As controversy continues to swirl around Carl Martin Erik “Rekkles” Larsson following allegations in a recent exposé by Duncan “Thorin” Shields, some of his former teammates and organizations have come to his defense. However,despite the backlash, Thorin asserts that his sources’ accounts are honest and well-supported.
Yesterday, esports personality Thorin published an almost two-hour long video detailing allegations about pro player Rekkles’ behavior throughout his career. In response, Rekkles addressed the video on his stream, expressing anxiety over the accusations and stating he wouldn’t watch it. Some of Rekkles’ former teammates, including Broxah and Bwipo, came to his defense, emphasizing his positive traits and refuting the claims.
Dot Esports reached out to some of the player’s former teams asking for an official statement on Rekkles’ behavior during his time with them, with T1 responding to confirm his positive impact during his tenure, while also reaching out to Thorin for a comment on the defense offered by some of the player’s former teammates regarding the accusations. The full statement from Thorin can be found at the end of this article.
While many fans had already rallied behind Rekkles ahead of Thorin’s video being published, more voices from within the industry have spoken out against what they see as an unfair attack. Among the positive statements about Rekkles, Dot Esports received a statement from Joe Marsh, CEO of T1, detailing his experience with the player–whom Marsh called part of the family–during his tenure in Korea.
Marsh praised Rekkles for his humility and dedication, noting how he embraced the challenge of moving to a foreign country where he didn’t speak the language. He highlighted several of Rekkles’ attitude traits, including a “rare” level of self-awareness during the player’s transition from ADC to Support.
Marsh emphasized that during his time in T1, Rekkles’ goal was to just focus on competing at the highest level, whether in esports, futsal, or chess. “For the first time in over a decade, he didn’t have to carry the weight of being the face of an organization or the game in his region. Instead, he was able to focus on the pure joy and grind of competition,” said Marsh.
“I can’t speak to Martin as an 18-year-old, but as a 28-year-old, he was a fantastic person and teammate,” Marsh concluded. “Our experience with him at T1 was overwhelmingly positive. During Worlds 2024, as part of our main roster, the team genuinely enjoyed having him around. I’ll never forget our conversation backstage before the trophy ceremony about his next step with Los Ratones and his good friend Caedrel. He will always have a home in Korea with T1—Martin is family.”
“I don’t claim to have spoken to or for everyone who has worked with Rekkles in his career,” Thorin told Dot, clarifying his approach to gathering sources. “In every team there will be different alliances, disputes and sentiments that are not all collectively shared by the entire group.” He made it clear that the account he published was based on input from multiple people who worked with Rekkles across various stages of his career, and that this information was provided to him within the last year and a half.
A key reason Thorin published the exposé, he explained, was that many of Rekkles’ colleagues were tired and even “sickened” of maintaining a “facade” that their experiences with him were positive, fearing that speaking out would harm their reputations due to Rekkles’ popularity. Thorin pointed out that the backlash he received even before releasing the video confirmed the fears of his sources, stating that he was willing to “be the shield that tanks said hostility” in order to ensure their voices were heard.
“Many people felt they had to bottle up their emotions and suppress their negative experiences for the sake of maintaining a fan perception of Rekkles. That has now ended and people are welcome to believe whatever they please” he concluded.
Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau, who played alongside Rekkles during their time at Fnatic, also commented on the allegations during his stream. He mainly reflected on his past judgments of Rekkles and how his perspective changed over the years. “He’s human—I know because I judged him for it in the past,” Bwipo said. “I judged him for what made him different. But as we played together, I came to accept those differences, and in doing so, I realized that he is one of the most genuine, kind, and upstanding people I’ve ever worked with.”
Thorin expressed confusion in a statement to Dot over how Bwipo’s statements could be interpreted as a denial of the claims, suggesting instead that Bwipo now has a different perspective on Rekkles and their relationship. “That seems entirely valid to me and Bwipo is someone who has, quite recently, publicly struggled with issues regarding his own behaviour,” said Thorin. “So I imagine he is in a reflective mood and apt to be more generous that he might once have been.
