Fnatic has locked down their support for the 2021 season by signing Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov.

After a mixed season in 2020, Fnatic will at least be keeping hold of one half of their bot lane as Hylissang has signed a one-year contract extension. Hylissang joins up with the new arrival Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer who re-joins Fnatic from Cloud9 after he was let go by the LCS side in the off-season. Cloud9 is expected to replace Nisqy with G2 ADC Luka “Perkz” Perković. A move which saw Martin “Rekkles” Larsson join G2 Esports as his replacement.

It was an eventful year for Fnatic in 2020. The side almost missed out on a playoff spot and then found themselves facing off against, and losing to, G2 Esports in another LEC Final. Fnatic did look to come good at Worlds at least, however, despite a valiant showing against TOP Esports in the Quarterfinals, they were unable to progress.

Welcome back, professor 👨‍🏫

We're excited to announce that @FNCHylissang has signed a new contract with Fnatic, pending Riot approval.https://t.co/6RfN6MKsx4#HyliSigns

— FNATIC (@FNATIC) November 19, 2020

Fnatic is also expected to make a change in the coaching department, with former Team Vitality and LEC analyst Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi joining the side for 2021.

The future of the Fnatic ADC is not currently known, with Rekkles expected to join G2 Esports in the coming days.

Looking up for Fnatic

2020 was a year that saw Fnatic almost not make playoffs in the LEC, let alone Worlds. It ended with them losing yet again to G2 Esports in the Summer Split finals before being knocked out of Worlds 2020 in the first knockout round by TOP Esports in a tight 3-2 series.

2021 will bring yet another huge wave of change to Fnatic. With the head coach, mid laner, and ADC all changing ahead of another LEC season. 2021 will, however, have an added complication of them facing off against Rekkles, a situation that will be very unusual for Fnatic and their fans.

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It looks like the third end of an era is coming to Europe, as Rekkles and Fnatic have confirmed his time with the organization has come to an end.

Martin “Rekkles” Larsson has been a near one organization man in his career. First playing for Fnatic back in 2012, before leaving on loan to join Copenhagen Wolves. Rekkles would then return for another year before moving to first Alliance, then Elements in late 2014, early 2015 before finally returning to Fnatic in May 2015 where he’s remained ever since.

While no official confirmation of where he’ll head next has been forthcoming, all signs right now point to him signing for G2 Esports after they parted ways with their mid laner turned ADC Luka “Perkz” Perkovic who is expected to join Cloud9. Speculation had been rampant about who G2 would replace Perkz with, it does appear that G2 will pull off the shock of the off-season by reuniting Rekkles and Caps once again as G2 Esports looks to cement their dominance in Europe.

Rekkles’ Fnatic career in numbers:

👨‍🦳 8 years
🏆 26 1st place tournament finishes
🖱️ 566 games
☠️ 6.6 KDA
💰 438 GPM

Legend. pic.twitter.com/rkRsfPRIFY

— FNATIC (@FNATIC) November 18, 2020

Now the pressure moves to Fnatic, who must replace their franchise man with a new player. With a mid laner still not confirmed, and the contract of Zdravets “Hylissang” Iliev Galabov still not officially renewed for 2021, Fnatic faces a dire situation. While TIme “Nemesis” Lipovsek is still under contract, speculation has seen him linked with a move to the LCS the most likely outcome.

Where does Fnatic turn now?

The biggest question now is what do Fnatic do about their ADC, and potentially their support. Astralis ADC Elias “Upset” Lipp was heavily linked with a move to G2 Esports earlier in the off-season, so he could be a logical replacement for Rekkles. Fnatic might, however, look to double down on younger players, with Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek still just 20 and heading into his second season and Babriél “Bwipo” Rau entering his third.

One unlikely scenario could see Bwipo and Hylissang play in the bot lane together. The pair linked up in Summer 2018, and they had a real affinity for one another. While the partnership was a result of a meta that suited Bwipo and his champion pool in the bot lane, Bwipo could be unleashed in the bot lane alongside Hylissang. It’s so wild of an idea, it could only happen in 2020.

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Immortals is taking full advantage of the new Oceania residency rules for North America as they double-dip on the region.

Immortals will pick up former Origen (Astralis) Mitchell “Destiny” Shaw and Legacy Esports bot laner Quin “Raes” Korebrits. This will unite the two Oceania players in the bot lane as the residency rules open up for North American sides.

Destiny spent 2020 with Origen and despite having a good season it looks like Astralis (who have name changed the roster) will be going in a different direction and move on their entire 2020 roster. For Raes, he’s the product of the demise of the OPL region. He and Legacy Esports had a great season, dominating the domestic competition and attending Worlds 2020. Unfortunately, they were knocked out of Worlds earlier than they’d have liked due to a 0-3 loss to LGD.

These two signings will likely see the current Immortals bot lane duo of Apollo “Apollo” Price and Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent who will likely be moved on. This is despite them each having a year left on their contract. Elsewhere at Immortals, both Jake “Xmithie” Kevin Puchero and David “Insanity” Challe both still have time remaining on their contracts with Immortals. Though if they stick around in the starting roster is not known.

One possible option for Immortals appears to be in the form of another Astralis player. Jungler Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir is rumored to have signed with Immortals. Doing so would take up one of the Immortals import spots, though they would have one more remaining. Immortals also picked up former Astralis coach André “Guilhoto” Pereira Guilhoto. This is likely why we’ve seen them pick up two former Astralis players for 2021.

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source https://estnn.com/lol-immortals-sign-destiny-and-raes-for-starting-roster/

TSM has claimed one of the best off-season roster moves yet.

It was announced today that TSM is in the process of signing Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chieh to its 2021 LCS roster. This would be perhaps the biggest move of the off-season so far, as SwordArt is a huge player on the market.

He was a part of the Suning roster that had a stellar run in this year’s World Championship, taking out all of the other LPL teams to secure their spot in the Worlds Finals. They put up a great fight against the Korean giants despite losing the series 1-3. SwordArt was, in particular, a point of strength for the team on a variety of engage champions. He has a legacy behind him as well, being a player to consistently make it to Worlds every year with the Flash Wolves before he was on Suning.

This signing is reported to have the potential to fall through but if it does go through it’s a huge boon for TSM. Vincent “Biofrost” Wang, the player he would replace, is a long-time player in the LCS but had a rough 2020. He isn’t at as high a level as other supports in the region and had particularly difficult Worlds performances. If the deal does go through, SwordArt will link up with Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, a mainstay of the LCS. This would be a truly frightening bot lane for any duo in NA to play against.

With this potential signing, TSM is set on making a splash in 2021. Worlds will definitely be in their eyes and is certainly a feasible goal, even with some other rosters in the region getting significant upgrades.

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source https://estnn.com/lol-tsm-in-the-process-of-signing-world-finalist-swordart/