Team BDS became is the second team eliminated from Worlds 2023’s Swiss Stage, crashing out at the hands of Korea’s Dplus KIA. BDS top laner Adam and DK bot laner Deft spoke to the media after the action to give their thoughts on the series.

Credit: LoL Esports

Despite a one-sided victory, Deft placed emphasis on his side’s need for improvement moving forward, admitting that they were “showing some mistakes” during the series — which happened to be on his birthday — and that he didn’t think they showed a solid performance.

“I think today was a big help in terms of closing the gap between our scrim performance and our stage performance… but we are still on the verge of getting eliminated, so I don’t think this is a time to just completely enjoy the moment. I think we still have to work hard.”

Despite qualifying from the LCK, Dplus KIA has been somewhat dismissed as a side with little chance of a genuine title challenge. That was also the case for Deft’s DRX squad last year who went on to miraculously clinch the World Championship against all odds. Deft remains confident, but won’t be drawn into any early comparisons:

“I don’t think our performance is on a level where we can start thinking about winning Worlds. I don’t think this is the right time to get ahead of ourselves. But we do have the confidence that whoever we get to face, we will be able to take them down.”

The level-headedness continued when asked about upcoming opponents GAM Esports, Deft describing how DK must focus on the picks they’ve prioritized in practice as well as those in the meta. He also pointed to his team’s rushed playstyle during the matches against BDS as an issue that they need to work on.

Read also: LoL Worlds 2023 Swiss Stage: Draw & Format

Adam points out many positives from their Worlds 2023 run

On the flipside, the defeat for BDS means that their Worlds run is now over. Despite the blow of elimination, top laner Adam didn’t allow the defeat to dent his confidence.

“So far everyone in this tournament respected my GODS, even JDG banned Darius and Olaf. Every strong team needs to be scared of my champs because I can play them well, kind of in any matchup. And probably our strength in BDS was mainly creating advantages from me gaining solo kills, et cetera, and when I don’t have my champions it’s a bit harder to execute that, it’s hard to get solo kills and gain an advantage through top.”

Credit: LoL Esports

He was in an optimistic mood, claiming that he “learned a lot from the best players” after scrimming against top Asian teams during his near-month-long stay in Korea.

“I will still grow as a player in the upcoming weeks and months, and for next year I will be back even stronger than I am now. I’m really looking forward to the future because I’ll just come back way stronger.”

The Frenchman added that LNG Esports top laner Zika was the opponent that taught him the most, pointing to the Chinese top’s laning phase as the key area he himself could improve.

“This guy’s laning phase is insanely good. I could see how aggressive he was in the choices he was making while giving me no opportunity to trade back, it was really interesting to see. I could learn a lot from this.”

Adam will now continue keeping up with the tournament as a spectator, confirming to Esports.net that he’ll be watching out for the results of the LEC’s remaining sides as he’s “really looking forward to [see] what EU teams can do against Eastern teams.”

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