The LEC has been turning over a new leaf this split. After historically downtrodden organizations Astralis and Team BDS topped the standings in the initial stage of the spring, the latter of them has made history by reaching its first grand finals in franchise history. Today, Team BDS qualified for the LEC Spring Finals by cleanly sweeping Team Vitality 3-0 in the split’s upper bracket finals.
Team BDS’ run to the grand final of the Spring Split has been downright dominant: They’ve won 14 of their 16 games played this split. That’s a massive turnaround from the middling 7-8 record they posted in the Winter Split. Furthermore, all of the best-of series that the team has played this spring have been sweeps.
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Today’s sweep was largely courtesy of BDS AD carry Crownie, whose late-game-focused picks in each of the three games were able to provide immense damage at the back end of each individual contest. Game three in particular saw Crownie evolve into a damage-dealing menace on Jinx, where he was able to shred through Vitality’s frontline while keeping their carries at bay. In total, he posted a total scoreline of 17/2/24 and was named the “Player of the Series.”
“We knew they were a very strong team, but we were confident in ourselves,” Crownie said in a post-game interview on the LEC broadcast. “We knew what we wanted to play and we predicted a lot of what they would pick. I think we were just more on the same page in the game and we just outplayed them in teamfights.”
Despite today’s loss, Vitality still have a path to the Spring Finals. They’ve been dropped down to the LEC’s lower bracket finals and will face either G2 Esports or MAD Lions on April 22. Essentially, Vitality will still have to win two best-of-fives to hoist the LEC trophy, only now, they’ve lost their safety net. Moving forward, all matches will have elimination stakes.
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Should BDS win the grand finals, they’ll be given a direct ticket to MSI as the league’s top seed at the event. The Spring Split champion will be placed directly into the bracket stage of MSI, while the Winter Split champion will have to play through the event’s play-in stage. Should G2 win the Spring Split, however, the second team going to the event will be determined by championship points.
BDS will return to the LEC stage for the Spring Finals on April 23.
Published: Apr 17, 2023 02:16 pm