Team BDS always felt like it had a piece lacking since its inception.
It began with a third place finish at DreamHack Montreal 2019, which was bettered by an impressive fourth-placed finish at the Six Invitational 2020. However, there were glaring issues with the team's lineup, as evidenced by their eighth place finish in Season 11 of the ESL Pro League.
As COVID-19 struck, they found domestic success in Europe, but once again failed to win international silverware at the Six Invitational in 2021. They got closer again with another top four finish at the Mexico Major three months later, but fell back to a quarter-finals exit at the Sweden Major.
At this point, fans were in firm belief that BDS were surrounded by a curse -- that they would always be gatekeepers but never bring one home for themselves.
A disastrous Six Invitational 2022 then preceded another quarter-finals exit at a Major, before they failed to qualify for the Berlin Major entirely.
Finally, BDS made a change -- Théo "LikEfac" Mariano was brought in after a hugely exciting stint in the Challenger League. Suddenly, BDS looked alive as Stéphane "Shaiiko" Lebleu had a player nearly his equal in terms of fragging.
They won the Japan Invitational 2022 and kept going to finally break the curse. Finally, in Jönköping, they won international silverware in the form of a Major -- and LikEfac was central to that title-winning run.
Not only did he win an EVP plaudit, this came after he had a +31 K-D and the joint-highest SiegeGG Rating in Stage 3 of the EUL.
While they were unable to keep their title-winning form going at the Six Invitational 2023, finishing in the top eight, BDS were only stopped by a surprisingly "clutch" Astralis. Nevertheless, LikEfac was performing well and had the 14th-highest SiegeGG Rating at the event.
While it is not quite a "rookie of the year" performance, LikEfac's impact upon BDS makes him the 10th-best player of Year 7.
To view the full awards and schedule, check out our Year 7 Awards Hub.
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