LEC - Karmine Corp (6/10): Reigning King x Rising Prince

For its LEC debut last season, Karmine Corp hit the Wall. Top 10 in Winter, top 10 in Spring, the French club's dream of reaching League of Legends' EMEA elite initially looked like a nightmare. Then, before the summer, the KC's blue skies brightened: three changes on the map's topside gave the team a new lease of life. The arrival of Kim “Canna” Chang-dong and Can “Closer” Çelik, as well as the promotion of Vladimiros “Vladi” Kourtidis, enabled the Blue Wall to snag a top 4 finish at the Summer Split. As a result, the organization came within a whisker of qualifying for the Season Finals, which could have given them a glimpse of the Worlds.

For the 2025 season, Karmine has renewed its confidence in its two sololaners, Canna and Vladi. “It made sense to continue with them, our decision was made quite quickly,” says Rehareha "Reha" Ramanana, the team's Head Coach. “They were our number one options because we think they still have a lot of room for improvement.” Particularly for Vladi, whose experience is nowhere near that of his toplaner, a Worlds semi-finalist in 2021 with T1. An extremely clutch player in teamfight, the young Greek midlaner showed some shortcomings in laning phase during his first LEC split, regularly falling behind in farming. “This is an important area for him to work on, because when he has good games, the games are very easy and vice-versa”, testifies Reha.

Karmine Corp also retained a third member, Raphaël “Targamas” Crabbé. The only survivor from the original 2024 roster, the Belgian player “had a good Summer Split”, according to his Head Coach. However, the club took the time to consider its options, while the market proved particularly attractive at the support position. “It's normal to look at a player like Labrov (Labros Papoutsakis),” confides Reha. “When Mikyx (Mihael Mehle) was available, I also looked. If we could have looked at Parus (Polat Çiçek), we would have looked at him too. Targa knows this, I've been honest with him.” The KC Head Coach was also keen to return to “the storyline that Targamas doesn't speak”, which served much of the argument of the support's detractors last year. “I looked at Trymbi (Adrian Trybus), Parus, Labrov, Mikyx and Kaiser (Norman Kaiser). None of them speak louder than he does,” Reha insists.

The decision to continue with Targamas will also enable KC to put its wonder boy in the best possible position, the man who will be one of the main topic when the LEC resumes, the “little prince of esports” who graces the front page of L'Équipe magazine, France's leading sports media, the “savior of Europe”, even, according to some zealous fans: Caliste “Caliste” Henry-Hennebert. A year and a half ago, the support had set its sights on the young AD Carry, then a ViV Esports player, ahead of the LFL 2023 Summer Split. The choice paid off, as KC won the split and Caliste was named MVP. The Prestigious even followed up by winning the EMEA Masters that came afterward. “We talked a lot and Caliste wanted to play with Targamas again. The two of them push each other to the top. The choice to keep Targa is explained both by Caliste's desire to play with him and by the fact that I'm not necessarily very happy with the other options.”

The duo lane parted ways last year because the meteoric rise of young AD Carry was slowed by a change in Riot Games' rules, which banned players under 18 from taking part in the LEC from 2024 onwards. Now of age, Caliste can resume his journey forward. The spot in the LEC roster had been reserved for him for a year. KC has not really considered other options. “There was no discussion,” explains Reha. "We wanted him instantly. He had to move up, move on. The LFL is fine, but the LEC is another level.” And while the interest shown by G2 Esports, as reported by Sheep Esports, had not left the AD Carry “indifferent”, as the player explained to our colleagues at L'Équipe, the scenario of a KC 2025 without his jewel “wasn't really on the table” assures Reha.

The presence of these four players was actually expected. The real question mark over the KC offseason remained the identity of the team's future jungler. Especially as the market was particularly active in this position. Closer, who had contributed to KC's turnaround last summer, “was an option”, admits Reha. “We were pretty happy with his split, so it would have been a mistake not to consider him.” Junglers like Rudy “SkewMond” Semaan or Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski were also considered.

“SkewMond's signals are very interesting,” explains the Head Coach. "He's been the best jungler in high elo for three years, he's performed in the ERL, we know he has an impact on many aspects of the game... For the LEC, we want to perform as quickly as possible. With someone like SkewMond, we know we can perform well in the short term. For Jankos, it's the same thinking in the sense that we figure he's someone who knows very well the kind of group we could have.”

While academy jungler Doğukan “113” Balcı was also an option, he wasn't really in the Blue Wall's plans. “I really like the player, but I had other priorities above him,” says Reha. "But he's done so much for the club that it was obvious to let him go if a team made him an offer.” The Turkish jungler reached a verbal agreement with BDS at the beginning of October, just a few days before things really started to unravel for KC. “Once we knew that Yike (Martin Sundelin) was on the market, and especially without a buyout, our priority changed,” says Reha. “G2 was eliminated from the Worlds on a Sunday. On Monday we asked around and by Thursday he was with us.”

The Swedish jungler's impressive track record - he has won seven of the eight LEC titles with the Samurai in the last two seasons - has not, however, given him a free pass in the KC process. “I don't sign someone without checking their VODs, if I haven't talked to them if I haven't also got feedback from their coaches. When we recruit someone, it's a long process,” explains the Head Coach. "Yike's signing was surprisingly quick, but very intense because we had to go through a very dense process in just a few days.” The coaching staff thus took the time to find out “what he can bring to a team, what type of player he is, what his strengths and weaknesses are...”.

Especially since at G2, Yike was excessively well surrounded. So much so that many considered that the jungler owed most of his titles to the performances of his teammates. “We really wanted to see what he brought to G2's gameplay,” says Reha. Yike arrives at the KC with a new status and the opportunity to take on more responsibility to silence the ones who where badmouthing him. “As a jungler, early game management is one of his specialties, so we'll be working on that part but also trying to have leadership in the mid-game, to have the right ideas,” Reha details. The reunion between G2 and its former jungler already took place in early December at the Red Bull League of Its Own, and KC won. But the serious business has only just begun, and the two teams will cross swords this Saturday for their first match in the league.

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