Image: Ubisoft/Kirill B.
Wolves Esports have been steadily building up their strength and are considered by many to be Europe’s best hope at the Berlin Major after a lethal Stage 2. The French squad was seventh in Stage 1 of the 2021 season, fifth in Stage 2, and then third in Stage 3 to qualify for the Sweden Major.
While the 2022 season started off with Team Vitality dropping the team, the LFO roster was then signed by Wolves Esports after it finished third and qualified for the Charlotte Major.
There, after defeats against Team BDS and eventual finalists Astralis, Wolves were only top 12, but left Charlotte with stability after an uncertain Stage 1.
“When we knew Wolves was going to pick us, it was a relief,” said Bastien “BiBooAF” Dulac in a pre-Major interview with SiegeGG. “It helps a lot, bringing more facilities, stuff like that, just the environment is kinda safe, not stressful, before that we didn’t have organization, any salaries, the whole thing is stressful.”
Playing for a new organization, the team had to impress. And Wolves absolutely demolished their initial opposition, getting five regulation victories, including wins over fellow Berlin-qualified teams G2 Esports, MNM Gaming, and Rogue.
Despite securing 15 points just over halfway through the stage, a tally that could have ended up being enough for the French, the team felt like the job was not done yet.
“Even after our six games it was not locked, so we said ‘guys just keep focused, we need to play as we played the five first games, it will be alright’,” revealed BiBooAF.
On play day six, Wolves could have locked in their Major spot with a victory against Team Secret, but shockingly fell short. With Secret winning five of the team’s six defenses on Chalet, arguably an attacking-sided map, they took the upset win, 7-3.
“The game didn’t help us, we lost like important round in attacks that could have helped to swap the momentum they got, at the end they played well. We could have comeback but they closed the game, so you know, it’s just unfortunate events and we didn’t play at our best level,” he said of that match.
But Wolves still secured a spot for the Berlin Major, becoming the first European team to do so. A 7-1 victory against Natus Vincere thus allowed them to approach the final two games with nothing to play for but seeding.
Against Team BDS, the team lost 4-7 in what BiBooAF described as a “special” match, but followed it up with a 7-1 victory against Outsiders.
With a record of 7-0-0-2, Wolves Esports are realistically, alongside Rogue, Europe’s best chance at their ‘home’ Major. But the truth is, the Frenchmen have never had a solid run at any international event.
Under Team Vitality, the team couldn’t make it to the playoffs at the Sweden Major. A few months later, the story repeated itself under Wolves at the Charlotte Major.
But BiBooAF says that third time’s the charm.
“It’s different, with Vitality in Sweden we didn’t have the same roster exactly, and we didn’t have the same game style too, we kinda had some issues with the last roster, we fixed it with bringing Mowwwgli in the team,” he explained. “For Charlotte it was totally different too, because we played that as a reward, a bonus, because we didn’t have any organization.”
“We are coming to the Berlin Major as first of EUL, kinda favorites in EU, we will just play like we do every day (...) the objective is to go to the playoffs and go even more if we can.”
In Berlin, Wolves Esports will face Oxygen Esports, w7m esports, and Gaimin Gladiators in their group. While they haven’t faced any of their opposition before, BiBooAF has a great friendship with some of the Oxygen members, especially Gabriel “LaXInG” Mirélez. Both players met back in their Xbox days, and also met at DreamHack Austin 2018.
“We are good friends, LaXInG and FoxA, it’s always cool to play against friends, they are a very good team too, they were the first team in NAL to qualify, they are consistent in every stage,” he concluded.
Catch Wolves Esports on the international stage again at the Berlin Major, which will run from Aug. 15 to 21, and read up on everything you need to know about the event.