Shifters: Why Do We Fall before LEC Versus ft. Striker

LEC Versus kicks off on Saturday, January 17. Among the twelve teams competing this split, one arrives with a new identity. BDS is dead. Shifters is born. New colors, new logo, new botlane—but the same goal that has eluded them for four years: a trophy.

2025 was a disaster. A year of disappointment, internal struggles, and results that never came. Head coach Striker could have walked away. Instead, he chose to rebuild. “There’s no hiding it—we had bad results for most of the year. It didn’t look anything like the teams I’ve coached before. I had to question a lot of things.”

Hotspawn sat down with Striker to discuss the rebrand, the roster changes, and why falling down might have been exactly what this team needed.

The Darkest Night

Striker doesn’t sugarcoat what happened. The 2025 season was a failure: plain and simple. But rather than run from it, he leaned into the discomfort.

There were things we could have done better throughout the entire year. A lot of self-reflection. We had bad results, and it lasted for most of the season. There were moments where we bounced back, but it was nothing like the teams I’ve coached before.

For a coach who had built a reputation on consistency and development, the year was humbling. But Striker sees it differently now; not as an ending, but as fuel.

Bad splits always motivate me. I always want to prove something after. You can’t have a career with only good years—it doesn’t exist. The best coaches have difficult moments. What matters is how you adapt.

A New Symbol – “If you don’t perform, people will find something to criticize”

The timing of the rebrand—from BDS to Shifters—feels almost poetic. A clean slate after hitting rock bottom.

It’s good to start fresh after the year we had. Wipe the slate clean and move on to something new. The rebrand was planned before the Summer split, but if it had to happen, this was the right moment.

Built on Swiss precision.
Driven by all of us.
We are Shifters. #JoinTheShift pic.twitter.com/sZ1rjziaEO

— Shifters (@ShiftersGG) December 15, 2025

Striker knows the critics won’t disappear overnight. The team has become an easy target, and yes, he’s aware the new name is one letter away from an easy insult. It doesn’t bother him.

People have decided it’s fine to trash us—individually and as a group. We’re okay with that. It happened before when I first arrived. It was our performances and the quality of communication that eventually showed our players’ personalities. If you don’t perform, people will find something to criticize. This is a high-performance industry. We had a terrible year, so people trash us, it’s normal. Nothing to say but we keep our heads down, keep working, and try to do better.

Behind the Mask

The rebuild wasn’t limited to the roster. Behind the scenes, the coaching staff has been reshaped as well: “When you build a project, not everyone will stay,” he said. “Mephisto had personal projects—we agreed it was a good time for him to pursue those. Bernadette, our performance coach, joined another LEC team. And mew, the former BDS RL coach when they won Worlds, came in as our new performance coach.”

There’s also a mystery addition, a French coach whose identity Striker is keeping under wraps for now.

There’s another coach joining us—I’ll keep his name quiet for now, but I think the French community will be happy to see him back. He joined us in early January. A staff is a team you manage to meet your players’ needs. Sometimes those needs are known by the players themselves, sometimes they’re not. Based on our December scrims and the team dynamic, we decided to make this addition.

The Cracks – “Sometimes it just doesn’t click”

The botlane was the clearest point of failure in 2025. Ice and Parus had individual talent, but together, something was off: “I think there was a mismatch in terms of personality between Ice and Parus. They tried to make it work, but sometimes it just doesn’t click. You can have players who are good individually but don’t work together,” he explained.

The dysfunction forced the team into a one-dimensional playstyle—funneling everything through top lane out of necessity rather than choice.

Our game was oriented top lane by necessity first, then it became part of our style. We struggled with bot lane engages because of the synergy issues. But playing through top is historically much harder in Europe. When your bot lane wins, you can move them mid and control the map more easily.

For Parus specifically, Striker feels a sense of regret. The story could have been better.

I felt bad for Parus—he came from our academy, we brought him up. It would have been nice if the story had been better. But many rookies need time to adapt, and I’m sure changing environments will allow him to use the experience he gained with us without being held back by our bad year.

The One Who Stayed – “When you have a player like nuc, you hold on to him”

Through all the changes, one thing remains: nuc. The midlaner has been with the organization since their LEC debut, and Striker’s belief in him hasn’t wavered.

The first time we worked together was in 2020 [with KC in LFL Div2] and I immediately loved the player. There are very few players I believed in that early. He arrived in LEC in a difficult way—subbing in for a split—and yet he became one of the best midlaners in the league not long after.

Tap to unveil the greatest superhero 🦸‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/rIoxmWo8M9

— Shifters (@ShiftersGG) January 12, 2026

Beyond mechanics and his strong laning phase, it’s nuc’s mind for the game that makes him invaluable.

