Excel plan to re-sign mid laner Erlend “nukeduck” Våtevik Holm for the 2022 League of Legends European Championship season, sources told Upcomer on Wednesday. Jaxon first reported the news earlier in the day.
The 25-year-old Norwegian player joined the team in May of 2021, ahead of the 2021 LEC summer split. In his first season with the team, Excel tied Astralis for seventh place with a 7-11 record, putting them just outside the final slot for the LEC summer playoffs. This did not improve upon Excel’s record in the spring of 2021 from before nukeduck took over for Paweł “Czekolad” Szczepanik. Several members of the Excel squad are in flux this offseason, including
Nukeduck has been a staple of the top European league for years, playing for organizations including Team Vitality from 2015 to 2017, Schalke 04 from 2017-2018 and Origen (which rebranded to Astralis in 2020) from 2018 until his signing with Excel.
His best modern performance came during 2019, when Origen finished second during both the LEC 2019 spring split and the subsequent playoffs. Excel also went on to help Europe win Rift Rivals 2019 NA-EU, defeating TSM during the event’s finals. He also won player of the game awards during the event.
Before this, nukeduck qualified for the Season 3 World Championship with his team, Lemondogs, finishing just outside the top eight.
The re-signing comes amid several mid lane moves across the League European Championship, including verbal agreements and departures of up-and-coming talent and veterans alike. Sources confirmed to Upcomer on Wednesday that Steven “RKR” Chen had come to an agreement to man the mid lane for LEC champions MAD Lions in 2022. Meanwhile, mid laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer is exploring options away from Fnatic for the coming year, sources told Upcomer on Tuesday.
Free agency for League of Legends officially opens at 7 p.m. ET on Nov. 15.
