Exertus Esports sealed a convincing victory over The National University Esports League (NUEL) on Saturday to climb to second place in the Summer Season of the ESL UK League of Legends Premiership table.
Kills from SubtomiK and Imbalyte, backed up by solid support from Dan, Wizz and Krisso, helped Exertus win two straight games against NUEL, who, despite a solid start and impressive play from Dynasty, failed to make the most of their hard-fought battles.
League of Legends Premiership Season 2 – September 5th (week 4)
Star summoner: Exertus SubtomiK (game 1 Tristana, game 2 Tristana)
Game 1 highlights
It was a rather safe and uneventful start to this match, with ShavenTortoise and Trashclub Billy double jungling for NUEL early, and support Wizz starting off the blocks very aggressive in the bottom lane for Exertus, throwing some ambitious hooks as Nautilus.
Dan was active early on too, coming in as Nunu to gank Dynasty (Lux), whose life was saved by NUEL’s jungler ShavenTortoise, before Dan went on to raid the enemy jungle.
The action really got underway in the seventh minute, with NUEL taking the first dragon and first blood going to Trashclub Billy (Malphite), who was left with very little health after a close fight with Krisso (Renekton) top.
The first big teamfight occurred at the tri-brush beneath dragon, with Exertus SubtomiK (Tristana) picking up a double kill, helping to put Exertus 3-2 up at the 10-minute mark. SubtomiK would go on to have a big influence on how the game played out, picking up another kill soon after, giving him some nice early feed with three kills overall.
Despite Billy picking up that first blood, Krisso won several trades over Billy in the top lane, giving Krisso a 30CS advantage over his opponent early on (96 vs 65). We all know Renekton can be a proper lane bully, and by the 13-minute mark this lead had extended to almost double the CS at 107 vs Billy’s 67.
At 12 minutes in, Wizz’s early aggressive play landed him in some trouble as he was caught out of position by NUEL and killed in the bot lane, then killed once again in the same area two minutes later, leaving the score tied at 4-4 but Exertus with the gold advantage at 19.7k vs 17.4k.
As the two teams entered the mid-game, things quietened down, and by the 25-minute mark NUEL had taken their second dragon, but Exertis still held the gold advantage. SubtomiK’s farm leapt ahead at 150 to ATN iuKeEe’s (Vayne) 110 – it would be a warning shot from SubtomiK who would soon go on to seal his fourth kill putting him on a rampage, after some careless movement by his teammate Wizz, leaving the scores at 8 to 8.
The nail in NUEL’s coffin came when they tried to take baron, but the might of this match’s star summoner SubtomiK was too much for them, as he smartly and stealthily picked them off one by one, picking up a triple kill, a shut down and almost a pentakill.
Some more fantastic play from SubtomiK saw him take the second top tower, despite having the might of NUEL upon him. With a bit of help from his teammates, who distracted NUEL in the jungle just below said tower, SubtomiK is able to get a few more shots in, take the tower’s health all the way down before jumping away at the last minute to safety.
At this point, Dynasty fired off a nice Final Spark, eating into the health of Exertus, who managed to get away by the skin of their teeth after legging it all the way back to their top tower. This was arguably one of the turning points of the match here, as if Exertus had been aced, it could have been a very different story indeed.
NUEL weren’t giving up yet. A teamfight kicked off at dragon, with Dynasty casting a beautiful Light Binding to stun Wizz before Final Sparking him and going on a killing spree. ShavenTortoise slayed Krisso and SubtomiK killed Billy to give him his fifth kill of the match. But NUEL get their third dragon and go 11-9 up, with Exertus having taken four towers to NUEL’s one.
The half-hour mark is where things got interesting, as Exertus picked up the first Baron Nashor of the game, and as members of NUEL arrived to defend too late, SubtomiK easily picked off iuKeEe and Bears, giving him his sixth and seventh kills of the game. Exertus Dan managed to chase ShavenTortoise (Rek’Sai) and pick up the kill as Rek’Sai unfortunately tunneled straight into the Krugs.
A valiant effort from Billy saw him shut down SubtomiK, meanwhile Krisso did a sterling job taking the bot inhibitor tower by himself. At this point, with 13 kills to 12 and six towers to one, plus 54.8k to NUEL’s 46.7k, Exertus exerted their dominance on the game.
At 34 minutes in, Exertus took the second mid tower before a very messy fight saw NUEL take the kill lead again at 16 to 15. Exertus claimed their second dragon but some sloppy play saw them die a couple more times in NUEL’s jungle, with NUEL killing SubtomiK again to give them 19 kills to 15.
NUEL were swinging the game back in their favour, destroying the second and third bot towers, before picking up another kill near Baron, but Krisso took the bot inhibitor for Exertus. It was carnage at this point as Krisso tried to backdoor, taking down one of the nexus turrets by himself, forcing a member of NUEL to return to base and push him away.
The nail in NUEL’s coffin came when they tried to take baron, but the might of this match’s star summoner SubtomiK was too much for them, as he smartly and stealthily picked them off one by one, picking up a triple kill, a shut down and almost a pentakill, allowing Exertus to jump to the nexus and finish NUEL off to win the first game.
