Former teammates Mikyx of G2 Esports and Patrik of Excel Esports enjoy a stare-down ahead of their LEC Summer 2023 Final (photo by Michal Konkol)
UK-based esports organisation Excel Esports have made history by going on their best run in the LEC so far, to reach the LEC 2023 Season Finals.
It’s been a rollercoaster year so far for Excel in League of Legends. Excel finished bottom of the LEC regular season in both Winter 2023 and Spring 2023, then went from extremely disappointing to extremely impressive, reaching third in the LEC Summer 2023 regular season.
London-based org, Fnatic, also made a great turnaround, going from the bottom positions to second in the Summer season.
Excel then went on an incredible run in the LEC Summer 2023 Group Stage, beating Mad Lions and SK to head to playoffs.
There, they took G2 to a five-game series, losing 3-2, before beating Fnatic 3-1 in round two.
Today, they fell to G2 3-0 in the Summer playoffs final. However, it’d be unfair to let that result take away from what they’ve achieved.
Excel described their story this year as ‘without a doubt our greatest comeback’.
Excel have qualified for the LEC 2023 Season Finals, which kicks off on August 19th, with Excel facing Mad Lions.
These two teams will be joined by G2, Team BDS, Fnatic and SK Gaming in the LEC 2023 Season Finals.
The finals will then conclude from September 8th to 10th at the Sud de France Arena, in France’s Montpellier suburb of Pérols.
Excel top-laner Odoamne said: “Losing finals still doesn’t suck any less even if we made this deep run, it’s absolutely shattering.
“Nothing else to say but we got mega outclassed, G2 came back so much stronger and it felt like we didn’t really have good answers into what they were throwing at us. We live and we learn and will look to show up better in Season Finals. Very disappointed but that’s how it goes.”
Mid-laner Abbedagge added: “It really wasn’t the performance that I excepted from myself. Let’s not forget where we came from though. We will prepare for summer finals next. See you there.”
Odo also said before the final: “It’s been incredible, [reaching the LEC 2023 Season Finals] has been a huge weight off of everyone’s shoulders. It’s been a long journey.”
Hear more from Odoamne in this Excel Esports video on his journey.
G2 crowned LEC Summer Split Champions ahead of LEC 2023 Season Finals
As a UK esports site, we can focus on a UK esports org’s amazing turnaround, but credit must of course be given to G2.
They were Europe’s strongest side at MSI 2023 London earlier this year, and followed this up by topping the LEC 2023 Summer Season and winning the LEC Summer Playoffs today.
G2 were also celebrating in another esport today – Valorant – after their women’s team became back-to-back EMEA Game Changers champions.
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.
