If Lose, x9 Bardinette, If Win, x9 Bardinette

17 minutes ago

4 min read

If chaos is a ladder, and that ladder was League of Legends solo queue, Bardinette is climbing it. He has gained a notorious reputation in the EU West ladders for his unconventional approach to the meta and for playing Bard in the top lane. Bardinette graciously shared insights with eSports Echo, discussing his unique playstyle, perspective on the game, media scrutiny, and his fabled champion select PowerPoint presentation.

Brief History

Bardinette has always considered himself to be a bit of an 'oddball' and has always been drawn to Bard, even before his migration to the top-lane.

Similar to the champion, Bardinette began his journey in season 5. He reached Challenger while playing Bard as a support in season 9 before temporarily stepping away from League of Legends to attend to personal responsibilities. Upon his return, he focused solely on playing the champion in the top lane and swiftly rose to Grand Master within a fortnight of rejoining the game. This transition to the solo lane was predominantly driven by the meta in season 12, which made it feasible for supports to excel in the top lane.

From that moment on, Bard top has become the sole way he finds enjoyment in playing the game, and he has been addicted to it ever since.

Approach

Bardinette's approach to League is considered by many to be controversial. The playstyle involves abandoning the top lane and causing a number advantage around the map, in essence, Bard becomes a second jungler that aims to funnel gold and resources into win conditions. This playstyle is highly effective in solo-queue because of the inherent chaos of uncoordinated team dynamics.

Since no two solo-queue games are ever identical, the win conditions vary from one game to another. It is crucial to his strategy to ensure a champion is well-fed and capable of handling the threat posed by a well-farmed top-laner, as in theory, this champion should be the only one on the enemy team who is well-fed. Depending on the game, his other win conditions include at least one of the following;

Camping lanes that excel in the early game, for example, a Nautilus/ Draven lane.
Targeting the weak link on the enemy team.
Funneling top lane minion waves onto other champions.
Stack objectives, such as drakes and grubs.
Invading early, and often.

Players who are open-minded tend to thrive with Bardinette's unique playstyle. When paired with junglers who embrace unconventional picks can lead to dominating the map.

Bardinette tries to always keep a positive mindset and a relaxed demeanor both in-game and in life. He frequently praises his teammates during successful games and encourages players in losing ones, a feat that is far too uncommon in League of Legends. Above all else, Bardinette views League for what it is, a game to have fun in.

Bardinette often streams on twitch.tv and offers insight into his playstyle. https://www.twitch.tv/bardinette

Champion Select PowerPoint

Bardinette is renowned not only for playing Bard top but also for his PowerPoint that is linked over to teammates during champion selection. His Bard top gameplay frequently appears in highlight videos of high-elo streamers on YouTube. Faced with teammates who mistakenly believe his pick is a joke and struggle to synergize with Bard top, he created a PowerPoint to enhance his winning potential.

While at first glance the PowerPoint may appear to be just a goofy meme, Bardinette offers key insights on how to win with his pick.

The slides feature win rates with specific champions, early game pathing, and strategies, all presented in a fun and engaging manner through the use of relevant memes.

Bardinette recently altered the last slide to include honors due to the mass reports that he was receiving.

On Handling Media Scrutiny and Backlash for Playstyle

Without going into detail with names, Bardinette has received public backlash from streamers for his approach to the game. Often with a large following, in the past, this has led to online abuse from fans of begrudged streamers. At times, this has gone as far as death threats which has naturally had a negative mental effect on Bardinette, despite his positive outlook on League and life.

I truly believe that for a time, I was the most hated player in League of Legends.

It is safe to say that a significant number of Bardinette's teammates are not fond of his playstyle. Teammates often mentally check out of the game, not try, or intentionally feed. He has received 8 bans from mass reports and been chat-restricted for a year in the past. Despite this, he keeps a cool head and doesn't get mad over things he cannot control. If people start to flame him in-game, he mutes them.

You can be an a**hole, I choose to be nice.

Approximately 1500 games per year are dodged during his champion selection process, around 1/3 games. When calculated to 5 minutes per game for queuing and picking champions, this adds up to 125 hours annually, which is equivalent to 5 days and 5 hours, or just over 3 and a half working weeks waiting for games that never begin.

Advice for Non-Meta Pickers

Get ready to get inted and flamed, non-conformity is in human nature. Keep doing what you're doing. Most importantly, have fun.

Future Plans

Bardinette's future aspirations involve further expanding his online community on Twitch and YouTube. He aims to achieve the Challenger rank while playing Bard in the top lane, and intends to undertake boot camps on both the North American and Korean servers soon.

If you play on these servers, be prepared to x9 (honors) Bardinette.