BDS top single Adam: Bin is the biggest threat to me, and the S-Series is a good opportunity to learn from China and Korea.
In the qualification match of League of Legends S13 Global Finals on the 9th, BDS swept GG by 3-0 to advance to the World Finals. After the match, Adam, the top single of the BDS team, recently accepted an interview with the foreign media and talked about his views on the European top singles and China and South Korea’s top singles, his prediction of the prospects of the European teams in the S match as well as the growth of Adam’s personal growth in the past two years, part of the content is as follows.
Q: You made it to S in 2021, you weren’t able to put up the best play of your career in 2022, but you came back with a strong performance in 2023. Looking back at how you guys have fought your way back since 2022?
Adam: My career has been a roller coaster ride, with a big up in 2021 and a big down in 2022. Now I’m on a new team that qualified for Ss. Not many people thought BDS would make it to S at the beginning of the year, there were a lot of people who questioned me. But I’m glad I proved them wrong. I’ve been doing my best every day and trying to do my best in every game. Especially after the match with GG, I felt a lot of pressure for a while, but now I’m relieved and really happy.
Q: What has been your biggest growth point as a player? How would you compare 2021, 2022 and now Adam?
Adam: Overall, I’ve become a more trustworthy teammate. I expect a lot from my teammates and of course they give a lot back to me. All season I’ve been trying to be the best player I can be to make sure my practices are meaningful and to make myself a teammate I can trust. That’s why they allowed me to match pick Galen because they needed to trust me, and before they could build that trust, I had to prove that I was a good player.
I did okay individually at FNC and we made it to S, but now I’m a better teammate and a more mature person. That’s probably my biggest growth.
Q: Can you go into more depth about how to become a better player?
Adam: That’s a challenging question. As a player, I’ve improved a lot since 2021 in terms of my matchmaking and map knowledge. But as a person, I feel like I’m passing through at FNC. I felt like I was living in the shadow of those big name players, hesitant to speak my mind. Now without those big names, I can speak my mind and say what I think. Whereas at FNC I was quite unable to express my feelings. And by showing enthusiasm and sincerity through what I do I can also develop trust and friendship among my teammates.
Q: You mentioned that choosing an unconventional hero like Galen requires the trust of your teammates, was there any resistance from the coaching staff or your teammates when you suggested that you wanted to play such an unconventional hero?
Adam: There was no resistance, I believe every team has at least one player who is open to picking this unconventional hero. Personally, I’ve tried and succeeded with many unique choices. Even on the tournament field. The challenge for many players is transitioning from trying to practice a hero to being able to pick it up in a match. Most people prefer the comfort of regular choices, but I’m willing to take that risk. As long as my teammates trust me, I will do my best to live up to their trust.
Q: In the post-game interview you mentioned that you’re looking forward to playing against TheShy, but for other top laners, which top laner do you fear the most? Who do you think is the strongest top laner right now?
Adam: Probably Bin. i believe he’s probably the strongest in the lane phase. He is the most aggressive player and has the ability to punish me when I make mistakes in lane. Of course my confidence still tells me that I can play better than him (laughs), so we’ll have to wait until we get a concrete matchup.
Q: When you look at these strongest top laners in the East, what do you think is the biggest difference between them compared to the European top lanes?
Adam: Overall, I wouldn’t say there’s too much of a difference between the top European and Asian top laners in terms of manoeuvres, but in European matches top laners probably don’t show as much skill because of the different styles of play. Asian matches tend to rely on manoeuvres to open up the game, whereas in European matches the tempo is more stable and slower. However, in terms of manoeuvres, I don’t believe there is much difference. But the advantage of Asian teams is that they can keep practising against strong teams to maintain a high standard and correct their weaknesses. But in Europe, you don’t always get punished immediately for making mistakes in a match. So it’s harder to identify and correct problems. Tournaments like MSI and S-Series are the best opportunities for European teams to learn from the best Asian teams.
Q: What are your thoughts on the World Series? How much of a chance do you think European teams like G2, FNC and MAD have? Can they cause some problems for the pre-tournament favourites?
Adam: I’d probably say G2 could cause them a little bit of trouble, but probably not against the #1 seeds in China and Korea, but against the #2, #3, and #4 seeds. FNC could cause a little bit of trouble as well, but a little bit less. As for MAD, I don’t think they’ll be able to make much of a splash. All in all G2 will cause some trouble for the CK teams, while FNC and us BDS may bring some surprises.
