s stakes were at their highest with Rekkles headed into free agency, and with the opportunity to find a mid laner who fit their play better than Nemesis did. In those circumstances, a FNATIC Perkz signing would have gone beyond being a positional upgrade as he would have fundamentally changed the way the team operated on Summoners’ Rift and, more than likely, convinced Rekkles to stay.
In that scenario, they would have become the team to beat in Europe, or would have seriously challenged G2 Esports over and over.
But speaking of stakes, G2’s were higher due to the certain loss of an AD carry, and due to the availability of Rekkles, the best possible free agent, on the market. For G2 to guarantee landing him, FNATIC would have to be less attractive than they were, with four players that won everything except Worlds in 2019, and dominated Europe then reached the Worlds semifinals in 2020.
On one hand, one could understand that ocelote may or may not have broken a promise–to transfer Perkz wherever he wished. If Perkz wished to go to FNATIC and play with Rekkles, then ocelote would have broken that possibility. Of course, that is if Perkz wished that, as there has been nothing out there to establish such wishful thinking as reality.
On the other hand, as the owner of G2 Esports, his task is to present a dominant squad in Europe and beyond. That includes having the best available talent in the region, which Rekkles happens to be in the AD role. As much as I understand the heartbreak that FNATIC fans are experiencing, and the bargaining that is going on through their five stages of grief, wishful thinking and reality are two different things. But it will not change the outcome.
If any wrong has been committed in this ordeal, it would be between ocelote and Perkz. Not between ocelote and FNATIC and/or its fanbase. Whether ocelote betrayed Perkz’s personal expectation is unknown, as Perkz was happy to join Cloud9 in the end and has not explicitly spoken about any wish to join FNATIC just yet.
But the turn of events, with Perkz heading to North America, meant that G2 Esports were the most attractive option to Rekkles, as they could easily sell him on the idea of winning titles in Europe and possibly at Worlds. FNATIC’s offseason moves propelled them into contention for Top 2 in Europe, but G2 is understandably perceived as an uncontested juggernaut.
Only time will tell whether G2 made the right move, but they have scored the biggest offseason moves so far.
League of Legends mid laner Luka "Perkz" Perković has joined Cloud9 for the 2021 season, according to investigative journalist Jacob Wolf. The deal is set to be closed on Nov. 17 upon the opening of the free agency period.
Long-time Fnatic AD carry Martin "Rekkles" Larsson has joined G2 Esports ahead of the 2021 LEC season. G2 Esports announced the news on social media, marking the end of an era within Fnatic and G2.
