BT Excel has introduced its full lineup for the 2022 NCL Spring Split. Most notably, former Rogue jungler Mateusz “Kikis” Szkudlarek will play for the League of Legends team and is role swapping to the support position.
After an unsuccessful stint on Rogue in 2019, Kikis took a one-year hiatus following the 2020 season. But now, he’s looking to march back into the competitive scene as a support.
The decision to swap to support, however, is a bit surprising since he tweeted last month that he was searching for a team as a jungler. But a role swap isn’t completely foreign to the Polish player.
Kikis’ move to support will mark the Polish player’s third role swap in his career. Primarily a jungler, Kikis made the swap over to the top lane in 2016 and parts of 2017 before switching back to the jungle in 2018, where he went to Worlds with Team Vitality.
Kikis will be joined on BT Excel by Felix “Kryze” Hellstrom, Jang “EMENES” Min-soo, Dominik “Zamulek” Biela, and returning jungler Daniel “Dan” Hockley.
BT Excel got off to a strong start in 2021, where the team made it all the way to the European Grand Masters Finals. But once jungler Mark “Markoon” van Woensel and support Henk “Advienne” Reijenga left for the org’s main team, BT Excel began to struggle, earning a top-six finish in the 2021 NLC Summer Split. With a new lineup, BT Excel will be looking to build upon its Summer Split performance and make another run to the European Masters Finals.
The 2022 NLC Spring Split will begin on Jan. 10. BT Excel will compete alongside nine other teams in a double round-robin format where the top six teams at the end of the regular season will qualify for the playoffs. Meanwhile, Excel’s main team will compete in the LEC starting on Jan. 14.
