Excel Esports Sub in Abbedagge To Finish the Rest of the 2023 LEC Spring Split

The German mid laner will make his return to LEC for the last week of the split.

The 2023 Season has been a disaster for Excel Esports so far. Coming into the year with some big names like Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu and Vincent “Vetheo” Berrié joining the squad, Excel was seen as a dark horse before the Winter Split. But the team couldn’t perform to the expectations and they finished the first split of the year in the last place with a 1-8 record. They brought in Dino “LIMIT” Tot for the LEC Spring Split as a change, but there hasn’t been much of an improvement so far.

To give them the credit, they doubled their win count from the last split and currently are 2-4, sitting tied for the seventh. With the new LEC format of three weeks of Bo1s, Excel only has one more week of play to turn the ship around and avoid a complete tragedy. Excel needs to win at the very least two games and they will play Astralis and BDS to close out the regular season, both teams are at the top of the league if you aren’t following the LEC this year.

In this situation, it wasn’t crazy to expect a last-minute attempt at a roster change from Excel. Still, a lot of fans were surprised that this change would be Vetheo when Blix.gg’s Marián “Eros” Stoica reported the story first earlier today. Excel Esports came out with an official announcement not long after, stating the main reason for this change was the recent health concerns of the former LEC MVP. Vetheo himself put out a tweet saying he was feeling depressed since the Winter split and that it is time to take better care of himself. But he also added But I will have to say that I would have enjoyed to finish the split at least and it is not my decision to not play. My health is good so don't worry. I still hope the best for this week to the team,” despite Excel stating the main reason for the benching was his health concerns.

#LEC team update: pic.twitter.com/BVL8g0d6Sl

— EXCEL (@EXCEL) March 21, 2023

With Vetheo on the sidelines for the remainder of the Spring, former Schalke 04 mid laner Felix “Abbedagge” Braun will take his place. Abbedagge spend two years in the LEC playing with Schalke and having moderate success, especially shining during the team’s miracle run toward playoffs in the 2020 LEC Summer. At the start of the 2021 Summer Split, Abbedagge then made the move to the LCS, joining 100 Thieves. In his three splits with the North American organization, Abbedagge made three consecutive LCS Finals and won the first LCS title in the org’s history. He left 100 Thieves after the 2022 Summer Split and joined Excel Esports as a substitute mid laner.