BDS vs SK Gaming Prediction: BDS Hope For an Early Win

• The 2023 LEC Season Finals is the first finals following the new format, featuring the top six teams from the Winter, Spring, and Summer splits of 2023. 
• Tournament seeding is determined by the number of championship points. Matches are best of five, and the top teams will qualify for the 2023 Season World Championship, while the fourth-placed team qualifies for the 2023 Worlds Qualifying Series.
• BDS and SK gaming will face off in a BO5 lower bracket match, and the winner will face the winner of Excel Esports vs. Fnatic, while the loser will be eliminated from the tournament. 

BDS vs SK Gaming Pick 

• Our Pick: BDS to win 

BDS vs SK Gaming Prediction

BDS and SK Gaming are neck-and-neck going into this match. Oddsmakers listing equal odds for both teams provide enough indication that this match could go in either team’s favor. Based on recent performances, BDS does have a slight edge. They finished the Summer Split of the LEC in 5th place, the Spring Split in 2nd place, and the Winter Split in 7th place, while SK Gaming finished the Summer Split in 6th place, the Spring Split in 7th place, and the Winter Split in 4th place. Accordingly, it’s easy to see why the oddsmakers would place them on equal footing.  

To better understand how the upcoming contest may go, we can look at how these two teams have fared against each other in recent tournaments, starting with the 2023 Summer Split of the LEC. BDS emerged on top in their one regular season meeting during the Summer Split while losing against SK Gaming in their regular season match in the Spring Split. BDS would also win against SK Gaming in the regular season of the Winter Split of 2023, giving them a slight 2-1 edge against their rivals going into the upcoming matchup. 

The two teams would only meet beyond the regular season in the Group Stage of the Spring Split, where BDS soundly beat SK Gaming with a 2-0 score tally. Once again, the results are skewed slightly in favor of BDS, but it is almost too close to call. 

With both teams being so close to each other in terms of performance, it’s important to consider the various other factors that could play a part in the upcoming matchup. Let’s take a closer look at how each team performed at the last three Splits of the LEC to understand who has a better chance of advancing through the opening round of the 2023 Season Finals. 

Team BDS Hope For an Early Win

Unlike SK Gaming, BDS has experienced several roster changes in the last year. However, the last of their major changes came in December 2022 when Agresivoo, xMatty, LIMIT, and AngelArcher left to be replaced by Adam, Sheo, Cownshot, GotoOne, MenQ, Labrov, Clement, Arces, and Striker. BDS has made no changes to its roster in all of 2023, and it shows that the new team was able to bag second place in the Spring Split and fight their way to 5th place in the Summer Split. 

In the Summer Split of the LEC, BDS dealt an average of 1836 damage per minute and drew first blood in 44.4% of their games, with an average of 10.7 kills and 12.9 deaths per game, making for a kill/death ratio of 1.6, with 2.2 assists per kill. With four wins and five losses, BDS had a win rate of 44%, with an average game duration of 32 minutes and 17 seconds. BDS also acquired an average of 1787 gold per minute and won an amazing 100% of all their games when ahead at 15 minutes. 

In the Spring Split, they won 7 games and lost 2 for a win rate of 78% with an average game duration of 35 minutes and 52 seconds. They dealt an average of 2257 damage per minute and drew first blood in 66.7% of their games, with 15 kills and 11.8 deaths per game, for a kill/death ratio of 1.7 and 2.6 assists per game. In the spring split, BDS acquired 1821 gold per minute and won 66.7% of their games when ahead at 15 minutes. 

SK Gaming Search For Momentum

SK Gaming had no to the roster even before the arrival of Ewbuff, Alejandro, and Sauce as support staff in February 2023. Prior to their arrival, they had several roster changes through 2022, with Gilius, Jezu, Treatz, and Jenax all leaving over the course of the year. The team scored a 4th place finish in the LEC Winter Split of 2023, leading us to believe that the roster changes may have been for the better. 

The team had a decent outing in the 2023 Summer Split, dealing 2169 Damage per minute and drawing first blood in 66.7% of their games. SK Gaming had an average of 13.9 kills, 13.8 deaths, and 2.4 assists per kill, making for a kill/death ratio of 1.6. The team faltered on the economy front, acquiring only 1787 Gold Per Minute and having a gold differential of -409 at 15 minutes. 

SK Gaming did slightly better in the Spring Split, with four wins and five losses, prior to crashing out of the group stage with zero wins. In the main season, they dealt an average of 1907 gold per minute, with 11.9 kills, 13 deaths, and 2.3 assists per kill, for an average kill/death ratio of 1.3. Their performance in the economy was a sign of things to come, as they only managed 1752 gold per minute and had a gold differential of -455 at 15 minutes. 

How to Watch Team BDS vs SK Gaming

• Teams: Team BDS vs SK Gaming
• Location: EMEA (France and Germany)
• Time: Saturday, August 26, 2023
• How to Watch: Twitch