BDS’s French mid laner Ilias “nuc” Bizriken offered a raw and honest reflection following his team’s 3-0 defeat to GIANTX, highlighting the impact of mental strain, physical health issues, and last-minute roster changes during a demanding season. His interview shed light not only on BDS’s playoff exit, but also on the broader challenges facing professional players today. For the full conversation, watch the interview on YouTube or continue reading for the key insights.
Health and Mental Fatigue Take Center Stage
Across the competitive esports landscape, increasing attention is being paid to both physical conditioning and mental resilience. Nuc’s post-match analysis emphasized just how critical these aspects have become for pro players at the highest level of League of Legends.
“I had some issues related to how hard I was going on myself and how hard I was pushing myself with the game.”
Over the course of an intense year, nuc revealed that the relentless grind of maintaining peak performance led to significant physical and emotional burnout.
“I had injuries on my arms and a breakdown mentally recently, I want to feel good again and take care of my body.”
The cumulative effect of daily stress without proper recovery creates a harmful feedback loop, impacting performance at every level – from communication to mechanical execution.
“The biggest thing is not being under perma stress, your body is just getting every time this dose of stress, every day, every day, every day, non stop. At some point it goes crazy.”
In such an environment, even small performance gaps can feel insurmountable. According to nuc, this unrelenting pressure erodes instinctual play and blunts decision-making under pressure. His personal focus, moving forward, is clear: rebalance and recover.
“Doing sports, eating better, getting my resources back with friends and family, finding my habits again to actually be happy.”
This pause is not simply a break, but a total reset of daily habits – part of a wider movement in esports to prioritize health, longevity, and wellbeing as factors in competitive success.
Late Roster Changes Undermined Team Cohesion
Alongside personal obstacles, structural issues within the BDS team contributed to their playoff exit. Nuc openly acknowledged that changes to the lineup came too late for effective synergy to take hold.
“We did roster changes after two splits, which is quite late, because the previous roster could not work together.”
While the newly assembled roster showed more promise on paper, BDS struggled to gel under the time constraints of the shortened summer split, and that lack of coordination was evident on stage against GIANTX.
“This roster makes way more sense, we just did not have time to become a good team, they were the way better team today.”
At the core of this struggle was the breakdown of mutual confidence and trust – both crucial ingredients for decisive, coordinated play in a best-of-five setting.
“On stage you need the most confidence and the most trust as a team, and I do not think we really had it because of what happened during this year.”
The result was a repeated pattern: isolated plays, unclear comms, and a team unable to activate the full potential of its individual players due to a lack of cohesion and preparation time.
Uncertainty Looms but Perspective Grows
While nuc remains optimistic about BDS’s potential long-term, his personal future – and that of the current lineup – remains unclear. The organization is expected to evaluate changes ahead of the next competitive season.
“We will see next year, because I think a lot of things will change. I do not know if I will be here. I do not know if people in the roster will be here.”
This honesty exemplifies an increasingly open conversation in esports about the toll competition can take, and underscores a broader movement toward sustainable practices within pro teams.
Context: Burnout in Professional League of Legends
Nuc’s experience reflects a wider trend across League of Legends and esports as a whole: longer competitive calendars, rising expectations, and an evolving understanding of performance management. Fatigue, both mental and physical, is now recognized as a critical factor in team success.
Organizations like BDS are beginning to incorporate specialists in nutrition, psychology, and physical fitness to support their players holistically. Yet, as Nuc’s case shows, system-wide change still requires time and investment.
With the 2025 season approaching, players across the LEC and beyond are taking stock of what it takes not just to compete, but to endure and thrive. For more behind-the-scenes insight into Nuc’s perspective, watch the complete interview on the Team BDS YouTube channel.
