In August, after beating
ONIC G
ONIC G
Inactive
3-1 in the APAC LCQ grand finals,
BOOM Esports
BOOM Esports
Asia-Pacific
Rank #1
dos9
Zhumagali Dastan
Famouz
Fikri Zaki Hamdani
Shiro
Hildegard Arnaldo
NcSlasher
Sheldon Andersen Chandra
BerserX
Rizkie Adla Kusuma
became the third APAC representative for Champions — the first ever full-Indonesian roster to make an international LAN. For BOOM, it was the culmination of two years of work to reach the top step of the podium — and they were ecstatic.
"We're really happy, we're really proud of ourselves. Finally, we can do it," fl1pzjder expressed during the post-match interview.
During the tail-end of the 2021 VCT season, BOOM added three ex-
Alter Ego
Alter Ego
Asia-Pacific
Rank #10
Nakya
Alehandro Fabian Simanjorang
Cud
Thomas Alfiantino
ray4c
Rayvaldo Chandra
ValdyN
Rivaldy Nafian
gotten
Davin
members in
frostmind
,
BerserX
, and
xffero
while the parting ways with two of their original members,
Asteriskk
and
Eeyore
not long after.
BOOM managed to win Stage 1 Challengers Indonesia and automatically qualified for the following group stage of APAC Playoffs. After a solid performance at the group stage, BOOM was poised to make a deep run in the playoffs on the road to Masters Reykjavik. They eventually finished fourth in their best ever interregional performance then.
As they shifted their goal towards qualifying for Masters Copenhagen, BOOM was expected to continue their path of dominance in Indonesia. However, it wasn't all as planned as BOOM met their equals in Stage 2 Challengers Indonesia — ONIC and Alter Ego. BOOM couldn't replicate their success months ago. This time, they were beaten by Alter Ego in the lower finals, putting them as Indonesia's third seed for Stage 2 APAC Playoffs.
BOOM managed to go past the play-ins and the group stage, even after a loss to
Paper Rex
Paper Rex
Asia-Pacific
Rank #3
mindfreak
Aaron Leonhart
Jinggg
Wang Jing Jie
f0rsakeN
Jason Susanto
d4v41
Khalish Rusyaidee
something
Ilya Petrov
and a 2-1 scare against
ORDER
ORDER
Inactive
WRONSKI
Michael Wronski
rDeeW
Riley Wilkinson
Texta
Matthew O’Rourke
disk0
Cameron Mac
Maple
Elvin Sun
. When playoffs came around, BOOM's luck became rotten as they faced back-to-back losses against ONIC and
XERXIA Esports
XERXIA Esports
Asia-Pacific
Rank #27
. This meant that BOOM was knocked out of Copenhagen contention. Thankfully, their circuit points meant they collected enough to qualify for the APAC LCQ.
Thank you everyone for the support. We will come back stronger.
#HungryBeast
After their shortcomings during Stage 2 APAC Playoffs, BOOM made another bold change as frostmind was released, and the team was left with four remaining members as they readied themselves for the upcoming LCQ. Questions start to arise on who would be their fifth member — and whether the addition would be a short-term fix or a long-term solution. The answer came days later when BOOM revealed that
Famouz
would be joining the team on loan from
Persija Esports
Persija Esports
Inactive
Asteriskk
Nanda Rizana
Famouz
Fikri Zaki Hamdani
Eeyore
Kevin Gunawan
Flynch
Vicky Rudyanto
roseau
Baskoro Dwi Putra
.
"[As we chose] the players that were gonna stand-in for us, it turned out our players wanted to play with [Famouz] because he is a great player, of course," blaZek1ng said. "He's also a very adaptive player to adapt [to our strategies], adapting in the game with us. And I can say our scrim result was very good with him. So yeah, he's just a good player."
The change proved to be not all for naught as BOOM swept the APAC LCQ — with only conceeding three maps, they never lost an entire series throughout the tournament. After their failures, they finally grabbed APAC's last Champions slot.
