Excel confirm the signing of ADC Patrik from Origen for LEC 2020

Excel Esports are continuing the overhaul of their League of Legends European Championship (LEC) squad for next season after confirming it has signed former Origen starlet Patrik Jírů to a two-year deal. His bot-lane partner will reportedly be former Splyce support Tore “Tore” Hoel Eilertsen (formerly known as Norskeren) but the organisation has not made any official announcements as of yet.

The Czech star will be reunited with his former Origen performance coach Fabian Broich who has joined Excel as the head of performance, bringing a mixture of traditional sport and esports experience to the British organisation.

Though perhaps Excel’s biggest acquisition of the free-agency period is their new coach Joey “Youngbuck” Steltenpool. The former G2 and Fnatic man is a six-time European champion and a former Worlds finalist. He will be joined by Alex “Mapache” Parejo, Excel’s new assistant coach who worked with Youbuck at Fnatic last season.

Last season was a mixed one for Patrik as he reached the Spring Split Playoffs final of the LEC and attended his first international tournament in Rift Rivals but Origen then collapsed in Summer and failed to make the playoffs. The team still had a shot at Worlds qualification with the Regional Qualifier but couldn’t take down Europe’s eventual third seed Splyce in a tough best-of-five which when all the way.

Last year was equally as difficult for Excel who as an organisation were competing at the top level of LoL for the first time ever. The British run team struggled both on Summoner’s Rift and off it as plans to permanently train in the organisation’s Twickenham headquarters were scrapped following travel issues in the first weeks of the Summer Split. Meanwhile, in-game Excel’s young side showed promise but failed to qualify for the playoffs on both occasions including a disappointing 10th place finish in the Summer.