Another longtime teammate of Rekkles, Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen, echoed Bwipo’s sentiments, expressing his frustration over the way Rekkles was portrayed, stating that he knows the player better than anyone in the industry. “There’s no way making a video with the main intention of destroying him is reasonable in any way,” Broxah said, pointing out that although Rekkles is not perfect and he’s made mistakes, he always “gave it his all.”
Broxah then questioned why “people” were digging up years-old stories from “randoms” who barely knew Rekkles “just to make him miserable,” concluding that the entire situation was unnecessary and made him “genuinely mad.”
While Thorin doesn’t believe Broxah is lying, he took issue with his suggestion that the sources of his investigations were not close with Rekkles. “I got my information from people who were in the room with him when the events in question played out and, as I reiterated in the Nemesis section, what I published is their account of those events and I used traditional journalistic methods of cross-referencing blind to confirm this was a shared sentiment,” Thorin told Dot.
While most questioned the motives behind the report and the methods Thorin used to present the information, some said that his track record in esports is one of the cleanest and that jumping to conclusions without hearing him out was unreasonable.
As the discussion around Rekkles’ career and character continues, these statements from former teammates and T1 seem to paint a much more nuanced picture than the exposé suggested. Those who have worked closely with Rekkles describe him as a dedicated, hardworking, and kind individual—but those are just some of his former teammates who chose to speak up publicly, while most seem to avoid commenting on the situation.
Thorin’s full statement to Dot Esports
I can only address specific instances of his team-mates speaking out so I will do so according to each individual case.
I don’t think Broxah is lying and I think he is well within his rights to express himself on this matter however he pleases and I don’t doubt his experiences. My issue with his statement is that he suggested I went back and got the information from “some randoms that think they know [Rekkles]”.
I got my information from people who were in the room with him when the events in question played out and, as I reiterated in the Nemesis section, what I published is their account of those events and I used traditional journalistic methods of cross-referencing blind to confirm this was a shared sentiment.
I’m confused as how to how you can even interpret Bwipo’s statements as being a denial of the claims made. It appears he simply now has a different perspective on who Rekkles was back then and how he relates to him now. That seems entirely valid to me and Bwipo is someone who has, quite recently, publicly struggled with issues regarding his own behaviour. So I imagine he is in a reflective mood and apt to be more generous that he might once have been.
He has always struck me as an earnest and honest person, just like Broxah, despite us having publicly clashed and disagreed on many topics. It’s one of the reasons I took some of his outbursts before Worlds to be a sign of mental fatigue or anguish as opposed to simply him “trash talking” former team-mates.
I can summarise my thoughts on team-mates speaking out as follows: I don’t claim to have spoken to or for everyone who has worked with Rekkles in his career. In every team there will be different alliances, disputes and sentiments that are not all collectively shared by the entire group.
What I will say is that I have never lied in my entire 23 year professional career and when it comes to dealing with sources I both protect them fiercely and vet them vigorously. What I published is a faithful and honest account of multiple people working with Rekkles in every era of his career and that information was transmitted to me within the last year and a half.
A key motivating factor for me publishing the piece is that so many of the people who were around Rekkles were tired of and even in some cases sickened by having to put up a facade that their experience with him was pleasant or that they liked him and think how he behaved was acceptable.
As I explained early in the video they felt as if speaking out would simply stain their reputation, due to his sheer popularity and good will with the general fanbase, and lead to them being harassed by hostile comments online.
I think the public response to my publication of their accounts, hours before anyone had seen the video no less, validates their expectations in that sense. I’m willing to be the shield that tanks said hostility for the sake of getting their stories and perspectives out there.
Many people felt they had to bottle up their emotions and suppress their negative experiences for the sake of maintaining a fan perception of Rekkles. That has now ended and people are welcome to believe whatever they please. My track record of honesty and credibility in this industry speaks for itself.
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