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Excel Esports have revealed their starting roster ahead of the upcoming League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) season with high hopes of achieving a top-three ranking.
“The new roster which is packed with both exciting growing talent and established veteran players will see Excel accelerate its ambitious performance goals,” the franchise said in a statement on its official website.
“Joining Excel mainstay Patrick ‘Patrik’ Jiru is Andrei ‘Odoamne’ Pascu, Andrei ‘Xerxe’ Dragomir, Vincent ‘Vetheo’ Berrie, and Raphael ‘Targamas’ Crabbe. The newly established 2023 team will soon call a new HQ in Berlin, Germany their home as Excel bolsters its performance and media creation infrastructure.”
Excel’s new roster is comprised of players with experience in championship competition. Top laner Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu previously played for Rogue (later renamed KOI) and contributed to the team’s victory in the LEC Summer 2022 championship. With over 10 years of experience, Odoamne is also the most seasoned player on the roster, having participated in a total of 478 games throughout his career.
He will be reunited with his former teammate from Splyce (later renamed MAD Lions), Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir, who played for Astralis last season. Former Misfits Gaming mid laner and LEC Spring 2022 season MVP Vincent “Vetheo” Berrié has also joined the team, along with support Raphaël “Targamas” Crabbé, who helped G2 Esports win the LEC Spring 2022 championship and achieve a top-four finish at the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI).
The new additions will join Excel’s longtime bot laner, Patrik “Patrik” Jírů, who has been with the franchise since 2019. The team will be led by head coach Joey “YoungBuck” Steltenpool and his assistant, Sng “Nelson” Yi-Wei. The franchise also announced the recruitment of performance manager Luis Cardonetti and team manager Mert “Mert” Tanriverdi.
Despite qualifying for the LEC Spring and Summer 2022 playoffs, Excel were unable to break into the top tier of competition, finishing in sixth place in both splits. In the upcoming season, they have set their sights on a top-three finish with the newly assembled roster.
Excel’s Chief Operating Officer, Tim Reichert, revealed the team’s target in an official statement.
“Whilst we are proud of how we performed this year, we believe that this new roster has what it takes to help fulfil our vision of being a top three ranking team in the 2023 season,” Reichert said.
“Players such as Vetheo and Odoamne represent such a diverse mix of talent, and we can’t wait to see how the team will perform when unified together under the Excel brand starting with the Winter Season early next year.”
The new roster will make its debut in the LEC Winter 2023 Split, which is scheduled to commence in January.
