League fans argue BDS’ loss at Worlds 2023 proves BO1s shouldn’t exist
Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesTeam BDS got upset in an incredibly unexpected win from Team Whales, a 2-1 win that came after an one-sided game 1 from BDS. League fans claim this set shows why best of 1 matches have “no place in serious League competition”.
Worlds 2023 is off to an incredibly unpredictable start, particularly when it comes to Team BDS’ performance. Though they managed a win against the heavily favored Golden Guardians to make it into the play-ins, they later lost their first set at Worlds to Team Whales, Vietnam’s second seed team.
What’s more, this win came after Adam completely shut out Team Whales in game 1 with his signature Darius. If Worlds 2023 had gone with a best of 1-reliant format like past Worlds Play-In stages, Team Whales would have never had the opportunity to make a comeback and upset Team BDS.
This win is all the more impactful considering Team BDS completely shut Golden Guardians out in the Worlds Qualifying Series, a match we spoke with huhi about beforehand in an interview.
Sentiment in the League of Legends community has shown that BO1s aren’t exactly popular with fans, but this set is being used as proof that improving over the course of a set is a crucial part of high level play.
BO1 League matches “need to go” according to fans
On one hand, it’s easy to see why best of 1 matches work well from a broadcast perspective. Best of 3 matches are inherently harder to schedule around considering the high variance in the amount of time they can take to finish, and having a series of BO1s gives more teams the ability to play in a smaller period of time.
However, this has long been a controversial point in the League community considering that the LPL (China) and LCK (South Korea) boast a best of 3 format all throughout the regular season while the LCS (North America) and LEC (EMEA) have a regular season entirely comprised of BO1s.
In terms of practice for the players and a good experience for the viewers, it’s long been argued that BO3s are superior. However, one match at Worlds 2023 has proven just how much of a difference the format can make.
With Team BDS surprising loss to Team Whales, League fans want to be rid of best of 1 matches for good to give the team that can quickly adapt to their opponent’s strategy the best chance of winning.
For context, it’s important to note the fashion in which Team BDS lost to Team Whales. Adam got his hands on Darius, a pick he’s extremely confident on, and managed to single-handedly carry his entire team through the match.
It’s rare that one player in a pro match puts the game on their back, but Adam managed to do just that. There was nothing Team Whales could do to stop him.
TRIPLE KILL FOR @RICADAM_LOL! #Worlds2023 pic.twitter.com/4YVu1iT7cW
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 11, 2023
This, in many ways, is how things are “expected” to go when a major region team fights a minor region. However, as TW adjusted their drafting strategy and Artemis, arguably Team Whales’ star player, got the chance to get into the late game on even footing as the ADC, things changed drastically.
The Redditor that spoke up on this topic was adamant that BO1s have “no place in serious League competition”.
“Adaptation, resiliency, problem solving – all crucial parts of league esports competition are undermined when we have bo1 instead of bo3/bo5. I hope Riot will take in this feedback and continue to experiment with tournament formats. Like I said, a great place to start would be to completely do away with bo1.”
Others agreed with OP, claiming that BO1s at Worlds is “criminal” and that the LEC/LCS’ reliance on one-off matches makes them much less appealing than the LCK and LPL as a viewer.
It remains to be seen if Riot changes their stance on best of one matches considering how well received the change to best of 3s in Play-Ins have been.