BriD On BDS' Transformation To Major Winners
Loïc "BriD" Chongthep has recently won the European Rainbow Six August Major with BDS Esport. The French team has valiantly fought through the tournament. After a loss to G2 Esports in the Opening Match, the team made its way through the Lower Bracket - only to face G2 again in the Grand Finals. There, they lost the first map, but continued with a perfect reverse sweep to eventually win the event. In an exclusive interview with GGRecon, the player gives insight on how the team evolved after he joined in June and how they managed to secure the most important trophy on European soil.
You officially joined the team in June 2020. What did you think of the team before you entered?
I knew that they had great potential. You could see that in their performance at the Six Invitational. Back then, they finished in 4th place with, what I thought, was zero team synergy. I didn't think about their last-place finish in Pro League because I knew that they were not motivated. With a change, they would be able to achieve great things.
As you said, BDS finished the last Pro League season in last place. After you came on board, what changed? How did you go on to take second place in EUL?
From what they told me, they had lost their team spirit. When I came in, they were hyped to play and to win. They just needed a change, to switch something up. To be honest, we just played a lot together. We practised a lot ever since I joined and until the end of Stage 1 of EUL, we haven't had two days off in a row. We know that this was really intense, but it was what we needed to make it work, to achieve what we did in the first stage.
Now that you're part of the team, what is the role distribution? Who does what?
Elemzje is the in-game-leader and the flex of the team, so he often does whatever we need him to do at that moment. He's leading, and he's also the brain of the team, he's there to complete us and our plans in any capacity. Shaiiko is our entry fragger. His role is to kill everyone, so to say. We send him to the front lines of the battle. Renshiro is the second support and second flex. His role is mostly to hold some specific lines and put in some headshots. RaFaLe is another support player, he helps me with droning and gives some advice to the rest of the players on how to attack. Finally, I am the main support. That means that I drone for my mates, and I plant in most cases - I have to be the last alive. I communicate to my team what I am seeing as we set up so that they know what to do to win the round.
What were your expectations going into the Major? And what went wrong against G2?
Our expectations were like everybody else’s - win the tournament! Unfortunately, we didn’t show up at all in our first match. We played a map that we hardly ever play. We’ve only worked on it two weeks before the major, because we knew that we would eventually have to play it. It showed that the work we had put in was not enough, obviously! Our mentality was also not great, we weren’t on the same “page”, so to speak. Those are the main reasons why we lost to G2.
For everyone in the team, it was do-or-die time.
In your elimination match, you faced Rogue. How did you manage to defeat them so easily?
At that particular time, I think Rogue were in a bad mood and lacked momentum. They were one of the favourites to win the event, and they lost against Virtus.pro. They were probably surprised, I guess. I’m pretty sure that they were down mentally. But we also played pretty well and confidently, unlike in our first match against G2. We immediately fixed the issues that had cost us the match against G2, and for Rogue, that worked!
In the Grand Finals, you had to face G2 again. With their default win and after the overtime on Villa, how did you feel? What did you talk about after the map?
We felt pretty confident after the loss on Villa, because everybody knew that we just don’t play this map, and we got a 7-8 against one of the best teams on it. Our performance was based on simple experience and good communication, so it was pretty smooth for a map that we have played maybe two or three times since I joined. In my mind, it was like ‘Oh, it’s fine. We just got a 7-8 against G2 on Villa, it’ll be much easier for us on the next three maps’. After the map, Elemzje said: “Okay guys, we’ve got this. The next three maps are our HOME maps”. For everyone in the team, it was do-or-die time. You have to give everything, even if you’re down 0-2 in a Best-of-Five. I guess that’s what we did.
Did you change anything to achieve the perfect reverse sweep against G2?
I don’t think that we changed anything in particular, the team spirit was just excellent. I mean, when we lost to G2 previously, it was because we didn’t play our game, and in the Grand Finals, we had identified our mistakes and were already performing like we were supposed to.
What does this Major victory mean for you? Does it feel less meaningful because it happened online?
It’s a result of a lot of concentrated work. I spent lots of time trying to achieve something like winning Pro League or a Major event. Now it happened with the Six Major EU. I’m pretty happy, even if it’s online. I mean - a title’s a title.
Finally, do you think of yourselves as the #1 team now? Do you believe that you can be similarly strong when offline events make a return?
I don’t think that we’re the #1 team right now. There are lots of teams with big potential, and in Europe, all teams can beat each other. We only know that we’re the #1 team in the tournament, but in the bigger picture, it’s hard to say. We know our potential as a team, and we can produce the same level of gameplay only if we play as a unit. So I’d say yes, we can be similarly strong again. But our biggest enemy is ourselves, so we have to take care of that at offline events.
Images via DreamHack