Excel lost to SK Gaming today and became the first team to be eliminated from the 2023 LEC Winter Split. After entering the second-to-last day of the regular season with only the hope of reaching a tiebreak situation, Excel had to defeat all their opponents to avoid elimination — but SK Gaming was not going to go down easily.
Seeing SK’s scaling composition, Excel had to gain control of the Rift from the start of the game, and they did succeed in doing so up until the first Baron fight. With one fight SK turned the tables of the match and sped up Excel’s exit from the competition.
It was less than one year ago that the organization reached the playoffs of the LEC competition for the first time ever. Starting 2023 with a new promising roster, many fans expected Excel to repeat the feat without trouble, but it was not the case. Excel struggled throughout the Winter Split’s regular season, reaching the last weekend with only one win, their fate no longer in their own hands.
“It’s a tough environment,” commented Excel’s top laner Odoamne during a post-match interview on the LEC broadcast. The 2022 Summer Split champion opened up on the struggles of playing in the LEC, stating that it was “hard to perform”. But instead of “making excuses”, Odoamne said that he “always made it back,” and it’s now time for him and Excel to grow and think about the next Split.
