EMEA Masters: Los Heretics - BDSA preview

September 25th, 2022, Team BDS Academy and Team Heretics played a BO5 to decide who would take the first EUMasters trophy after the back-to-back-to-back of Karmine Corp. Heretics was then notably led by their AD Carry Jakob "Jackspektra" Gullvag Kepple who was very likely playing his best League of Legends ever. On the other hand, BDSA could count on a super consistent Steven "Reeker" Chen in the midlane. In the end, Heretics won.

August 21st, 2024, the two teams will meet again with two players remaining from the 2022 lineups only this time, it will not be for a trophy but for a shot at winning the first EMEA Masters final in its new format, in front of the Munich Olympic Hall's crowd.

On paper, it would be easy to describe this BO5 as the final before the final. However, when you look at it more closely, it is indeed a match that has everything of the EMEA Masters final.

Both teams have so far flew over the competition with minor bumps along the way. Los Heretics have woken up from a slow start in the Swiss Stage, where they lost two matches, including one BO3 against BDS that wasn't really close. Now, the spanish #1 seed is on a rampage with two 3-0 victories over some of the favorites Unicorns of Love Sexy Edition and Papara Supermassive, victories achieved in a fashion that made the German and the Turkish top team look like amateurs.

BDSA have had a more stable tournament, with a near-perfect Swiss Stage (1 BO1 defeat against Dark Passage) and two 3-1 wins in the playoffs bracket. BDSA's journey in the single-elimination bracket is thus less dominant that HRTS', however, it remains very solid, since the Swiss team was never close to drown at any point, showing a clear superiority over Karmine Corp Blue and SK Gaming PRIME. Both teams are sharing a similar momentum of excellence and individual prowess, making it very difficult to pinpoint a clear favourite.

Los Heretics and BDS Academy also share in common the fact that one player has clearly stood out of the team in these EMEA Masters. It comes with little surprise that Jackspektra, Superliga indisputable MVP, has been the leader of his team in this tournament. As of BDSA, it is also the regular season MVP Rudy "SkewMond" Semaan that has been on the spotlight, despite him being surrounded by very experienced profiles.

The first BO3 between the two teams saw the franco-lebanese jungler outclassing veteran Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir. Both junglers share a priority over the Maokai pick, however, Xerxe has so far had a lot of difficulties when being placed on AP carry junglers. The versatility is clearly on the side of BDSA, which have allowed later draft rotations in favor of their jungler (sometimes going as far as last picking against KCB) for him to shine on a wide variety of picks.

Los Heretics can expect to make a difference through their botlane, Jackspektra and Alexandru "whiteinn" Kolozsvari have shared the rift for a while now and are on-paper the strongest botlane of the whole tournament. Nethertheless, BDSA's botlane of Tim "Keduii" Willers and Polat "Parus" Furkan Çiçek did take the edge over Heretics during the Swiss Stage, as they seem full of resources. The pick priorities vastly differ from the two AD Carries, as Keduii has locked in a lot of long-range such as Ezreal, Jhin or Ashe, while Jackspektra has had (almost) none of the set up job to do, privileging hypercarries like Zeri, Kai'sa or even Xayah - and of course, his signature Draven is permabanned, giving HRTS a small advantage in all drafts.

The sololanes are the most unpredictable opposition of the match. The first BO3 between BDSA and HRTS didn't bring a clear verdict to a player outperforming his direct opponent, since neither Janik "JNX" Bartels nor Reeker could show a significant edge that wasn't caused by BDSA overall better teamplay this day.

The midlane matchup appears as the most stable one, both players have well adapted to the AD-oriented midlane meta, Daniel "Sertuss" Gamani could even be considered a Corki specialist, slightly above Reeker on this specific champion. Similarly as in the jungle matchup, Reeker benefits from a wider champion pool than Sertuss, with his signature Jayce as well as Renekton, that he displayed against KCB.

The toplane matchup is however more explosive, due to Carl Ulsted "Carlsen" Carlsen natural aggressive playstyle, Los Heretics can make a difference through this matchup. The Danish youngster (18 years old as of today) has seen it all this season, with a disappointing Spring Split followed by an excellent Summer Split. So far, he is on a very strong performance in these EMEA Masters. His Camille pick, especially, could be a strong option to deal with JNX's K'sante or Gnar.