He’s a big voice in-game, he makes decisions without panicking, and he remembers everything we discuss in review. He can transmit that to his teammates quickly and efficiently. That kind of player is rare. When you have one, you hold on to him.

The Foundation

To many, Boukada hasn’t justified the reported €200,000 buyout. Striker refuses to give up on him: “People judge based on streamers, casters, and stats on gol.gg. They don’t watch games in detail to understand strengths and weaknesses—and that’s fine, it’s entertainment. But we kept Boukada for reasons we strongly believe in. He has a strong work ethic, a logical approach to the game, and the ability to keep order and structure in-game,” he clarified. As for Rooster, the young toplaner is still developing—but the ceiling is tantalizing.

Rooster was a rookie with a language barrier, so it was hard for him to adjust. But his laning is there—people saw it in Summer. The main thing I want him to improve is transitioning his resources to the team. He listens and applies things quickly. I don’t want to overhype him—there’s still a lot to work on. We’ll let the officials speak. He already had a good first split and generally, imports confirm in their second year.

When asked if Rooster could be compared to Canna, Striker teases: “We should wait for officials and see. But I have my opinion on that—and I think some other teams share it.”

The New Allies – “We wanted someone with personality who knows how he wants to play”

With the issues identified, the solution was clear: find a botlane that clicks. Enter Trymbi and Paduck.

Trymbi is a player who has already won. It’s important to have someone who has experienced the ultimate success in Europe. We wanted someone with personality, who knows how he wants to play. Last year, we lacked in-game opinions—players who listened but didn’t adapt when things went off-script. With Trymbi, we now have a real trio of voices: mid, jungle, support.

Paduck, the Korean ADC, was scouted through data and VOD review. The priority was finding someone who matched Trymbi’s aggressive style.

Paduck has things to learn—it’s his first full year in tier 1 with an experienced support. But he has a willingness to connect with his teammates that’s impressive. He’s surprisingly good at expressing his ideas. And yes, he’s a bit of a clown—which is good for nuc, who’s also a clown at heart. Our scrims are fun.

The Cave

The early signs are promising. Scrims have gone well—better than they have in a while. But Striker is careful not to get carried away: “Since December, we’ve seen a group that’s much happier to be together,” he explained. “Not that the old lineup hated each other—they were good guys—but when you lose all year, relationships deteriorate. Now the signals are positive. We haven’t had a start like this in a long time.” The focus is clear: fundamentals first, especially in the laning phase.

Good laning gives you solid foundations. Without it, you can build high but on shaky ground. I would say we already have a strong baseline in that aspect but I want us to be relentless on this all year—so we always arrive in mid-game with a lead, or at worst a small deficit. We also play a bit too fast right now. We have the aggression, but we need to be smarter about converting it.

Rise – “Four years in LEC, no title. I want to change that this year“

One word was written on the board when the roster was finalized: Worlds.

Going back to Worlds is the clear goal—it’s been communicated to the players since the start of the year. It won’t be easy with only three slots, harder than in 2023. But that’s the ambition. And if we can grab a title along the way, I’m not saying no.

And expectations should be high. Always.

I don’t want to hide behind ‘our roster is new, our top and jungle only have one split with us, our botlane just arrived.’ That’s not a good mentality—it doesn’t push you to give 120% every day. You should always aim to exceed expectations. If you look like a clown because it doesn’t work, that’s fine. But when it works, the feeling is amazing. We want to make something happen from the first split.

Being the favorite doesn’t guarantee anything: Striker learned that the hard way.

When you reach the final, nothing else matters. It’s just that day. Anyone can win the LEC. In 2023, we were favorites on paper. We thought we had everything to win. It didn’t happen [reverse swept against MAD in Spring]. But that’s something you learn from, and it keeps the fire burning. Four years in LEC, no title. I want to change that this year.

Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up. Shifters fell hard in 2025—there’s no hiding from that. But they’re back on their feet, with a new name, a new botlane, and the same hunger that’s driven this organization since they joined the league. The rebrand isn’t just cosmetic. It’s a statement: the old chapter is closed. Now it’s time to write a new one.

Shifters 2026’s roster:

• Toplane: Shin “Rooster” Yun-hwan
• Jungle: Mehdi “Boukada” Lahlou
• Midlane: Ilias “nuc” Bizriken
• ADC: Park “Paduck” Seok-hyeon
• Support: Adrian “Trymbi” Trybus

Coaching staff:

• Yanis “Striker” Kella
• Julien “Jujutw0” Izzo
• Marek “MenQ” Dziemia
• ???
• Théo “Mew” Ponzoni
• Damian “Arces” Osuch