The second half of the 2022 LEC Spring Split has presented League fans with a few surprises already. Two big upsets have taken place so far today and the second one saw Excel defeat Vitality in an almost 40-minute game.
This League of Legends match started off with a surprise pick from Excel in which Nukeduck locked in Zeri mid, a champion whose appearances in the LEC have been disastrous until earlier today. But the focus on the game quickly moved from the mid lane to bot lane, where Carzzy’s Vayne got two kills within the first two minutes of the game, putting his direct opponent at a disadvantage.
The early stages of the game saw Vitality setting the tempo for the whole match, with a high priority in the bot lane, a well-set top lane, and unique jungle pathing thanks to Selfmade’s Trundle paired with Hexflash. Leading in kills and gold, Vitality decided to push for more action, with various ganks in the mid lane keeping the advantage in their favor.
But Excel read their opponent’s rhythm and found the breaking point. While Carzzy and Labrov went for a dive in the top lane, Patrik and Mikyx maintained their position in the bot lane, finding the perfect opportunity to dive the enemy top laner and jungler. This resulted in a double kill for Excel’s Aphelios. Along with the kills, Patrik also found several turret plates that helped close the gap between him and Carzzy.
From this moment on, Excel kept on creating chaos behind enemy lines that resulted in various misplays from Vitality’s players. Despite Vitality’s experience and team composition, Excel found advantages off the back of their opponents’ mistakes, increasingly widening the distance between the two teams.
With a slow and steady gameplay approach filled with perfect actions and proactive moves from Excel, the team pushed their opponents within the walls of their base and began taking it down piece by piece. In one last teamfight, Vitality tried to fend off Excel, but that only resulted in both Nukeduck and Patrick closing the game on a killing spree.
This win against Vitality brings Excel to 5-5, tying them with Perkz and crew and bringing some uncertainties to the lower parts of the LEC standings. Vitality will face off against Fnatic tomorrow while Excel will take on Team BDS in search of that extra victory to separate the two teams.