Watch game 1 in full: Exertus vs NUEL
Stats: Game 1
Star summoner: Exertus SubtomiK (Tristana)
Special mentions: Dynasty (Lux), Krisso (Renekton)
First blood: Trashclub Billy (Malphite)
Game length: 42:03
Exertus
Kills: 20
Towers: 10
Dragons: 2
Gold: 72.3k
NUEL
Kills: 21
Towers: 4
Dragons: 3
Gold: 63.8k
Champs
Exertus Esports
Krisso – Renekton (top)
Exertus Dan – Nunu (jungle)
Exertus Imbalyte – Orianna (mid)
Exertus SubtomiK – Tristana (ADC)
Exertus Wizz – Nautilus (support)
NUEL
Trashclub Billy – Malphite (top)
ShavenTortoise – Rek’Sai (jungle)
Dynasty – Lux (mid)
ATN iuKeEe – Vayne (ADC)
BearsAreBears – Alistar (support)
Bans
Ahri
LeBlanc
Gangplank
Braum
Irelia
Elise
Game 2 highlights
Keen to rectify his mistakes in the first game, Wizz started brightly for Exertus, zoning Bears and iuKeEe back to their tower in the bottom lane. He was throwing and landing some nice hooks early game and it was a much better performance from him overall in this second match.
Equally, his lane partner SubtomiK made a fine save at the seventh minute to rescue Wizz, by firing a Buster Shot to push NUEL away as they tried to gank.
A moment later, NUEL moved to take dragon, but ShavenTortoise took a lot of damage from the drake as Exertus charged in to steal it; both junglers fell and Billy picked up a double kill. 2-1 to NUEL.
Not wanting to let Billy think he’s the early game boss, Dan immediately tried to shut him down top, and on the second attempt he killed him along with ShavenTortoise, giving Dan a double kill before Dynasty (Lissandra) came top to destroy him, making it 3-3 with an almost 1k gold lead to Exertus.
Once again, Krisso took the CS lead top, at 99 to Billy’s 69, with SubtomiK leading 113 to 88 bot. These micro battles really swung this match in Exertus’ favour, enabling them to pick up better items early on and put out some quality damage.
At minute 14, a nice pull from Wizz saw Dan slay iuKeEe (Kalista) for his third kill of the game, helping Exertus to take the first dragon. SubtomiK took down iuKeEe again a minute later as the teams battled it out at bot lane. iuKeEe was clearly being targeted by Exertus, and as a Kalista ADC you can’t blame them for not letting him play.
Despite this, Dynasty charged towards bot, coming to the rescue yet again to take down both Wizz and SubtomiK for a double kill, helping NUEL go 6-5 up.
“So if you ever find Bears in the woods, make sure you’ve got an immortal being and a rocket launcher as that will scare them right off. It’s a nice counter-Bear measure for any woods-goers…”
Just before the 20-minute mark, Krisso teleported into NUEL’s bot jungle to cut off iuKeEe, who was caught by Exertus again, as they took both him and Bears, giving SubtomiK his second kill of the game and putting Exertus ahead by 7 kills to 6, 2 towers to 0 , 2 dragons to 0 and 30k to 26.9k.
Another lovely hook by Wizz picked off ShavenTortoise in the river to give Exertus one more kill, followed by a teamfight in NUEL’s bottom jungle, with Imbalyte picking up a triple kill, giving Exertus a 12-6 kill and 38k to 30k gold lead.
After a few scrappy team fights mid and some brave play by NUEL bot, giving them a few kills, Exertus retaliated with kills of their own – again for SubtomiK and Imbalyte. 18-8 to Exertus – and a baron kill unchallenged. At this point there was no real way back for NUEL.
At minute 29, Exertus took their fourth dragon as Krisso tried to solo push top, like he did in the first game bot. This time, three members of NUEL moved to take him down, to no avail. If NUEL’s tower wasn’t nearby, honestly it looked like Krisso could have easily taken down all three of them by himself. He fought them under their own tower, with his team eventually coming to his aid and helping to take down two members of NUEL.
Just after the half-hour mark, a quick split push by Dan mid helped the rest of Exertus attack bot, with Imbalyte going on to seal a double kill in the NUEL jungle and SubtomiK picking up yet another kill to help Exertus win the game, 25 kills to 9.
This second game was more of a one-sided affair than the first, but there were positives for NUEL to take away, who are still looking for their first win of the season.
Stats: Game 2
Star summoner: Exertus Imbalyte
Special mentions: Exertus SubtomiK, Exertus Dan, Dynasty, Krisso, Wizz
First blood: Exertus Imbalyte
Game length: 33:29
Exertus
Kills: 25
Towers: 9
Dragons: 4
Gold: 62.1k
NUEL
Kills: 9
Towers: 2
Dragons: 0
Gold: 46k
Champs
NUEL
Trashclub Billy – Malphite (top)
ShavenTortoise – Elise (jungle)
Dynasty – Lissandra (mid)
ATN iuKeEe – Kalista (ADC)
BearsAreBears – Shen (support)
Exertus Esports
Krisso – Maokai (top)
Exertus Dan – Evelynn (jungle)
Exertus Imbalyte – Orianna (mid)
Exertus SubtcomiK – Tristana (ADC)
Exertus Wizz – Thresh (support)
Bans
Braum
Irelia
Rek’Sai
Ahri
LeBlanc
Gangplank
Commentary corner: Quote of the match
Bears (Shen) places a ward and soaks up two of SubtomiK’s hits, before running away from SubtomiK (Tristana) and Krisso (Maokai).
“So if you ever find Bears in the woods, make sure you’ve got an immortal being and a rocket launcher as that will scare them right off. It’s a nice counter-Bear measure for any woods-goers…”
“…I’m just going to leave that one hanging. That was absolutely awful.”
Final standings as of September 5th 2015
More information: ESL UK Premiership homepage
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.
