BDS suffered one frustration after another during the 2024 season. The Swiss organization spent its year in the upper echelons of the LEC, but never quite managed to follow through. In each of the three splits, BDS was eliminated at the gates of the grand final, losing in the Lower Bracket final to three different teams: MAD Lions KOI in Winter, Fnatic in Spring and G2 Esports in Summer. As a result, last year BDS accumulated bronze medals without ever getting a glimpse of gold. Worse still, although this succession of third places should logically have enabled the club to reclaim the last slot reserved for the LEC for the Worlds, the Season Finals scenario deprived the structure of the ultimate sesame, which went to MDK.

For the 2025 season, BDS has therefore decided to reshape its roster. “We'd had almost the same roster for two years,” points out Mathieu Debonnaire, manager of the team's Berlin office. "We'd missed the Worlds, the split finals, we'd only done top 3s... We needed to change something to get past this stage.” Yanis “Striker” Kella, the team's Head Coach, adds: “We sat down with everyone to find out how much we needed to change, and who should stay. It was pretty obvious that Ice (Yoon Sang-hoon) and Nuc (lias Bizriken) were the players we wanted to keep. They performed well, with very little variance over the year. Both were at the end of their contracts, but it went pretty quickly to reach an agreement. After that, we focused on the rest of the roles.”

An express offseason

To achieve this, BDS moved quickly. The club was one of the first teams to complete its roster, even before the end of the Worlds. "There was no wait-and-see attitude, as can sometimes be the case," says Striker with satisfaction. "We targeted the players we wanted and put in the resources to convince them. The roster we wanted to build didn't necessarily include players taking part in the Worlds, so there was no reason to wait. If we had waited, it would have been harder to convince certain players.” Particularly Joel “Irrelevant” Scharoll, a newcomer to the toplane. On the team's radar throughout the year, the German SK player has indeed been one of the most sought-after at his position during the offseason. He will replace Adam “Adam” Maanane, an emblematic player at BDS.

This decision will lead to a real change of identity on the BDS toplane. While Adam was renowned for his aggressiveness, Irrelevant stood out more for his ability to shine on the weakside. "Irrelevant will bring solidity, with very little variance," explains Striker. "In mid and late games, he'll be able to bring a lot to the team. Generally speaking, he'll be able to absorb pressure and do a lot with relatively little. From that point of view, it's a profile that's very different from Adam, who was more of a player you want to give a little and who's going to turn that into a lot.” The French Head Coach believes that BDS will be “capable of making Irrelevant play more aggressively”. “To answer clearly, the choice to replace Adam with Irrelevant was not motivated by the desire to play more bot in the early game,” he clarifies.

“Parus was already LEC-ready"

The question did indeed seem legitimate, because on the other side of the map comes a real free electron, young Polat “Parus” Furkan Çiçek. Promoted from the academy after a stunning year in the LFL - he was named MVP of the Spring Split before winning the French league and the EMEA Masters in the summer -, the Turkish support stood out in particular for the frenetic pace he sets in the lane phase. According to Striker, the decision to call him up to the first team was an “obvious” one: “We looked at everything he had done over the year. For me, he was already playing at a LEC level. On the macro level, of course there will be things to improve, but it's clear that he was already ready for LEC. He was with us, the management knew him well, so we knew that from an attitude point of view, it was going to fit too.”

He also dislodged a well-known LEC player, Labros “Labrov” Papoutsakis. In the end, the Greek player bounced back very well, as he went to the ogre G2 Esports - who also tried to sign Parus, as previously reported by Sheep Esports. “If we hadn't had Parus in the academy, there was a pretty high percentage of chance that Labrov would remain our support," confides Striker. "He's a player full of qualities. Now, we had to make a choice between these two, and we also had to consider the progression curve that Parus could have. Given the level he had already shown in the LFL and Turkey before that, we thought he was a better bet for the future. It's also important, when you have an academy, to use it. ”

Strengthening the early game

The final link in the 2025 version of BDS is another particularly twirling profile - whose association with Parus is eagerly awaited: Doğukan “113” Balcı. Even more than for his support, for 113, aggression is a veritable mantra. “What we lacked last year was leads on early," Striker rewinds. "On the early game specifically, players weren't necessarily able to amplify each other's strengths. And 113 is a player who doesn't hesitate to play for his lanes. When he sees something he can abuse, he'll push it. We were missing a strong voice in early, and 113 is that voice.” Striker and 113 have already won together: they won the EMEA Masters at Spring 2022 with Karmine Corp.

Excellent last year under the BDS Academy banner, Rudy “SkewMond” Semaan was also logically considered by the club to replace Theo “Sheo” Borile in the main team. “Discussions stalled because he was waiting for answers from certain teams,” explains Striker. “He was asked to have a little more clarity by a certain date, which was understandably not the case. We had other players we wanted to work with, so he was left off the list of potential junglers.” Like Labrov, SkewMond eventually joined G2 Esports. BDS will be meeting up with its two former players, now Samurai, during the first week of competition, on Sunday, January 19 at 9.15 pm CEST.

Team BDS' 2025 roster: