On April 23, League of Legends fans excitedly watched as Team BDS and Mad Lions clashed for the LEC title. If BDS won, they would have become the sixth team to ever win the competition, and after a dominating regular season and playoffs stage, BDS stepped on the finals stage as the favorites. But fans and pros alike underestimated MAD Lions.
After looking like defeated kittens in the first two games of the series, MAD leaped on their opponents like a famished beast and reclaimed the Rift for themselves. BDS were hunting for a title, but they stepped in MAD’s territory and ended up getting devoured by a swift reverse-sweep after Carrzy delivered the second pentakill of the series. Seeing MAD reclaiming the LEC title came as a surprise for many, but it was well within expectations in the Lions’ den.
Although experiencing that series as MAD Lions’ coach was “surreal,” Mac told Dot Esports, he never had any doubt his team was going to win.
“All of us kind of knew from very early on that this was our series,” Mac said, explaining that the confidence came from knowing his players and his opponents down to their core. The coach highlighted in-game patterns, strategies he believed BDS didn’t have a good answer for. And if MAD were to plan around those patterns, their opponents would not be able to adapt fast enough in the series.
Mac knew his players would adapt well because of who they became through key moments of their careers. “I think they’re players that I would bet my life on them performing in a do-or-die situation, in a game five,” Mac said. “No team in the LEC has been pushed to the limit as much and as frequently as we have and we’ve come back every time.”
Despite their coach believing them, MAD stood one game away from conceding the title to BDS. Mac identified “holes in the [team’s] armor,” underlining how they can be hasty in making decisions and, on occasions, aren’t always on the same page when approaching a fight. Despite some tweaks needed in their performance, there’s one characteristic that played a crucial role in their third LEC win: mental resilience.
MAD did not falter in the face of elimination and came back in game three in full force, dismantling BDS. Mac said to achieve this result, it took “a process-focused mindset” that distanced players from honing in on the results and instead helped them concentrate on growth. He highlighted how an “athlete-centric” approach to coaching is what’s needed to create a team, rather than five individual players in the same game.
“I believe in trying to satisfy the individual needs of each individual player, whatever those happen to be, and trying to help all of the players understand each other’s needs and understand how important it is to get the best out of each other,” Mac said. Ultimately the coach believes a good team is more than the sum of its parts, and to create that kind of team, the culture needs to be curated.
MAD’s “secret sauce” to winning lies in making sure everyone, players and staff included, knows no one is bigger than the team. The British coach added that the way a team wins is by teaching the individuals to focus on learning, improving oneself, and “staying humble and hungry,” all while helping other people in the team to do the same.
“We put an incredible amount of time and energy and resources into hiring staff members that are the type of people that are going to really exemplify the type of culture that we want,” Mac said, stating that when a pivotal match comes everyone in MAD is on the same page, players included.
The concrete results of the team’s effort were plain to see, especially in the last game of the Spring Split finals, where many felt MAD won from the drafting stage. Mac said the draft felt easy for the coaching staff during game five because it seemed like BDS were out of options after Chasy’s stellar performance on Jayce in game four.
“The scenario was super, super comfortable for us, and we literally just drafted exactly the champions that were like in the prep sheet that we had,” Mac said. “So as soon as the first pick happened, we basically knew all five picks in the drafts straight away.”
MAD had just two weeks before their debut at the 2023 MSI as the LEC first seed. In preparation for the event, Mac said the team followed four steps, starting with resting. Step two is the most important, according to Mac: Keep on doing what makes MAD a strong team. And according to Mac, that’s simply spending time together: “Having fun, doing team building stuff, finding fun things to do in London, playing sports together, getting outside, like playing chess, board games.”
For steps three and four, MAD focused first on themselves and then on their opponents. The retrospection required working on the team’s issues, learning where they’re vulnerable, and how they can adapt and improve before the tournament begins. Then it’s time to look at the other competing teams and learn their strengths and weaknesses to prepare countermeasures, but also take inspiration from them.
LEC fans doubted MAD throughout the group stage and playoffs so much they even prompted an ironic apology video from them. But the team proved they have what it takes to bring home a best-of-five series in their home region, and at MSI they are looking to continue the win streak.
