After an exciting third week of the the LEC, the once-underestimated SK Gaming roster is within reach of the top spots - and a lot of it is on their AD Carry Thomas "Exakick" Foucou.
The LEC 2023 Winter Split brief regular season is behind us, culminating in a quick and eventful third superweek where we saw several teams we expected to fight for the last places rise up and the much-hyped Fnatic and Excel Esports team lie in shambles. In the end, SK Gaming came just shy of the top, with only a close loss on Saturday holding them back from joining MAD Lions and Team Vitality at the very top of the table. In all three games, we saw their young AD Carry Thomas "Exakick" Foucou step up massively - and this is why he is our player of the week.
SK Gaming did not come to the season with great fanfare - in fact, between the several unproven ERL players and former LEC players with relatively few accomplishments, we expected them to end around the bottom of the table - but that is very much not what happened in the rapid-fire single round robin group phase. Exakick had good performances in the 2022 LFL and EU Masters tournaments, but few even among his fans expected him to do a series of dominant performances against some of the best teams in Europe. Yet in week 2, he already showed he was not to be trifled with - and in week 3, he kicked it up a notch or two.
The SK Gaming AD Carry had an amazing Lucian performance against Astralis on Saturday. While his team was eventually bested by the dogged defense of their opponents and some stunning lategame Gangplank barrels by Finn "Finn" Wiestål (who came close to getting our MVP vote as well), Exakick was still a monster in the botlane. In the next two games, however, there would be no lategame GP to hold him back and against Excel and Fnatic, he dominated the opposition.
Over the weekend, Exakick played three different champions - Lucian against Astralis, Zeri against Excel and Caitlyn against Fnatic. Already boasting a very impressive 4.75 KDA in the first game, he went unkilled in the second and was only shut down once in the third, leaving him with a very impressive 8.4 for the entire weekend.
| Game | Kills | Deaths | Assists |
| Game 1: Lucian | 13 | 4 | 6 |
| Game 2: Zeri | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Game 3: Caitlyn | 5 | 1 | 6 |
Read More:
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- LEC Week 2 MVP: BDS Adam
- LoL: LCS 2023 Spring Split Opening Week Impressions
The LEC season continues with the group stage this Saturday. With SK Gaming facing off against KOI in a best of three series, Exakick may have his hands full - or solidify himself as one of the best carries in the West!