BDS Team Preview

The kings of Stockholm come into LA with an incredibly talented lineup, and will be looking to go back to back. The combination of M0nkey M00n, Extra and Marc_By_8 combines relentless consistency with devastating mechanics, and after their meteoric rise in season X, have been a force at top of the scene.

In Stockholm they produced a performance for the ages where they defeated Complexity, SMPR and NRG in playoffs to win RLCS’ first ever major, and the team seemed to be indisputably the world’s best.

However, their results in Winter certainly showed holes in their lineup. On Championship Sunday in the first event, they were swept by Queso and perfect swept by Dignitas, scoring just 2 goals in their 8 games for the day, and even after a return to form with a win in event 2, they were again thwarted in the third event, losing out twice to a hot Luminosity and in a 0-3 sweep to Karmine Corp to be sent home outside the top 8 for their first time in their two seasons at the top.

Yet even though BDS may have showed glimpses of being human, this shouldn’t fool you. They also had a shaky lead up to the Stockholm major, with two semi finals losses putting them down to 3rd seed, a mirror image of the Winter split. When it comes to LAN, these guys are relentless. In Stockholm, Marc came alive like we’d never seen him before, M0nkey M00n‘s online top notch mechanics only improved, and Extra was perfect as the defensive rock of the team.

If anything, their early exit will only power BDS further, as they head into LA as the potential favourites. However, even with their experience and poise in Stockholm, the team is still yet to play in front of a crowd. Like the other teams lacking LAN experience, this could prove an issue for the European powerhouse, as the concept of playing in front of a packed crowd can sometimes completely shift a team’s ability.

Even with the doubts, BDS have been on top of Europe for the best part of two years now and have truly been a work of art to watch. If they’re able to replicate their Stockholm performance, it’s difficult to see anyone trumping the reigning major champs here in LA