With high aspirations, Team BDS opened the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) Summer Season with a 2-0 victory over SK Gaming—an important, if expected, result for the Swiss organization. With a strong and revitalized roster, the team’s goal is clear: qualify for Worlds 2025 and establish themselves as top contenders in Europe. In an exclusive interview, new jungler Mehdi “Boukada” Lahlou sat down with Sheep Esports to discuss the win over his former team, BDS’s ambitions, and the LEC Summer format.

What does it feel like to beat your former team, SK Gaming?

Mehdi “Boukada” Lahlou: "Obviously, it feels great. It’s always a bit strange when you face your former team after joining a new one, especially if you lose. So naturally, I’m happy with this win. On an individual level, though, I’m not very satisfied with my performance. I made mistakes, some moves were a bit off, mainly because I didn’t sleep well last night and wasn’t really in good shape today. But despite that, I’m happy we managed to secure the victory. My teammates played really well, so it was a pleasure.

You were bought out by BDS for 200,000 euros. How did you react when you found out? Did it change your mindset or add some pressure?

Boukada: Yes, in a way. When a club is willing to invest that much, you realize how badly they wanted you, that you were their priority, and they didn’t envision anyone else but you for the role. Naturally, it feels good—you feel valued. But at the same time, it does add a bit of pressure, because the goal is clear: it’s not just about making playoffs, we want to win, we want to go to Worlds. For now, I don’t feel that pressure negatively, so it’s okay.

Striker recently said that if he doesn’t qualify BDS for Worlds, he would resign. You can feel the pressure is there. What’s the atmosphere like behind the scenes?

Boukada: Oh yeah, he really said that? I didn’t even know. But yes, clearly, going from SK to BDS has been night and day. Whether it’s the expectations or the pressure, it’s very different. At SK, even though we of course wanted to make Worlds, we mostly told ourselves, "If we make playoffs, that’s already pretty good." In BDS, our goals are clear: we want to win, and qualifying for Worlds is the minimum. You can feel it in the work pace too. At SK, we played five games a day, sometimes six when the mood was right. Here, we regularly scrim both in the morning and evening, with a consistently heavy workload. It’s not the same intensity at all. Personally, I like it. I enjoy that kind of pace.

Beyond the training pace and ambitions, what other major differences have you noticed between your split at SK and the one you’re currently living at BDS?

Boukada: First, the staff. At SK, we had only one coach who had to manage everything alone: drafts, scouting, prep… He did his best, but it was clearly hard for him. At BDS, we have five coaches. That’s really helpful because after every game, everyone gives their perspective: "Here, you could have done this", "Be careful about that…" It helps a lot to improve. On the infrastructure side, you can feel they put in the resources. They listen to the players a lot. If I ever feel unwell, no matter the reason, they come to see me immediately, try to understand and find a solution. I really feel well-supported. On the flip side, you also have to work a lot more. The expectations are higher, naturally, because the ambitions are much bigger.

You faced BDS in Spring, and now you’re part of the team. What do you and Rooster bring to this team? What changes compared to the previous lineup?

Boukada: When I watched BDS in Spring, I felt like they were often in good positions during games, but still ended up throwing. In Winter, I remember their match against Fnatic where they had a huge lead but couldn’t close it out. Same in Spring, a game against Heretics where they had the Soul and around 6-7k gold lead, yet they lost. So for me, it was a team with very good individual players but lacking stability in managing leads.

That’s something I bring: a more structured playstyle, focused on objectives, where we take fewer unnecessary risks. Well, it didn’t show much today since I wasn’t in great shape, but generally, that’s my style. And Rooster, he’s a monster in lane. Really a very strong laner, with a large champion pool. He applies a lot of pressure and he’s going to show it throughout the split. Before, BDS had Nuc and Ice, and their toplane was usually limited to just two or three picks, but with Rooster, it’s an added threat. He brings more aggression, more flexibility, and his potential is much higher.

113 is a very good player but also quite unstable. There have been some strange games from him, where he flashed in 1v5 and ended up losing a game that seemed impossible to lose. From my side, I consider myself more consistent, and that’s what the team needed. I’m not necessarily an explosive or unpredictable player, I'm someone that's more stable. Even though, again, 113 can be very strong at his best.

Many people place BDS in the top 5 this season, but there were rumors that the first scrims didn’t go very well. What can you tell us about that?

Boukada: To be honest, the very first weeks—let’s say the first and part of the second—went quite well. Not in the sense that we were winning all our scrims, but the atmosphere was good, work was progressing well, and we felt we were improving quickly. Then, about a week ago, we had a bit of a rough patch. We struggled to find ourselves as a team, we made quite a few throws… classic BDS, ultimately.

But over the last few days, it’s been better. The results aren’t perfect—we don’t have a crazy winrate or anything—but the scrims are useful and helping us improve. That should help us build momentum and perform better on stage. Things are moving as they should.

You chose to go into the group with G2 and Fnatic rather than KC and MKOI. Can you explain that choice? Did you think that group was more favorable?

Boukada: Actually, it wasn’t a decision the players really had a say in. It was decided between the coaches, so I don’t know exactly the reasons behind it. But for me, it doesn’t change much. My goal is to win the split, no matter which group we’re in. And honestly, the teams in our group are very beatable. If we keep working well, we clearly have the means to finish first. So, I’m not unhappy at all.

Striker tweeted earlier that he aims for a top 2 finish in the group to then go for Worlds. Do you share that goal? Do you think all the teams are beatable for you, especially Fnatic who you’ll face soon?

Boukada: Yes, definitely. Many teams are a bit unstable right now. For example, Fnatic were quite shaky against Heretics. And generally, I really feel that almost everyone can beat everyone else. Unfortunately, even though I love SK, I think they’re the weakest team today. But for the rest, the level is quite even. G2 and MKOI remain the best teams from the previous split, but they’re coming back from an international competition and a short break, so I don’t think they’ll be at 100% right away. I expect the overall league level to be a bit messy at the start.

After that, everything will come down to progression. We have a new team with two new players, and in such a short format, we don’t have much time to build up synergy. If we scale well, I think we can really be very strong, above many teams. But in any case, I don’t see any team right now where I say: "We have no chance." My teammates are really solid individually. For me, they’re among the best players in the league, and they can compete with anyone.

With such a short format and back-to-back matches, you don’t have much time to adjust. Does this change your training approach?

Boukada: The first week, like all teams, we played a bit of everything, everyone on their champion, testing. But little by little, we’re starting to narrow down our champion pools. Today, we have some drafts we’re really comfortable with and that we work on particularly. We can’t afford to spread ourselves too thin. And I think that’s also why we play a large volume of games. Compared to other teams, we have less time to prepare, so we have to make up for it with the amount of play. We try to play as much as possible.

Is there anything you want to add to conclude?

Boukada: Yes, a big thank you to BDS supporters. We heard them loud and clear in the studio today, and I also received many nice messages on social media. Thank you very much for the support. We’re working hard, and even though we won 2-0 against SK, we know there’s still a lot we need to improve on as a team. We’ll focus on that to prepare for next week, beat Fnatic, and finish top 2 in the group, with the goal of making it to Worlds."