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.