Team BDS find themselves on the brink of getting eliminated from the 2023 League of Legends World Championship Play-In stage despite a promising start to their run in Korea. Fresh off their Qualifying Series victory over North America’s Golden Guardians, the LEC fourth seed was put into Bracket B which consisted of Japan’s DetonatioN FocusMe, the PCS’ CTBC Flying Oyster and Vietnam’s Team Whales.

For BDS’ first best-of-three series in Play-Ins, they took on TW, who qualified as the second seeded team from the VCS. Although BDS seemed poised to continue their impressive run with yet another comfortable victory over their Vietnamese opponents, which looked to be the case off a comfortable Game 1 win, TW returned the favor in kind in Game 2 off an 11/0/8 KDA display from ADC Trần “Artemis” Quốc HÆ°ng on Kai’Sa.

BDS attempted to bounce back in Game 3 but such a move ultimately proved futile as TW continued their momentum for good and another resounding individual effort by Artemis sent the European outfit to the lower bracket where a date with DFM awaits.

Following BDS’ series loss to TW, BLIX talked to the team’s ADC JuÅ¡ “Crownie” MaruÅ¡ič about what went wrong in the encounter, his thoughts on playing in Worlds for the first time in his career and more.

Facing Team Whales

Pedro Romero, BLIX: Commiserations on the series loss against Team Whales, despite that promising Game 1 BDS had. I want to start by covering your headspace regarding the series and how it played out.

JuÅ¡ “Crownie” MaruÅ¡ič: Obviously, Game 1 was pretty easy so we got too comfortable in Game 2 and gave way too many free kills when we were not supposed to. We’re supposed to just play slower and more together and because of that it affected our view on Game 3. We did some things wrong in draft and the game was just too slow. I messed up once on bot where I died and then it was just hard to make stuff happen on the map since our draft was a bit passive. That’s what I would say went wrong today but we are aware and we will just tackle it and change it and we should be fine.

BLIX: It was a pretty different performance compared to how it was in Game 1. You touched upon the difficulties that you and the rest of the team encountered in the latter stages of the series. Could you go more in-depth as to exactly what caused the team to underperform in the way that it did?

Crownie: I can never really go into details because I don’t really know fully myself. I think we got a bit too comfortable in Game 2. We were not connecting correctly in-game in terms of playing together and we gave them opportunities because they had a team comp that can pick us off and get resets with Viego. And in Game 3, I think I messed up on bot when I died and then Xayah was ahead and she was just really fed and it was hard to get on her in fights.

If they have positioned [themselves] like they did, it was then hard for us to poke and they just got every drake and the game was just slowly slipping out of our hands, so we approached Game 3 a bit wrong in draft. I think I’m playing a bit too passive this Worlds and I think I need to put more responsibility on myself.

BLIX: One particular aspect that also threw BDS off was the performance of Artemis with his play on Kai’Sa and Xayah in the series’ last two games. How much of an obstacle was Artemus to your team in those two games?

Crownie: If we played more patient in Game 2 and didn’t give Kai’Sa so many kills, like we did for free, then we would have been in a good spot since we were getting every dragon. In Game 3, I think we should have approached it differently and probably played some different matchups on bot that would have made it harder for [Artemis]. And after that, it was hard for us to actually make something happen on bot. It’s, like, very passive since I’m playing Ezreal.

Then he was just scaling for free and then I messed up when he was level six and Nautilus predicted my E, which was well played by them. We kind of knew their bot lane was their best players, so if I would play them again, I would look to put more pressure on them myself instead of playing so safe.

BLIX: Was there any consideration of picking a different champion away from Ezrael for you in Games 2 and 3?

Crownie: Yeah, there was [sic] considerations about what to change but we landed on what we did and you have to see if it works or not. I said in a different interview also that we weren’t really pushed against Golden Guardians so we were just playing the same thing every game, but obviously, you eventually need to show more than what you showed since these teams kind of figure it out eventually. Now we just need to show more and play better and play more aggressively.

Moving on from facing GG to Play-Ins

BLIX: You mentioned the series with Golden Guardians and how that result sent you guys to the Play-In stage. How have you been able to switch from GG and to TW so quickly with less than two days preparation?

Crownie: We couldn’t really do a very deep preparation because, obviously, there’s not enough time but we knew their overall tendencies and, obviously after Game 1, you can get a good idea on what they want to do. We had some things we predicted and some things we didn’t. Obviously, it’s impossible to predict 100 percent but I think our prep was good and it was enough to win on the day. We just didn’t execute it and we had some wrong conclusions between games, I would say.

BLIX: Do you feel the schedule that you had from facing GG in the Qualifying Series to then facing (and losing to) TW and now getting put into an elimination series against DFM has added pressure to you and the rest of the team?

Crownie: It had some pressure but we played in a similar format in LEC where you weren’t playing best-of-three’s or five but you still had to play teams one after the other so you have to prepare for multiple opponents in the week. So I wouldn’t put [sic] any excuses like that. I think they just outplayed us in the last two games. We drafted a bit wrong, we played a bit wrong and they are good enough players to capitalize on that, and as I said, I need to put more responsibility on myself to carry games and that’s pretty much it.

BDS gets a shot at redemption soon after losing to TW by taking on DFM. Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games

BLIX: It is with that thought in mind that BDS will take on DFM in the loser’s bracket. How are you looking at DFM as an opponent? What is the one thing that you guys are going to look out for in preparation for that encounter?

Crownie: I cannot really give away too much but I think we have a good idea of how they want to play from today’s series and I think we’ll be prepared with our own things. As long as we execute how we do in practice, I think we should do fine.

BLIX: A few of your other teammates mentioned BDS and also Europe’s chances of progressing further into the tournament. How do you view BDS’ potential when it comes to possibly getting out of Play-Ins and going on a deep run, if it should happen?

Crownie: For sure, we expect us to get out of Play-Ins. I don’t really want to talk about making a deep run at Worlds when we’re still in Play-Ins and losing best-of-threes but we’re confident to at least make it out of that phase and then it just depends on the draw and how fast we improve. But first things first, we need to focus on Play-Ins and if that goes well, then we can look into the future but I hate speaking too much in advance. I think we have many best-of-threes and a best-of-five now to focus on if we make it there so that’s where my mind is.

Playing in Worlds

BLIX: I want to take a look into yourself. Of course, this is your first foray into Worlds as a player so how are you taking in this experience for you given the road you took to get to this point?

Crownie: The road here was long and with a lot of things and hardships so I’m obviously grateful to be here. I think my individual level is good but I didn’t really show it yet on stage, which is a big regret so far. As I said, I need to put more responsibility on myself, but obviously, it’s a fun experience playing Korean solo-queue. I’m enjoying it. Obviously, I’m enjoying seeing people from other teams and being in a different country but now we need to focus on winning.

BLIX: When it comes to playing and scrimming against the other teams, what has been the biggest takeaway that you’ve seen from those matches–and also even today if it’s possible–that you’ve put into use for your performance?

Crownie: They like to play pretty fast and explosive games the most. That’s the thing I noticed. They don’t really like scaling too much so that’s pretty much the biggest takeaway I would have about Play-Ins.