An interesting series of ESL UK & Ireland qualifiers this week has seen Excel Esports, MnM Gaming, NerdRage.Pro and Enclave Gaming qualify.
They’re the first four teams to qualify for the upcoming ESL Autumn League of Legends Premiership, with another four to join them next week.
Originally, last split’s top four – MnM, XENEX, xL and Cyclone – were due to re-qualify for this Autumn split (as long as they retained three of their five players from the last split).
However, this is the UK scene. And rosters change all the bloody time. Teams had begun putting together new rosters for the UK Masters, so they all had to go through the qualifiers if they wanted to qualify for the Prem.
Gorgeous coach-caster hybrid and hair-tastic hunk Will “FrozenDawn” Burgess gave Esports News UK a run-down of the results and surprises in the qualifiers this week.
Excel beat MnM, knocking them into the losers bracket, which they battled through.
It was another win Excel had picked up over MnM following the UK Masters performance earlier this week. Xl are really starting to show they are one of the strongest rosters in the UK scene at this point in time.
Elsewhere, Enclave beat NerdRage despite being three inhibitors down.
And a blast from the past – Team Paria – almost qualified. Team Paria have taken past in ESL Premierships in the past but have struggled to get away from the bottom of the table.
They looked defiant in the qualifiers, beating Radix and almost beating NerdRage this evening.
It’s worth noting that Toaster was not playing for MnM in the ESL qualifiers and Radix jungler Demo is trying to leave the org.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
