The opening weekend of the League of Legends European Championship has come to a close. There have been highs and lows for all ten teams in the league and despite losing their second match, Excel Esports are already in a much better position compared to Spring Split 2019.
Thanks to the addition of Patrik ‘Patrik’ Jiru and Tore ‘Tore’ Hoel Eilertsen, Excel have transformed themselves into a serious contender in the LEC. The bot duo shined in the match against Schalke 04, with Patrik being voted MVP and achieving an impressive 9/2 KDA.
Although they weren’t quite able to replicate their result against Rogue, Tore insists the team isn’t too worried and that they can only improve with time
He told us: “We’re not that upset about losing because it’s only the second game and doesn’t really matter that much. I think we played well early so I’m not too unhappy.
“We have to practice more on how we can close games but I think it’s fine, we just played our team comp wrong in this instance and it’s going to get better as time goes on.
Dream bot duo
It’s undeniable that the Excel’s bot lane have a lot of chemistry in game, Tore admits that the pair have also grown close in real life.
He told us: “I love playing with Patrik, it’s really fun. We’re the same age and we have a similar kind of humour. I really enjoy playing with him, it’s a lot of fun and that’s like my favourite thing about this team.”
Tore is also confident that him and Patrik have the potential to become one of the best bot lanes in the league.
He said: “Patrik and I are going to do pretty well this year. We’ve both played some good games in the past and some bad ones but together we’ve been working really well, we’ve gelled pretty fast and it’s only going to get better.”
Working with new coaches
Alongside Excel’s new bot lane, they also added Joey ‘YoungBuck’ Steltenpool, Alex ‘Mapache’ Parejo and Fabian Broich to their coaching and performance staff – something Tore has cited as a major contribution to the team’s improvement.
He told us: “YoungBuck is someone I really respect, it’s really nice to be able to work with him, he’s one of the most prestigious coaches in League of Legends esports so I think he has taught me a lot.
“Fabian also takes good care of us, he’s teaching us to not die young I guess. We’re a lot healthier and life is a little bit more enjoyable when you feel better. He really cares about us so it’s really nice to have someone who’s enthusiastic and does so much to help us.”
People shouldn’t believe rumours about Mickey
Excel’s mid laner Son ‘Mickey’ Young-min has faced multiple onslaughts of abuse on social media and Reddit ever since leaving Golden Guardians back in 2018.
Rumours emerged shortly after his departure that he had rage quit during scrims and returned to Korea, abandoning his team in the process.
However, since joining Excel last summer split, despite the abuse he and Excel both received as a result of the signing, all of his new teammates have come out and publicly defended him – with Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont being the latest to speak out on the matter.
And now Tore, who has only been with Excel for a little under a month, also wants fans to stop caring and believing the rumours about Mickey’s past.
He told us: “I heard stories about Mickey, I don’t know 100% if it’s true, it sounds really crazy but there’s a lot of rumours that really aren’t true. They go around and it kind of screws up a player’s image so I understand that he feels bad. Maybe he had some bad performances but it’s really hard to shine if the rest of your team isn’t doing well.
“He has shown me a lot of good things and he has also taught me a lot so I really respect him. I understand it could be really hard for him because maybe his English isn’t as good so it’s a bit more difficult for him to explain what’s on his mind and will struggle to express it – but he’s going to be a lot better and I already seen some big improvements from him.
“I’m biased because he’s my teammate but I’ve seen a lot of comments replying to Caedrel defending Mickey and I don’t really understand why so many people care about it because they really have no idea what happened. It’s just rumours – there are so many crazy rumours. It’s really weird people talk about stuff they’ve heard that might be true as if it’s 100% true."
Facing his former team
Excel will take on Mad Lions next week – Tore’s former team where he made it to the quarter-finals of Worlds in 2019 as well as Misfits who have struggled to find their footing so far this season.
The Excel support is confident that they can beat Mad Lions and Misfits and pick up a 2-0 weekend.
He told us: “Those teams we definitely should smash I think because we’re looking for a higher placing than them. They’re pretty low-ranked teams with a lot of rookies which means they need a lot of time, as long as we improve we should pass them in the rankings quickly.”