Image: Ubisoft/Joao Ferreira
Wolves Esports may have finished Stage 3 of the EUL in first place again, but things weren’t entirely smooth for them throughout the season. While they picked up where they left off in Stage 2 with an emphatic win over Outsiders, things immediately went south. An overtime loss to Team BDS and a regulation defeat to G2 Esports were early setbacks that left Wolves with little room to make further mistakes.
Wolves responded in fine form, though. Five back-to-back wins meant that they finished top of the EUL table for a second stage in a row and secured a Jönköping Major berth with one match spare.
This followed a 7-0-0-2 record in Stage 2, the first full stage for the team under the Wolves banner.
“Maybe from outside it wasn’t as shiny as it was Stage 2,” said Bastien “BiBooAF” Dulac of his team’s Stage 3 in an interview with SiegeGG. “Maybe the start wasn’t what we wanted to have, but at the end we managed to win and grab the points every time, back-to-back on the top of the EUL, never done before.”
The feat is made more impressive in light of a Stage 1 where the Wolves Esports team had no organization backing them and admitted that they found it “tough” not knowing if they could continue to play in the future. Since signing with Wolves, though, the team has gone from strength to strength and became one of only two to qualify for all three Six Majors this year. The Frenchmen also matched their Brazilian counterparts w7m esports by qualifying to the Six Invitational 2023 as well.
“We also push to stay positive, to try and always improve, try to have a great mindset, never give up and try to communicate when we have issues with the game, if we have issues like something is happening in the game,” added BiBooAF.
A great season for him has also been key to Wolves Esports’ success, as he has led his team by example. While Dahmani “Mowwwgli” Yanis’ entry prowess has been crucial as well, BiBooAF was the best on his team by SiegeGG Rating in Stage 2 and fourth-best across the whole EUL. It was much the same in Stage 3, where BiBooAF improved even further to become the best player in the EUL.
“It’s more about the team, I didn’t focus a lot on trying to be good on stats, but trying to be good for the team, how to make me better to fit in my roles, to play better for the team. Anyone in the team, if we are at the top of the stats is something cool, but the most important is being on top with the team,” said BiBooAF of his performance.
Axel “Shiinka” Freisberg was no small part of the puzzle, either and eclipsed Team BDS support Loïc “BriD” Chongthep by the end of Stage 3 to bring himself into the conversation about best support players in the world.
“He is working from the shadows, on the drones, on the flanks, planting when everyone is shooting to covering him,” explained BiBooAF. “What makes a good support is to always do the jobs when we do our job, the one that’s seen, and he is doing it great.”
"What makes him a good support is how well he enables the rest of the team on the server while we do the highlighted job," he added.
Now, Jönköping awaits Wolves Esports, who now boast an immense amount of international experience, almost a full season together as a team, and consistently upwards momentum. They will have to first survive to the initial group stage, however, which will take place in Stockholm.
On paper, the Frenchmen are the favorites to make it through to the playoffs alongside FaZe Clan. But Dire Wolves, who return to the international stage after their brief appearance in Charlotte, and Mirage, who will make their international debut in Sweden, will be more than capable of spoiling the fun for Wolves and FaZe.
“We have a good group, people obviously put FaZe Clan and us (as favorites) because it’s a really consistent team for the years, even the last Major they were in the finals, and us we were, like, on top of EUL two times in a row so it’s easy to put us on top of the group,” agreed BiBooAF.
“But, we still have two other teams, Dire Wolves, who are playing a really good stage on APAC, I think they didn’t lost once, or maybe just once. So, it’s a good team… we need to be careful about this, we don’t underestimate any team, and even Mirage.”
The Jönköping Major group stage will feature a double-round-robin, best-of-one format like the two preceding Majors this year. Wolves have certainly proven themselves in the past in the BO1 format, particularly at the Berlin Major and Stage 2 and 3 of the EUL, but they are well aware a Major is won with more than just BO1 prowess.
“We can play a lot of maps, (but) we are also working on [our map pool],” said BiBooAF. “Before playing one BO3 during your stage, including the Major, you have to play 15 BO1, so obviously the most important is to win BO1, our focus is to play and guarantee how to win BO1.”
Catch Wolves Esports on the international stage again at the Jönköping Major, which will take place from Nov. 21 to 27.
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