On December 15, 2024, Red Bull League of Its Own made a comeback at the Accor Arena in Paris, France, which was also the location of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship Finals. With more teams joining the lineup for an exclusive, day-long invitational that pits some of Europe's fan favorites against the legendary T1 from Korea, the stakes were higher than ever this year. 

With the same roster, T1 won back-to-back League of Legends World Championships last month, earning the organization's illustrious fifth Summoner's Cup. They are without a doubt the greatest in the world. However, that achievement put a target on T1's back, and we had some of the top teams in Europe prepared and waiting for them at the Red Bull League of Its Own. With the added difficulty of role-swapping in all but the final game, T1 faced off against NNO Old, Gentle Mates, Los Ratones, G2 Esports, and Karmine Corp. 

Surprisingly, T1 lost their first three games of the day while playing new roles. Using the Nemesis Draft rules, T1 and NNO faced off in the first game. Although Park 'Untara' Ui-jin, who replaced Ryu 'Keria' Min-seok, managed to make Teemo jungle work with a brilliant Smite steal. Sadly it wasn't enough for T1 to win.

Then, against Gentle Mates, Lee 'Faker' Sang-hyeok locked in Lee Sin to test the limits of his mechanics, taking advantage of his unique opportunity to jungle on stage. However, like many Lee Sin players, he might have become overly excited as Gentle Mates' seasoned players expertly handled T1's bloodlust, remaining composed to secure another upset.

After less than a month of playing together, Los Ratones finally defeated the World Champions in a very entertaining match. Since not even T1 could handle the renowned Sion pick of Simon 'Thebausffs' Hofverberg, the new team, which was formed by 2024's top MOBA streamer Marc 'Caedrel' Lamont, brought the chaos and reveled in it.

For the final two games of the tournament, Martin 'Rekkles' Larsson, who had played for T1's academy the previous season, was unexpectedly loaned back to T1 from Los Ratones. The legendary Swedish pro was able to play with T1's main squad at last, and he looked perfectly at home. Rekkles did a fantastic job when he first got to play his old ADC role against G2. He went 7/2/13 with Faker supporting him and collected 404 CS as Sivir.

Red Bull LeagueImage: redbull.com

After that, in the day's last match against Karmine Corp, where every player was playing their natural role, Rekkles had an outstanding supporting performance and blended in perfectly with Lee 'Gumayusi' Min-hyeong. In the incredibly impressive victory, he contributed to 18 of T1's 20 kills after getting off to a flawless start with a flash, double knock-up as Rakan for first blood. Rekkles may have been the event's biggest winner after defeating three of his previous teams and ending the day with a perfect win percentage. And T1 were victorious.

Sadly, Rekkles didn’t pick Jinx — one of his signature (sorry, Jhin) ADC’s. This event could be the esports debut of the New Arcane-themed Jinx skin for League of Legends, that recently caused an uproar.

Main image: esports.gg

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