Whales make LoL Worlds history with Team BDS upset

Team Whales pulled off the first upset of Worlds 2023, stunning the LEC’s fourth seed, Team BDS, and making history for their region, the VCS.

The Vietnamese side came back from a 24-minute loss in a lopsided game one to beat Team BDS 2-1 at Worlds 2023 and inflict a first defeat on a major region team, one that two days earlier had swept the LCS’ Golden Guardians 3-0.

With this victory, Team Whales became the first-ever second seed from VCS to win a Worlds series after the previous two matches had ended in defeat. VCS began sending two teams to Worlds in 2019, when No.2 seed Lowkey Esports lost to DAMWON Gaming in the second phase of the Play-In. Three years later, Saigon Buffalo lost to MAD Lions in the same stage of Worlds 2022. (VCS teams did not attend Worlds in 2020 or 2021 because of travel restrictions.)

Team Whales are already staking their claim as one of the feel-good stories of Worlds 2023. This is the first international appearance from the Vietnamese team, who entered the VCS only in the summer of 2022 by acquiring Luxury Esports’ league slot.

After finishing the 2023 Spring split in fourth place, Team Whales managed a runner-up finish in the Summer split following a lower bracket run that included back-to-back five-game series against Saigon Buffalo and Team Secret. The former announced last month that it had put its VCS slot up for sale due to financial reasons.

Team Whales have little time for revelry, though, as they will be returning to the Rift on Wednesday to take on the PCS’ CTBC Flying Oyster, who beat DetonatioN FocusMe 2-0. Team BDS will have a day’s break before playing again on Thursday against DFM in a do-or-die elimination series.