Is the former LDLC OL AD Carry the next big LEC bot laner?
Our LEC MVP for Week 3: SK Gaming's Exakick
It has been a crazy week 3 of the LEC and in the end, SK Gaming ends the season just shy of the first place. There are many reasons for their good form, but for us the best was their bot laner, Thomas "Exakick" Foucou.
With the hectic three-week "regular season" of the LEC 2023 Winter Split behind us, we saw bangers and upsets aplenty. Teams we expected to be at the bottom of the table rose up and projected giants like Excel Esports or Fnatic unceremoniously crashed and burned, languishing at the last two spots. In the end, SK Gaming - a team we did not have much faith in - walks into the group stage in second place, just a game behind the first two seeds Team Vitality and MAD Lions, and it came pretty close to joining them. It has been two amazing weeks for the German squad and in last week's games, we were amazed at what their AD Carry Thomas "Exakick" Foucou brought to the table. With three stellar games that cemented SK's position, he is our LEC MVP of the week.
The venerable German organization, one of the founding members of the then-EU LCS back in 2013, did not seem to be making ambitious moves in the off-season, opting to base its roster on several promising ERL up-and-comers and lesser-known LEC players. At the time it was not a move that filled us with confidence in this roster's prowess and SK only won a game against Team Heretics. Exakick and his bot laner partner, Mads "Doss" Schwartz, came up from LDLC OL, where they had a strong performance in the LFL and EU Masters. In Week 2 SK went 3-0 and the pair already showed they are not to be messed with - but in week 3, Exakick really gapped the competition.
SK Gaming's AD Carry was stellar on Lucian against Astralis, exerting a ton of pressure in the bot lane and ramping up no less than 13 kills. While that was not enough in the face of a dogged defense and some godlike Gangplank barrels by Finn "Finn" Wiestål (who was in top form and nearly took Exakick's place in our list), the young ADC was untoppable in the next two games, dying just once in SK's wins against Excel Esports and Fnatic.
Exakick retained an amazing KDA of 8.4 throughout the weekend, playing three different champions- Lucian against Astralis, Zeri against Excel and Caitlyn against Fnatic. After his impressive 13 kills in the opening game, he died only once for the rest of the week, despite his opponents' best efforts.
Game | Kills | Deaths | Assists |
| Game 1: Lucian | 13 | 4 | 6 |
| Game 2: Zeri | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Game 3: Caitlyn | 5 | 1 | 6 |
- Your next gaming monitor: the AOC C24G1A!
Read More:
- LoL: Excel CEO Apologizes for Terrible Results in the LEC Winter Split
- LEC Week 3: Fnatic and Excel out of Winter Groups after Disappointing Last Week
- Our LEC MVP for Week 2: Team BDS' Adam
SK Gaming's winter campaign continues on Saturday, February 11th, as they take on the LEC 2022 summer champions KOI. Will Exakick be ready for a showdown with one of the best players of the previous split, Markos "Comp" Stamkopoulos? Don´t miss it!