2023 has been a year of success for BDS. The Swiss organization went from finishing 9th and 10th in 2022, to reaching LEC finals the next year and attending Worlds. Although BDS had a rough start and its roster didn’t have a lot of big names, they came very close to becoming the 5th team to ever lift the LEC trophy.

Winter Split was just a warm-up

Having witnessed the disastrous 2022 BDS had, no one had high expectations for them in 2023. What’s more, being able to qualify for Group Stage was already an improvement with respect to the previous year. The low expectations from the fans were also influenced by the fact that the line-up BDS had gathered were not considered a big threat within the league on paper.

Ilias "nuc" Bizriken (previously known as NUCLEARINT) was the only player the organisation decided to keep on the roster, changing all the remaining positions. Adam "Adam" Maanane, Juš "Crownie" Marušič and Théo "Sheo" Borile were promoted from Team BDS Academy after they placed second in European Masters in Summer 2022. Lastly, Labros "Labrov" Papoutsakis would join from Vitality to reunite with Crownie in the Bot Lane.

Surprisingly, BDS didn’t perform as poorly as everyone predicted. They even managed to finish the BO1s with a positive score in Winter Split (5-4). Coming into the BO3s though, BDS couldn’t replicate its partial success. They first fell against a dominant G2, but not before stealing a victory from them in game 2. The next series they faced Astralis, who won the third game thanks to a clutch performance from Finn, who locked in Kled to control Adam’s Olaf and confuse BDS with chaos.

Although in Winter Split BDS was not able to reach playoffs, the results could be considered as a success. BDS was not a bottom tier team anymore and its performance in some games, such as the one they won against G2, showed that the players had the potential to go beyond their expectations. The synergy that BDS had started to build up in Winter was translated into the organization’s best Split since they joined the LEC: 2023 Spring Split.

Spring Split Success

BDS came into Spring with higher expectations, at least a top 5 was a reachable objective for the organization. But for everyone’s surprise BDS dominated the BO1s and earned themselves a deserved first place in the regular season after just losing to G2 and SK, ending with a 7-2 score.

BDS’ game plan started to consolidate, and the players started to feel comfortable in their own skin. Crownie started to shift into hyper carries like Zeri and Jinx. Adam stuck to his notorious champion pool with picks such as Olaf or Darius, while Sheo took up the mantle of proactive early game junglers, namely Sejuani, Wukong or Vi. Labrov and nuc adapted more to the team, with picks like Nuc’s Cassiopeia and Azir and Labrov’s Lulu and Nautilus.

This roster also didn’t hesitate to try new things and develop strange strategies to surprise their opponents. Indeed, it was Adam who first played the infamous “Sion level 1 strategy”, stealing the enemy red buff alongside Sheo and then ganking Bot Lane as a 4 man unit. Often resulting in his death and being able to use Sion passive which is extremely strong in the early game. This strategy would be then become popular and copied in other regions like the LPL or LCK.

In Group Stage BDS rolled over SK with a clean 2-0 series to face the reigning champions: G2. Although BDS were at their peak form, G2 was still too much for them. BDS fell 1-2 against G2, as they did in Winter. This time though they were in the upper bracket, so they qualified for playoffs after dispatching KOI 2-0.

In playoffs BDS decimated Vitality in a quick BO5 to reach to their first Finals in their history and a showdown with the MAD Lions who had surprisingly eliminated G2 in a tough series. MAD were no pushover though and after a close series dispatched BDS 3-2 to clinch the spring split title.

BDS took the first win with Crownie notably getting a Pentakill on Zeri. Nevertheless, MAD didn’t roll over, In game 2 they tried to catch BDS off guard with a poke-comp, but BDS outexecuted them and won the game on a knife’s edge. BDS was just one game away from becoming the Spring Split champions, but game 3 turned out to be a complete disaster. MAD crushed BDS with Carzzy taking revenge from game 1 with another Jinx pentakill. This game shook BDS’ confidence and the thoughts of a reverse sweep started to creep in. These doubts would indeed end up materialising, as MAD Lions went on to win two very one-sided games in games 4 and 5, becoming the spring split champions.

Although the team fell short at the last match, Team BDS could be very proud of their achievements. It is also worth to mention that BDS obtained 100 Championship Points in Spring which would smooth their path into Season Finals and be a catalyst for their Worlds qualification.

Summer Split Mediocrity

In Summer Split, BDS were not able to replicate their success due to the rise of teams like Fnatic and Team Heretics. They placed 5th in regular season with a 4-5 record. Group Stage began with a win over Team Heretics, but BDS would once again lose to G2 in the following series. This meant that they would once more face Heretics, but Heretics got their revenge and ended BDS’ Summer run.

