Excel Esports Reveals Its 2023 LoL Roster

Excel Esports announced its 2023 League of Legends roster, which will feature just one returning face in Patrik “Patrik” Jiru. The ADC player, who has been with the organization since December 2019, will team up with four new teammates, including two veteran League of Legends pro players.

Excel unveiled its new 2023 League of Legends roster on Monday, announcing four new signings who will team up with ADC Patrik. As revealed, Excel’s 2023 roster will consist of top laner Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu, veteran jungler Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir, mid laner Vincent “Vetheo” Berrié, ex-G2 Esportsd support Raphaël “Targamas” Crabbé, and ADC Patrik as the only carryover from 2022.

The new-look lineup features a nice mix of young talent in Vetheo, Targamas, and Patrik, and two veteran players in Xerxe and Odoamne, who have been competing since 2016 and 2013, respectively.

With the new arrivals, Excel also parted ways with most of its 2022 roster. That includes support Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle, who is expected to re-join G2 Esports, top laner Finn “Finn” Wiestål, who joined Astralis, and mid laner Erlend “Nukeduck” Våtevik Holm, who transitioned to assistant coach position with 100 Thieves.

Meanwhile, the former Excel jungler Mark “Markoon” van Woensel has yet to find a team for the 2023 season and is currently a free agent. But according to recent rumors, Markoon has already reached a verbal agreement with SK Gaming, where he’s expected to replace Erberk “Gilius” Demir.

The major roster overhaul is somewhat unexpected, considering Excel Esports achieved a lot in 2022. Although the team didn’t win a trophy, 2022 marked Excel’s best season since the organization entered the LEC in 2019.

Yet, despite changing up its roster, Excel decided to stick with its coaching personnel. This will see Joey “YoungBuck” Steltenpool and Sng “Nelson” Yi-Wei remain on the roster for at least one more season, extending their stay with Excel for a bit longer.

Excel Esports had a fairly successful run through the 2022 League of Legends European Championship (LEC) season. Even though the team didn’t win a trophy, nor have Excel come close to hoisting the organization’s first LEC trophy, Excel still exceeded expectations.

Most notably, in 2022, Excel Esports reached the organization’s first LEC playoffs in the spring split and managed to emulate that success in the summer. Unfortunately, despite finally breaking the dry spell, Excel failed to leave much of a mark in the European LoL competitive scene.

Excel kicked off the year with a strong fifth-place finish in the LEC 2022 spring with a 9-9 record, which was enough for a spot in the LEC 2022 Spring Playoffs. Unfortunately, Excel’s debut appearance in the playoffs was rather short-lived, as they crashed out early after a 2-3 loss to Vitality.

In the summer, Excel again finished the regular season with a 9-9 record, this time placing sixth in the standings. And just as Excel crashed out of the LEC 2022 Spring Playoffs in the first round, history repeated itself in the summer playoffs, where Excel lost against Fnatic (2-3).

2022 was a year of huge improvement for the British esports organization, which has historically struggled to qualify for the playoffs. But despite the notable improvement, Excel seemingly wasn’t satisfied with the final outcome.

As a result, the organization opted for a complete roster rebuild, which saw the arrival of four new players, including the former LEC champions Targamas and Odoamne, and rising star mid laner Vetheo.

With a new-look lineup, Excel Esports look ready to kick off the 2023 season, which is set to begin with the newly-introduced Winter Split in January. But before that, the fans will get to see the newly-introduced LoL Season 2023 Kickoff Event, which will replace the former All-Star event.