(Photo by Michal Konkol/Riot Games)
London-headquartered esports organisations Excel and Fnatic have turned things around to finish strongly in the regular LEC 2023 Summer Season.
The pair finished in the bottom two in the LEC Winter 2023 group stage at the start of the year, saying their performances were unacceptable.
After some roster changes, Fnatic jumped a few places to sixth in the spring season, but failed to progress in the group stage. Excel remained at the bottom in the regular season, in tenth place. Excel then signed Korean jungler Peach, while Fnatic brought Noah and Trymbi into their bot lane.
Things started to click. And now, both Excel and Fnatic have made a big comeback. They’ve gone from finishing in the bottom three at the start of 2023’s LEC season to finishing in the top three in the LEC 2023 Summer Season.
Pretty good for a D tier team #LEC#XLWIN pic.twitter.com/1cQJzpcem2
— EXCEL (@EXCEL) July 3, 2023
Fnatic – on the rise with Oscarinin, Razork, Humanoid, Noah and Trymbi – are second with seven wins and two losses, behind leaders G2.
And Excel – with Odoamne, Peach, Abbedagge, Patrik and LIMIT – are third with five wins and four losses.
They both face arguably their toughest 2023 LEC tests next, as they hope to progress through the LEC 2023 Summer Groups (Excel have Mad Lions first and Fnatic face SK) and Playoffs, in a bid to reach the LEC 2023 Season Finals. From there, they can target Worlds qualification.
But their performances in the earlier parts of the LEC 2023 seasons mean they have accrued a low amount of championship points compared to the other teams. So, winning the Summer Playoffs is their best chance of reaching the Season Finals, and potentially Worlds.
Does that mean it’s a bit too late for Fnatic and Excel? Time will tell, but it’s certainly not going to be easy.
We know Fnatic can really come alive in playoffs stages, and this is relatively new territory for Excel too given the LEC format changes in 2023, so we’ll be seeing how they get on and watching with interest.
LEC 2023 Summer Season concludes with G2 at the top
As mentioned, G2 took the top spot in the regular season, losing only once to Mad Lions.
G2 and Mad have already qualified for the LEC 2023 Season finals, with G2 having won the Winter Playoffs, and Mad Lions winning the Spring Playoffs.
Both G2 and Mad also played at MSI 2023 in London back in May, with Mad Lions exiting early and G2 reaching round two of the MSI 2023 playoffs, falling to BLG.
The LEC 2023 Summer Season groups start on July 15th 2023. They are as follows:
The #LEC Summer Groups! pic.twitter.com/orHOYhGwNl
— LEC (@LEC) July 3, 2023
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.
