Hylissang to ink new Fnatic deal, Rekkles future still in doubt

Zdravets ‘Hylissang’ Galabov will be a Fnatic star for at least another year, with the Bulgarian signing a new contract extension, but it may be without lane duo Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson; the Swedish ADC has yet to settle on his LEC future.

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Fnatic’s offseason has been rife with question marks. The organization’s League of Legends roster had a mixed 2020 season, crowned by a scintillating 3-2 slugfest against Worlds faves Top Esports in the sudden-death Shanghai quarter-finals.

Bot lane power-combo Hylissang and Rekkles are both off-contract on Nov. 16, and have been in negotiations since Worlds ended. 

Fnatic has also been looking to move on mid laner Tim ‘Nemesis’ Lipovšek, with Yasin ‘Nisqy’ Dinçer a likely replacement.

At least one half of Fnatic’s bot lane ⁠— widely regarded as one of the best pairings in League of Legends—will remain in orange and black for 2021 at least; Hylissang has reportedly inked a one-year contract extension.

The new deal will see him remain with the team until at least Nov. 2021, though he will again hit the League of Legends player market at the end of next season.

Gabriël ‘Bwipo’ Rau and Oskar ‘Selfmade’ Boderek have also signaled intentions to see out the final years of their Fnatic contracts.

This leaves just Rekkles yet to settle on his future in the LEC, or abroad. His long-term rival Luca ‘Perkz’ Perković has defected to North America to join LCS heavyweights Cloud9, a switch that leaves G2 Esports without a bot laner.

Rumors behind the scenes in Europe’s top-flight league is Rekkles could be G2’s number-one target. The move would be similar to their acquisition of Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther in early 2018.

Slotting the Swede into G2’s bot lane with Mikyx would be a straight upgrade for the eight-time LEC champs, and weaken arch-rivals Fnatic at the same time.

• Read more: Fnatic set to sign Cloud9 mid laner Nisqy

It would be a shock swap; Rekkles has been very vocal about his desire to retire at Fnatic. He said after Worlds he was “very interested” in “running it back” with the team in 2021. “We got a taste of how good this team can be.”

In other League of Legends signing news, Counter Logic Gaming has picked up Broxah and Finn to lead their new-look LCS roster.

100 Thieves are also making moves; Nadeshot’s LoL roster is reportedly adding Golden Guardians duo FBI and Closer in a major signing coup.

Perhaps the biggest LCS switch outside of Perkz joining C9, however, is TSM signing PowerOfEvil to replace star-turned-coach Bjergsen; that deal will be locked when the League free agency trade window opens on Nov. 16.

Keep up with all the LoL offseason roster moves in Dexerto’s dedicated trade tracker.