KOI Squad introduced in LVP Superliga – absolutely smashes Rekkles and KCorps

KOI Squad finally made their debut in Barcelona yesterday evening. The team will compete in Spanish LVP Superliga from next year on. There was a lot going on in Pauli Sant Jordi yesterday, especially with the following show match against European masters Karmin Corps and Rekkles playing his first non-LEC-match since 2013.

Before we get into detail, let's say Rekkles did not perform badly. He even carried KC through all of the second game just to be punched in the face afterward. If you're been living under a rock and haven't realized by now: Karmine Corps lost to KOI Squad. And it wasn't pretty for the eyes throughout the Bo3, at least if you are a fan of Rekkles. 

Why you should care about KOI Squad?

The slot of KOI was bought in early September, as Astralis' academy team Astralis Stormbringer sold their spot for about 300,000€. And guess who's bought the spot? Well-known long-time defender Gerard Piqué. He was accompanied by the famous Spanish content creator Ibai "Ibai" Llanos. They bought the spot as co-owners of the team and in cooperation with the Spanish entertainment company Kosmos and Finetwork (telecommunications company).

So apart from that quite famous setup, LVP Superliga is going to attract way more attention than there is right now. Ibai already gathered a whole team of content creators around. And LVP is even more oriented on how to get the youth on track and cultivate some reasonable talents in the region. After their kick-off, yesterday KOI's follower base was skyrocketing. They are at nearly 300.000 now, at least on Twitter.

Moreover, there is some reasonable talent in this team. Piqué and Ibai had some good-old pros, as well as some new talents, scratched together and they did perform well against KC who, I may say it again, are the current masters of Europe. Here's their roster:

The most famous part of the roster though is none of them. Head coach of the team is Jesús „Falco“ Pérez Rubio. You might have known him as MAD Lions coach this season. As for the other ones they have quite some experience in professional League of Legends as well. SLT for example played for Vitality half a split in the LEC. Hatrixx was with BT Excel when they lost to KC in the European Masters finals this year. Koldo is the one already being experienced in LVP Superliga and seaz was with Berlin International Gaming in second place in Prime League in Germany. One hell of a team and filled with talent.

Karmine Corps vs. KOI Squad – The return of Rekkles

French team Karmine Corps made a surprising import in this year's off-season. Rekkles, former long-time LEC player retired from G2 Esports to join the winners of the European Masters of Spring and Summer Split this 2021. He came back for his first non-LEC game since 2013 yesterday and completely smashed it in the second game.

It was a best-of-3 show match after the KOI roster was introduced in Barcelona. First game KOI completely wrecked Karmin Corps, sending the LFL-team in an astonishing last teamfight in a shockwave-collateral-damage combo flying. 12,000 people inside the venue and about 450,000 online went completely mad.

The second game went all in favor for KC. The kings were back at it and Rekkles on Jinx carried the whole team on his back. KOI didn't really stand a chance. The third match was quite open for a long time until KOI was able to get the infernal soul and there was no stopping for jungler Koldo and quite flawless support seaz.

It was not an official match but Karmin Corps does end their year with a 2:1 loss. They will probably have to go back and analyze the whole series again, especially midlaner Saken didn't really show a great performance on his Syndra throughout the series. KOI though will start into next year with great confidence and a well-prepared team.