Team BDS 2024 LEC Preview

With only one change, the Team BDS 2024 roster is looking more confident than last year – but can Ice become the answer the Swiss team was looking for?

The next 6 weeks will be incredibly exciting for all EMEA League of Legends fans, as the 2024 LEC Winter Split is starting on January 13^th! G2 Esports are looking to defend their title as last year’s champions, while teams such as Fnatic, Team Heretics and Team Vitality are looking to claim their crown.

Among the usurpers are Team BDS, who almost won the 2023 LEC Spring Split – only to be defeated by MAD Lions in the last second. They kept almost all of their players from last year, only swapping their botlaner. Can a Korean talent work wonders for the Swiss team as it did for FNC last split?

Team BDS in 2023

Team BDS became one of, if not the most loveable team of the 2023 Season, even though they weren’t the strongest squad of it. Adam had some surprising picks that lead to some surprising strategies, while Crownie and nuc both had popoff games.

Team BDS had a slower Winter, only getting to Groups, failing to make it past 7^th place. Spring was a different beast: the hyper carry meta was incredibly comfortable for BDS, as Adam could draw all the attention to himself, letting Crownie scale with the occasional carry performance from nuc. BDS won the Regular Split, then marched to the Finals of Spring – where they choked, and the Group Stage 8^th place MAD Lions took their title.

They never quite recovered from that loss, or find a new identity after the semi-hypecarry meta replaced. Nevertheless, they made it to the Season Finals, where they finished 4^th. They demolished Golden Guardians in the Worlds Qualifying Series, but got 0-3’d after making it out of the Play-Ins. They had a roller coaster of a season, and with only one change, can they avoid a similar year in the LEC?

Team BDS 2024 Roster

• Top: Adam „Adam” Maanane
• Jungle: Théo „Sheo” Borile
• Mid: Ilias „nuc” Bizriken
• ADC: Yoon „Ice” Sang-hoon
• Support: Labros „Labrov” Papoutsakis

The Most Lovable Team is Back

Adam has become one of the most popular players in a very short time. He garnered attention even back on Fnatic, but BDS unleashed him, letting him play Garen on the international stage. He’s a beast in the laning phase and can disrupt most teams’ backlines, while also forcing bans that teams wouldn’t have to “waste” against other squads.

Last year, the weakest link (even outside the currently benched Crownie) was nuc, who was only consistent on Syndra and Cassiopeia. While he had some good matches on other picks like the Viktor and the Azir, the former two were leagues above the rest of his pool. Still, he did his job, with the BDS management believing that he deserves another chance to prove himself – hopefully, this time he can achieve a breakthrough.

Sheo was a great surprise last year, as he was one of the most stable junglers of the LEC. He didn’t have flashy performances, but helped his team get strong on Sejuani duty during the EMEA League as well as Worlds. However, he needs to step up even more as junglers will have a bigger role in the Season 14 meta, so playing tanks only might not be enough in the LEC either.

If we’re talking about the new meta, Labrov could benefit most of the changes. As Enchanters are coming back, the Greek finds himself in a favourable spot, as he preferred the Lulu even in the engage support meta towards the end of the last year.

Ice Runs in Ice’s Veins

This season, Labrov will support LEC rookie Ice, as Crownie has been benched by Team BDS. The Korean ADC has played for Liiv SANDBOX most of his career, becoming their starting ADC in the 2022 Spring LCK Split. While that era wasn’t the best for either Ice or his team, his European stint was incredibly successful: he won the European Pro League Season 1, as well as Ultraliga Season 10 with Zero Tenacity – but couldn’t qualify to the EMEA Masters.

He mostly played hyper carries like Crownie, but he also picked Samira a few times, so he is a bit more flexible than Crownie was in 2023 – it’s only a matter of experience with this rookie, but he was forged in the fires of the LCK Academy scene, so he should be fine.

Team BDS 2024 Predictions

This team still revolves around the tempo dictated by Adam and his unique picks. While his Olaf, Darius or Garen doesn’t always win the game, it proved to be effective up until the Worlds Group Stage. Ice needs to become what Crownie was in the Spring Split, and nuc needs to deepen his champion pool. If that happens, BDS should be fined, but before the first round, they are a middle of the pack team.