Hard work pays off. (Photo by BOOM Esports/Twitter)
For blaZek1ng, it was the end of a journey filled with self-doubt. Being the last original member of BOOM since the roster's inception in 2020, worries started to creep into the Indonesian. Having never won any SEA or APAC Playoffs both in 2021 and 2022, blaZek1ng started to doubt his performance and position within the team.
"Even before [becoming] the LCQ champions, there [were] questions in my head. I'm the original member since BOOM announced the roster, right? ... We [didn't] even win a single [VCT] tournament, so we never qualified for anything," blazek1Ng said. "And then I started questioning myself. Am I the real problem then? Because I'm the last one here. Should I go? ... Should I try a new opportunity? But I can say now that the [rest of BOOM] is also trying so hard to win tournaments right? Then what [do] I feel? I'm the last original member here. I think I can give them the experience and the brain in the game."
As for İstanbul, BOOM's first taste of international competition won't be an easy one. They are placed in Group B, alongside all of Masters Reykjavik's top 3 teams —
OpTic Gaming
OpTic Gaming
Inactive
,
ZETA DIVISION
ZETA DIVISION
Japan
Rank #2
Dep
Yuma Hashimoto
SugarZ3ro
Shota Watanabe
CLZ
Hikaru Mizutani
SyouTa
Shota Aoki
Xdll
Yuto Mizomori
, and
LOUD
LOUD
Brazil
Rank #2
dgzin
Douglas Silva
v1nny
Vínicius Gonçalves
pANcada
Bryan Luna
tuyz
Arthur Andrade
cauanzin
Cauan Pereira
with the Master Reykjavik champions OpTic being their first ever opponent for Champions. For blaZek1ng, seeing his group was a whirlwind of emotions.
"When the bracket came out, I felt shocked; I felt happy; I felt excited — because we didn't ask for our first match to be that hard. But of course, we're gonna get the hard match because we qualified from LCQ, right?" blaZek1ng said. "If we win [against] OpTic, then we show the world already what we're capable of. So I'm happy for us to meet OpTic because we can gain experience also."
blaZek1ng also mentioned that their preparation for Champions will be them focusing on their adaptability to each of their opponents. Adaptability has been the key for the team throughout LCQ. As the team slotted in Famouz for the tournament, he quickly made some waves as one of the top-performing players. Even with only a month's worth of scrims with his new teammates, Famouz managed to place top 10 in ACS, K/D, KAST, KPR, and ADR. BOOM also finds a balance between an aggressive and analytical playstyle, which worked great to their advantage.
Alongside their usual preparation, BOOM also started to prepare themselves for a new map coming into the rotation, Pearl. With the removal of Split, blaZek1ng felt that it was a slight blessing in disguise even with the change.
"Me and the team are very grateful because we can see from the results at the LCQ [that] we lost Split so bad [against Griffin]," blaZek1ng said. "We've never scrimmed [Pearl] yet. But we [are] already briefed about that. And I also can say we are not the type of team like 'Oh, there is a new map coming in the map pool. So we [have to] permaban it' or anything, we just gotta try everything that we can so we can play that map."
"I see [that Pearl] is very interesting to be honest because there are a lot of leaks in mid. And then there is a long [pathway] in B so I think it's very interesting because this map is going to be like aim heavy, you know, like the better aim is gonna win. Of course, utility helps, but I think it's gonna be a lot of [focus on] one-on-one fights."
Carrying the hopes and dreams of both BOOM fans and the Indonesian faithful. (Photo by BOOM Esports/Twitter)
BOOM now carries a heavier burden than just the hopes of their fans and the Indonesian region. Joined by Paper Rex and XERXIA, BOOM carries the hopes and dreams of the entire APAC region.
The team has gone through ups and downs throughout its existence. From self-doubts, uncertainties, and emotional moments, BOOM now hopes to show what Indonesia is capable of on the international stage.
And come hell or high water, blaZek1ng hopes that step-by-step, expectation-by-expectation, will bring BOOM a little closer to lifting the trophy — and he hopes their performance can inspire future Indonesian players and teams.
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