Excel qualified for its second LEC Playoffs with a win over Team Vitality on Aug. 14.
On the last day of the LEC Summer regular season, the two teams faced off in a tiebreak match to determine who would grab the final spot. Thanks to an aggressive but meticulous performance, Excel claimed the ticket to Summer Playoffs.
Team Vitality came into the last week of the LEC Summer Split regular season with a 94-percent chance of locking in a spot in Playoffs, only needing to win one more game. But match after match, they crumbled under pressure applied by their opponents until only one tiebreaker game against Excel remained. Vitality started the game investing in early vision around the mid and bot lane to gain control of the side of the map near early-game objectives, but couldn’t foresee Markoon’s gank in the mid lane, thus conceding first blood to Excel.
Excel’s jungler presence in the game was as pivotal as Mikyx’s Thresh, which enabled and granted his teammates numerous engaging opportunities and rescue lanterns. The two players’ movements around the map allowed Excel to conquer the first drake and get another kill for their team. But Vitality didn’t yield, and by fighting back and obtaining the first Herald, they equalized the gold and kills by the tenth minute.
The two teams fought back and forth throughout the mid-stage of the game, maintaining the status quo around the map. But the calm before the storm ended abruptly when the two fought for the fourth drake of the game. The prolonged team fight that ensued from the neutral objective led to several losses on both sides, but in the end, it was Excel who came out on top by claiming their third dragon of the match and using their numerical advantage to push the side lanes.
This fight was pivotal to Excel, as it threw off Vitality’s composed game style, leading them to take risks that, in the end, didn’t pay off. Vitality’s roster was caught off guard and repositioned several times during the remaining minutes of the game, thus widening the gap between them and Excel.
After claiming an uncontested Baron buff, Excel split pushed mid and top lane, gaining more map control and increasing the gold lead to their advantage, reaching more than 7,000 over Vitality. But once Excel was retreating away from their opponent’s base, Vitality found a well-timed engagement and began subduing their opponents, but it wasn’t enough. By the 30 minute mark, Excel had built an impressive strength, especially thanks to Patrik’s Draven, which deleted Vitality’s health bars and crumbled their base.
Excel overcame all the obstacles that separated them from making it to their second Playoffs twice in a row, stealing from the hands of Vitality a place into the second stage of the LEC Summer Split with a pivotal victory. But Excel are not the only ones living a historical moment: this loss marks the first time that Perkz will not make it into the European league’s playoffs stage.
