Interview - Excel’s new bot-lane are aiming for Playoffs and beyond

Excel Esports League of Legends European Championship (LEC) roster has been completed ahead of next season as the British organisation has confirmed the signing of support formerly known as Norskeren; Tore "Tore" Hoel Eilertsen. He will be joined in the bot-lane by the team's other new acquisition this season, Patrik "Patrik" Jírů.

As the British organisation continue to make big moves to improve from last season, GGRecon caught up with the new bot-lane duo to reflect on last season, talk about their new coach Joey "Youngbuck" Steltenpool and the discuss LoL's latest champion, Senna.

 

What was the biggest factor in both of you joining Excel this season?

 

Patrik: For me, I didn't really come to terms with Origen, and I joined Excel because I thought the team could actually be good, and they had the staff needed to succeed.

Tore: For me, it was kind of a fresh start because Splyce is no more and everyone is leaving. There's only one player staying, and most of the coaches were leaving so there wasn't any reason really to stay and I was really excited to hear that Excel hired Youngbuck and I'd get to play with the likes of Caedrel and though I didn't know who I was going to play bot with I was still pretty excited.

 

You both touched on it a bit there, Youngbuck is a massive acquisition for Excel, so how excited are you to work and learn from him?

 

Tore: He's achieved a lot, he has the six stars so you can only think about how good a coach he is or what he brings to the table. I'm excited to be coached by someone who has a lot of experience, and I know has won a lot of times before.

Patrik: I agree, but for me, it's not only about Youngbuck it's about Fabian [Broich] as well who I've worked with this year. He has a lot of knowledge and can bring a lot to the team, so it's both of those guys for me. I think they can really improve the team.

 

Have you guys played together before joining Excel, or is this a completely new duo?

 

Tore: "Yeah we haven't really played other than some solo queue games over the years.

Patrik: I think we had probably zero games together this year, we've only played against each other.

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In that case, how would you describe your individual play-styles, and how do you think you'll mesh together?

 

Tore: I mean, it's hard to say. I don't think I really have a set playstyle I'll just do what fits the team best. Personally, I guess I'm flexible, and I'm more of a vocal player.

Patrik: Obviously I think I'm flexible as well, but I prefer playing lane dominant champions like Draven or Kalista the most if they're playable in the meta obviously.

 

What are your ambitions for next season, both individually and as a team?

 

Patrik: I'm just looking to reach the Playoffs in both splits and go from there. It's entirely different to play best-of-five suddenly compared to so many best-of-one games

Tore: I don't want to do as bad as Excel did before. Obviously, I want to do better and reach Playoffs as the minimum. I want to be contesting with the top teams, like the top three I don't want to be doing worse than I've done before, so that's what I'm going to try to do.

 

You both have had rather solid years, Patrik you go to play on the Playoffs final stage in Spring. While it didn't end with the result you would have wanted, what was that weekend like as an experience?

 

Patrik: Once in a lifetime for sure. There was this huge crowd, just so many people all shouting. It was really nice to be there and play those games in such an amazing arena. I was for sure a little bit nervous to play in such a big match, but it was exciting. It's something I want to experience again.

 

And as for you Tore, you've had a little while now to reflect on your amazing Worlds run. How do you feel about it looking back?

 

Tore: It was insane, it's the dream of every player to go to Worlds especially if you haven't been playing for that long. Being able to randomly see the SKT players in the elevator brings out the fanboy a little bit.

Scrimming against teams, you learn a lot though you also get smashed a lot which can be a source of frustration but we didn't really have high pressure from the fans. I don't think many predicted us to go to Worlds so how well we did was the cherry on the top. I just went in with the mindset that I just wanted to do as well as I could and try my hardest so I didn't have any regrets.

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Moving into the game, I have to ask you both about Senna. What are your impressions of her and how strong do you think she'll be as both as an ADC and support in pro play?

 

Patrik: I've only played here with Spellthief's, but that's been removed now. When I played her with casual AD items, I thought she was pretty weak because her wave clear and farming is absurdly bad, but with Spellthief's I thought she was actually overpowered.

Tore: I've seen people play her as the support farm early and then buy the support item similar to the Sona Taric thing. She's probably going to be played in both roles, as a flex champion she's really strong.

 

Finally, do you guys want to make any bold predictions for the upcoming season?

 

Tore: We will not be last place.

Patrik: I'll say Fnatic won't be top four. I feel like this year they had some issues as they've mentioned that they never really got to solve. I think coming into next year they'll still have those issues and actually get a little bit worse.

Main Image Credit | Excel Esports