UK League of Legends organisation Excel Esports completed a magnificent turnaround in the European (EU) Masters this evening.
At the start of the day their academy side BT Excel were sitting bottom of Group A in the EU Masters group stages, with three losses and no wins.
By the end of this evening, they had won four games in a row to secure a playoffs spot in what some were describing as a miracle run.
They beat GamersOrigin, YDN Gamers and Team GamerLegion to force a tie-breaker with the latter, whom they beat again emphatically, led by an incredible performance by Special in the mid-lane as Zoe. He picked up 10 kills, 9 assists and 0 deaths.
This means BT Excel finished second in the group behind GamersOrigin and progress from the EU Masters group stages.
They now progress to the knockout stages and will be playing in the quarter finals next, with their opponents still to be decided.
BT Excel answered their critics well. After their first few defeats in the EU Masters, some were saying their mental strength had wavered following their defeat to Fnatic Rising in the UKLC finals. But they managed to perform when it counted.
As the other UK team in the EU Masters, Fnatic Rising are still to complete their remaining games. They are currently second in Group D, with 2 wins and 1 loss, level with Mousesports (check out our interview with them here).
Given the UK’s somewhat disappointing League of Legends performances in Europe in the past, let’s take a moment to savour this and enjoy it.
Oh, and one more thing:
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.