Having obtained 75 Championship Points in Summer, BDS qualified for Season Finals with the 3rd seed and a total of 205 points. BDS was among the best performing and most consistent teams in the league, although they were not able to lift the trophy.

Mixed feelings in Season Finals

Season Finals started badly for BDS. The organization’s first series was against the team they struggled the most throughout the year, G2. This time it didn’t go any differently, as BDS lost 3-1, narrowly losing in game 4. To bounce back from the loss, BDS convincingly beat SK Gaming 3-0. This win guaranteed that BDS at least would fight for a spot at Worlds at the Worlds Qualifying Series (WQS) against North America’s 4th seed.

Now though, it was time to face FNC, who had finally woken up in Summer and were a very strong opponent. This series decided who would directly advance to the Swiss Stage at Worlds, and who would face NA to try to qualify for Play-ins. After a very tense series with amazing moments for both teams (notably FNC’s “ping-pong moment” with nuc in the Mid Lane), FNC emerged victorious in game 5 although they were playing with Wunder as a sub in the Top Lane, who was an excellent deputy in the place of Oscarinin, notably during team-fights with Renekton.

This loss meant that BDS would participate in one of the most hyped series of the year: the Worlds Qualifying Series against NA’s 4th seed, who turned out to be Golden Guardians.

Making a Statement at Worlds.

After 2 long months without any competitive matches, nobody knew what to expect from the WQS. Golden Guardians had some struggles in Summer, but so did BDS. The pressure of the whole weight of the EU-NA rivalry was on the backs of these teams. Nonetheless, this pressure didn’t negatively affect BDS, who stomped GG 3-0 in an extremely quick fashion. It can be confidently said that Adam was this series’ MVP, especially on Garen, he obtained multiple solokills as Licorice and GG just couldn’t contain him. Once more, the European fans could proudly spam “EU>NA” and brag about it.

Play-ins was full of scares for BDS

Being the only team from a major region, BDS was expected to make it out of Play-ins or at very least to come close to it. They didn’t make it easy though as they lost their first series against Vietnam’s 2nd seed Team Whales. This didn’t stop BDS from quickly dispatching the LJL’s DFM and the PCS’ CFO to reach the qualification match against possibly the most solid team from the Play-ins, PSG, who hadn’t dropped a game until this point. In a heart plunging Bo5, BDS were able to emerge victorious 3-2 after being made to sweat for it.

This Play-ins run allowed people from all over the world to cheer for BDS and specially for Adam. His fun and rare champion pool caught the attention of fans worldwide, which led to the creation of the GODS (Garen, Olaf, Darius, Sett) meme. BDS had met all their expectations: reaching LEC finals, reaching the Swiss Stage at Worlds and making fans happy. Nonetheless, they would try their best in the Swiss Stage against the big names.

Overwhelmed in the Swiss Stage

Sadly, BDS couldn’t win a single game in Worlds Swiss Stage. Their first match against the reigning MSI champions was not as JDG favoured as many had predicted, but the 1st seed from the LPL was too much for the humble BDS. The second match turned out to be a slow and steady win for MAD. Team BDS were 0-2 now, which meant they were one loss away from elimination. But their opponents were no other than LCK’s DPlus Kia, who had a roster including reigning World Champion Deft, as well as 2020 World Champions Showmaker and Canyon. BDS gave their all, but it was just not enough as they would fall 2-0.

Looking to obtain similar results in 2024

BDS’ 2023 run was an amazing achievement that nobody expected. This gives no reason for the Swiss organisation to not aim for similar results this year.

With these goals in mind, BDS are making just one change to their roster. 22 year old South Korean ADC Yoon "Ice" Sang-hoon is is coming to fill Crownie’s shoes. Although it must be said that he wasn’t BDS’ first choice during the offseason. As Sheep Esports reported, names like Matyáš "Carzzy" Orság, Jeong "BAO" Hyeon-woo, Seo "deokdam" Dae-gil and Lee "Prince" Chae-hwan were considered, but Ice was their final choice.

Although Ice began his career in South Korea with SANDBOX Gaming in the Academy Series and later the Challengers Series (CL), he joined Serbian/Polish Ultraliga team Zero Tenacity for the 2023 summer split. In the Ultraliga. Ice helped the team win the European Pro League, which is a new for 2023 tournament featuring the top 2 teams from eastern Europe’s 4 ERLs. They also swept the regular season of the Ultraliga but fell in playoffs to AliorBank Team, causing them to miss out on a chance to participate at the EMEA Masters.

We will have to wait to see how Ice fits in and how the team will function in 2024. BDS has still some goals on their to-do list: win the LEC, advance further in Worlds Swiss Stage and advance to MSI for the first time for the organisation; and they will work hard to fulfil them.