Rogue have secured their spot in the LEC’s 2022 Summer Split playoffs following their victory against Excel Esports in the final week of the regular season today.
It was a tale of two similar trajectories for Rogue and Excel heading into today’s battle between two League of Legends playoff contenders. For Excel, their 5-2 start to the LEC 2022 Summer Split has since become a distant memory. Since that start, Excel have only gone 2-6 in the past four weeks and are now teetering on the cusp of a playoff spot.
This hot start to the season is one that has also been the story of Rogue, who began their season 8-3 after five weeks. But the team only managed a single win in the past two weeks as they looked at today’s match against Excel to break their own cold streak. With just three games left before the end of the Summer Split, a win here was imperative for both teams to either secure or inch closer to a spot in the playoffs.
At first, the game tilted towards the favor of Excel following a favorable mid lane skirmish that resulted in a quick two-kill lead for Nukeduck. That lead continued to snowball for Excel as bot laner Patrik began to scale up as Nukeduck’s kill lead over Rogue’s mid laner Larssen continued to increase.
Rogue answered back with their first kill of the game onto Excel support Mikyx at the 16-minute mark to keep the gold lead within 1,000 as the game transitioned to the mid-game. Excel’s mid-game struggles showed after a lost teamfight around the dragon pit as Rogue grabbed the gold lead along with the Ocean Dragon. This became a recurring trend throughout the remainder of the game as the trio of Larssen, top laner Odoamne, and bot laner Comp continued to play pivotal roles in the late-game teamfights before securing their spot in the playoffs in style with a Comp pentakill.
For Rogue, today’s victory against Excel is a much-needed victory during their cold streak. Rogue now stands at 10-6 as they enter their final two games against Team BDS and Vitality to close out the LEC 2022 Summer Split.
As for Excel, the team’s mid to late-game struggles continue to plague the team in recent weeks. This loss places them in dangerous territory with a 7-9 record, perched outside of the playoff picture tied for eighth place with SK Gaming. They will look to end their season on a strong note against SK and Astralis to close out the LEC 2022 Summer Split.
