UK-based esports organisation Excel Esports have signed South Korean jungler Lee ‘Peach’ Min-gyu to their LEC team.
He joins from Unicorns of Love Sexy Edition, who recently won the Spring 2023 Prime League, and replaces Romanian jungler Xerxe, who left Excel earlier this month.
Peach was season MVP and his team became runners-up in the EMEA Masters.
LEC Wooloo first reported the move at the start of the month, and now Excel have officially announced the signing of Peach in a video interview with Ashley Kang.
Peach debuted as an LCK Challengers player in 2019 as an academy player for DRX, and says his best champion is Lee Sin.
Peach on joining Excel: ‘Our placement in the LEC can only go up, so please look out for us’
Peach told Ashley Kang: “I’m excited to play in a major league now with famous players, audience and fans. I think it’s great.
“Fans currently don’t have high expectations for Excel Esports, so I think it’s a great chance for me to showcase my impact.
“Our placement can only go up, so please look out for us.”
‘I’m good at gapping the enemy jungler, so I want fans to keep a close eye on that.’
Peach, Excel Esports
“I’m excited to play with Odoamne, since he has a lot of experience, is a veteran and has a big champion pool, so I won’t need to babysit top. And since we are both aggressive players, I think it would be fun to play against Yike.”
Peach also said he wants to win the LEC and become the first-place All-Pro jungler in the league, out of all the other junglers.
“If we all play well together, I think it’s achievable,” Peach added. “Mad Lions were also eighth place but they became champions. So I believe that as long as we practice and work together, we should be able to win.
Excel looks for a better LEC summer split following team changes
The move comes following two awful LEC splits for Excel Esports, where the team finished bottom in the winter and spring seasons.
Back in March 2023, Excel made other LEC team changes with Abbedagge, LIMIT and Hidon joining, and it has clearly not been smooth behind the scenes.
A few days ago, Excel parted ways with support player Targamas, saying: “Thanks for everything and we wish you all the best wherever you go next.”
Targamas responded, saying: “I will not thank you for what you did. Good luck anyway!”
Related content: We recently spoke to Excel top-laner Odoamne about MSI and Excel Esports’ upcoming LEC Summer Season.
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.
