After 41 minutes of back-and-forth gameplay, Misfits finally took the win over Excel Esports today in one of the messiest matches of the 2019 LEC Spring Split.
The game started off with four early kills in Excel’s favor, giving Jesper “Jeskla” Klarin Strömberg a head start in the bottom lane against Misfits’ star ADC Steven “Hans Sama” Liv. Their early game was capped off with a great teamfight near the Rift Herald where Excel ended up with two more kills.
This was Excel’s game to lose at this point—but that’s exactly what they did. After losing a few scattered teamfights and squandering their lead, Misfits clawed back into the game off the back of Hans Sama’s Draven, as well as Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten’s LeBlanc and Paul “sOAZ” Boyer’s Sylas.
But the game seesawed over and over again, with Excel winning teamfights only to overstay and die soon after. Two key performances were Febiven and sOAZ, who were instrumental in keeping their team together. Their engages in the final moments of the game were perfectly timed and gave Hans Sama enough room to deal the damage they needed to win the game.
With this win, Misfits keep themselves in the hunt for a playoff spot. At 7-7, they’re now tied with SK Gaming, Fnatic, and Schalke 04 for fifth place. Additionally, they’re facing off against Fnatic and Schalke 04 next week—so those games will be very important if they want to keep their postseason hopes alive.
Meanwhile, this loss means that Excel Esports will be joining Rogue as the second team to be eliminated from LEC playoff contention. It was a tough season for Excel, but they’ll have the offseason to retool their roster for the upcoming Summer Split.
