Team BDS Preview – League of Legends Worlds 2023

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Team BDS Preview – League of Legends Worlds 2023

Team BDS Preview showcases the team which joined Worlds last, but how far can they go after beating Golden Guardians in the Worlds Qualifying Series?

The 2023 League of Legends World Championship is just around the corner! The biggest LoL event of the year starts this Tuesday, on October 10th, with the best teams competing for the title of World Champion and the Summoner’s Cup.

The last squad, Team BDS have finally locked in after the Worlds Qualifying Series, which means that the roster is finally complete. Adam “Adam” Maanane and his teammates managed to blow Golden Guardians out of the water Monday, but how far can the Swiss team go in the big leagues?

Team BDS Preview WQS

Team BDS Roster

  • Adam “Adam” Maanane
  • Théo “Sheo” Borilé
  • Ilias “nuc” Bizriken
  • Juš “Crownie” Marušič
  • Labros “Labrov” Papoutsakis

Team BDS Preview

Team BDS is the 4th seed of the LEC, the league consisting of Europe, Northern Africa, and the Middle East. They joined the tournament last year after buying the spot of German team Schalke 04, but found little success in their first season. That all changed this year, as after an okay-ish Winter Split, they won the LEC 2023 Spring Regular Season, and made it to the Finals. Their Spring ended in heartbreak after MAD Lions managed to reverse sweep them after a 2-0 lead, denying them the chance to compete in the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational.

Team BDS’s Summer Split was much weaker than their Spring – even though the community expected them to be just as dominant. Nevertheless, they locked in their spot in the LEC 2023 Season Finals pretty much after the first few Summer Split matches, so they could prove themselves once again.

Team BDS – and especially Crownie – stepped up massively from their performance in the Summer, as they could take a point off of G2 Esports, as well as knock out SK Gaming to secure their spot in the Worlds Qualifying Series. Even though they couldn’t get past Fnatic, they got another chance to make it to Worlds.

After almost 2 months of practice, BDS faced off against the LCS 4th seed, Golden Guardians. The community, analysts and various casters said that Golden Guardians were the favoured team of the clash, but Adam and his teammates proved everyone to be wrong by defeating GG 3-0 – with two games won with a Garen top, which is impressive by it’s own right. BDS made it to Worlds, but the road is only going to get harder.

Team BDS Playstyle

Team BDS has had a very interesting playstyle thanks to their toplaner Adam, who played champions such as Darius, Olaf and Garen at an incredibly high level. This meant that BDS could take opponents by surprise, creating pressure while Crownie, the team’s hyper carry scaled to secure the late game. This worked out well while picks such as Jinx, Zeri and Aphelios were prominent in the meta, but once the teams in the LEC figured it out, BDS started to perform worse and worse.

Team BDS Preview Crownie

Alongside their increasing predictability, their performance started to decline as well throughout the Summer. They were always a Drake-heavy team, having the highest number of secured Souls and Drakes even compared to the teams participating in Worlds, but their poor early game meant that they couldn’t get to the lategame, and Crownie couldn’t shine. They were behind after the first 15 minutes in most of their matches, and even if they got a lead, it was close to insignificant.

On Monday against GG, a completely different BDS showed up: Sheo was everywhere, Adam and nuc were impossible to beat in lane, while Crownie and Labrov won matchups that were clearly in the NA team’s favour. Their off-time and practice before Worlds paid off, as their early game looks much better, and even when they can’t get a lead, they don’t fall behind too much, so they can stand back up when their compositions becomes the strongest. Make no mistake, Adam still plays like a madman, and Sheo still tends to give up the topside of the map in favour of Dragons while not really ganking for bot, but BDS played it’s own game, blowing GG out of the water.

Their next opponent will be Team Whales, the 2nd seed of the Vietnamese VCS on Wednesday. Can Team BDS rise to the occasion, or will their win against Golden Guardians be their biggest feat during this Worlds? Follow ESTNN to find out!

Team BDS Preview – League of Legends Worlds 2023
Bence Loksa
Bence "Atreus" Loksa is a freelance journalist and League of Legends shoutcaster, covering all things esports and gaming, also yelling loudly at big plays happening on the Summoner's Rift. While his main focus is Riot Games' hit MOBA, he also dabbles in Call of Duty, VALORANT, and as of recent, the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000 - where he looks to make some grudges with his Leagues of Votann army.