Excel parts ways with LEC mid laner Nukeduck

A tenured member of the professional League of Legends scene in Europe is leaving a team he helped bring to new heights this year.

Excel confirmed the departure of mid laner Erlend “Nukeduck” Våtevik Holm today heading into the upcoming 2023 LEC season. This follows other massive roster changes that the organization has made to its LEC team, including the exit of top laner Finn and support Mikyx, seemingly pointing at a major overhaul to prepare for next year.

A farewell video posted to Twitter by Excel dedicated to Nukeduck showed the player’s commitment to the organization over nearly two years not just on the LEC stage, but in the background as well. Through content creation individually and for the org, Nukeduck established himself as one of Excel’s premiere faces that drew in fans with his clear passion.

Nukeduck has been a prominent name across Europe for nearly a decade, having participated in the regional circuit, the EU LCS, and the LEC with more than 10 different teams. He also participated at Worlds in 2013, though he has since come just short of qualifying once more on multiple occasions.

The mid laner was pivotal in allowing Excel to qualify for the organization’s first LEC playoffs in this year’s Spring Split, then doing the same in the Summer Split. In a region full of strong mid laners, Nukeduck used his status as a veteran player to shine once more, emerging from the 2022 Summer Split with the second-highest KDA of all LEC mid laners, according to Oracle’s Elixir.

It is unclear what the next move for Nukeduck will be, but thanks to his status as a veteran in the European League scene, it is likely that he will be competing alongside another team in 2023.