Team BDS star top laner Adam has been a huge carry for the team and a large part of how BDS cemented themselves as one of the LEC’s top teams, but he wasn’t able to play in a crucial Playoffs match due to “unforeseen circumstances.” However, he was spotted playing solo queue during the team’s crucial best-of-5 set.
Team BDS wasn’t too highly rated going into the LEC this year in the eyes of most analysts. Though they made it to Worlds 2023 last year, they didn’t make much of a dent at the event beyond the Play-Ins stage. The team swapped Crownie out for Ice, an ADC who spent most of his career up to that point in Liiv SANDBOX’s (now FearX) LCK Challengers team.
Despite this, Team BDS came out swinging. Aside from G2, they looked like real frontrunners in the region and proved themselves to be a strong team. Being able to win through topside because of how Adam played was a huge part of how this team netted so many regular season wins.
However, Adam was suddenly replaced by Jenax for the lower bracket final in the LEC playoffs. It isn’t yet public why he was subbed out. More puzzling still, Adam was playing solo queue during these Playoffs matches.
BDS Adam spotted playing solo queue from the bench
The circumstances around Adam being unable to play for Team BDS during their LEC Playoffs match are uncertain at the time of writing, and neither he nor the team have addressed it beyond the initial announcement and subsequent apology.
The substitution was sudden enough, however, that Team BDS had to request that the LEC permit Jenax being subbed in for the Playoffs matches. Someone getting subbed in on such short notice is not standard practice.
Following a request from @TeamBDS, we can confirm that we have permitted the team to make an emergency substitution.The substitution will be effective for all of this weekend’s 2024 #LEC Winter Split Playoffs matches. https://t.co/j7vERowFpZ
— LEC (@LEC) February 16, 2024
The initial tweet wasn’t worded like Adam was getting benched, either. Team BDS claimed that “unforeseen circumstances” prevented Adam from playing, leaving many worried that the star top laner may have been injured or that he had some sort of family emergency.
However, he’s been spotted playing solo queue during the Team BDS Playoffs set that he had to be subbed out for. It’s clear that Adam is able to play League of Legends, making the reason behind him having to be subbed out even more mysterious.
if u don’t belivenot trying to say it means nothing happend, but… it’s really weird from my pov pic.twitter.com/9nwgtYcQAO
— Express (@ExpressLOL_) February 17, 2024
He’s been playing solo queue matches all the way through Team BDS’ set, with it being likely that he isn’t even watching his own team compete for a spot at MSI.
At the time of writing, Team BDS has tied up the series 2-2. Despite Myrwn having a significant advantage over sub top laner Jenax for most of the set, Ice is hard-carrying with his Ezreal. There’s a chance Team BDS will make it to the Grand Finals without Adam’s help.
We’ll update when/if an actual reason is given for Adam being unable to play on the LEC stage.