The LEC will have four teams in the Swiss stage after a dramatic finish for Team BDS.
Team BDS have gone the distance at its League of Legends World Championship debut after they completed the reverse sweep against PSG Talon to qualify for the next round. While PSG Talon looked the favourites after taking a clinical 2-0 lead, it was BDS who turned it around with three wins on the trot.
That win means that BDS will be the fourth LEC team in the Swiss stage, which now gives the region a numerical advantage over the LCS while also being on par with both the LCK and LPL. But it certainly didn't look that way in the beginning as it was PSG who looked the more dominant of the two.
Game one was an annihilation from PSG with the likes of Wei-Yang "Wako" Zou and Yi-Tang "Maple" Huang who pulled the strings with Kai'Sa and Jayce. Even Chun-chia "Junjia" Yu played his role to perfection with his Maokai getting 10 assists. Game two was just as disastrous as the first with BDS limited to just three kills for the second game in a row.
Three PSG players also walked away with zero deaths as Hung-Yu "Woody" Lin joined the likes of Wako and Maple. However, Maple ended the game with nine kills on Akali while both Wako and Woody had three apiece. With PSG needing just one more win to end the series, this was when BDS decided to step things up.
The third match was the second longest in the series that went beyond 40 minutes as PSG took hold of the lead in the early game. However, BDS was able to fight themselves back into contention from the mid-game onwards, constantly applying pressure onto PSG whenever possible. And it was down to BDS' most experienced player, Adam "Adam" Maanane who stepped up with his Olaf to get eight kills, seven assists, and only two deaths the entire game to bring one back for the team.
Adam would proceed to pop off in the fourth game as well, this time on Garen where he was able to get seven kills, five assists, and a sole death once again. But it was Juš "Crownie" Marušič who stole the show. His Kai'Sa was all over the PSG lineup, which earned him 13 kills, four assists, and only one death. BDS' dominance was evident in PSG's inability to get on the board with only seven kills to their name.
With the series now tied in the balance, BDS needed just one more win to complete the reverse sweep. It was also the longest match of the series with both teams trading the lead in a back-and-forth game for the final spot in the Swiss stage. It was a low-score affair as neither team was willing to take the risk. But in the end, it was BDS who pulled through with some great teamfights that were capped off by a quadra kill from Ilias "nuc" Bizriken with Tristana.
That win was all BDS needed to complete the reverse sweep against PSG to secure their spot on the Swiss stage for Worlds 2023. As for PSG, this will be the first time that they started from the Play-In Stage and failed to make it past. The team missed out on Worlds last year whilst their last two appearances ended in the group stage.
