Yike is out of G2 Esports, eyes on KCorp next season

G2 Esports officially announced the departure of their jungler Martin “Yike” Sundelin on X this Tuesday. Paired with the departure of  Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle from the squad, this should be the last change the Samurai will make coming into 2025.

Yike has been outstanding during his time with G2. Coming off from LDLC OL in the LFL, the jungler had to fill Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski’s shoes for his very first year in the LEC. And he did just that, by winning every split but Spring, along with being – in my opinion – the best European player internationally. He was even elected Rookie of the Year. In 2024, he and G2 did even better domestically and won every LEC trophy. They also defeated an Asian team in a BO5 – 3-0 against Top Esports at the MSI – which had not been done by any Western team since 2020.

But at Worlds, they failed again to go farther than the Swiss Stage. And it might’ve been once too many for the org that keeps repeating they want to win it. As it was the case for Mikyx, a change of dynamics was needed to reignite the team looking towards 2025 and Yike paid the ultimate price for it. According to Sheep Esports, he will be replaced by Rudy “Skewmond” Semaan.

Skewmond, a risk that’s worth taking?

I have to say, I’ve got mixed feelings about this one. In my opinion, if any organization in EMEA had had the opportunity to recruit Skew, they should have done so, except Fnatic – Iván “Razork” Martín being the best jungler of the LEC anyway. Skewmond was Rank 1 on the EUW soloqueue ladder in every single split from 2024 – and always fought to maintain his position, which he still holds at the time I write these lines – won the best league in the ERL (LFL), was voted MVP of the year, and concluded 2024 by winning EMEA Masters… He is a generational talent, which you don’t find every year.

Still, G2 was maybe the only other team that didn’t had to commit to such a prospect and take a risk, given the advance they already had on every other team from the region. Yike was for sure the second best LEC jungler all year long. Skew may be more versatile, Yike likes to play carrys who are very herbivorous in the jungle and have to power farm their spike before creating plays on the map. Whereas his counterpart can literally play everything and is particularly at ease on champions made to dynamite early games such as Volibear, J4, Vi…

Skewmond may also have a higher ceiling, which would explain G2’s willingness to bet on him – he is 20 yo whereas Yike is 24. That said, in late games and teamfights he’ll have to prove that he’s better than his predecessor and that won’t be easy as Yike is the best jungler in the West in that department, in my opinion. Some people also think that it was Skew’s pairing with Polat “Parus” Çiçek that made all the difference at BDSA – another of ERL’s biggest talents this year – and that will be up to him to prove that wrong.

Risk taking on new talent can go either way…

Where I have reservations is that, despite the higher ceiling, I’m not sure that Skew will be able to climb as high as Yike did, as early as next year. A new jungler means a new jungle/sup and jungle/mid duos, new habits to adopt, new synergies and automatisms to create, a new way of understanding and learning the game… Yes, it wasn’t very conclusive at Worlds – which can also be explained by factors outside the team itself: the illness that struck the players in the first year and the worst possible draw in the second – but all that work had already been done with Yike over the last two years. This time they’ll have to start from scratch, without being sure that things will go as smoothly…

According to the leaks, Yike should join Karmine Corp next year. The Swedish player will enter a competitive project also centered around one of the most awaited prospects of LEC’s modern history: Caliste “Caliste” Henry-hennebert. An exciting year is coming for EMEA fans, as well as for Yike who will be granted the opportunity to show what he is capable of outside of G2.