Dexerto sat down with Bilibili Gaming’s Chen ‘Bin’ Ze-Bin, the sole player from MSI 2022’s winning team that’s still around to defend the title. He thinks he’s the best top laner at the tournament despite having to fight through the Play-In stage, and he wants to take on T1 Zeus again at MSI 2023.
Bilibili Gaming has had a fairly dominant international debut. Only dropping one game so far at MSI 2023 to Golden Guardians, BLG has consistently worked around ADC Zhao ‘Elk’ Jia-Hao as a hyper-carry for the team. For longtime fans of Bin, seeing him playing weakside champions and tanks may come as a surprise.
But the meta has come a long way since Bin won the title last year with RNG, with many of his signature champions, like Camille, Jax, and Fiora, having been phased out of the meta. Though he’s been known as a hyper-carry for the majority of his career, he’s had to step up and evolve as a player to play the role his team needs most.
This evolution has been a fast one. And, though he may be playing different champions now, Bin is dead set on keeping the aggressive playstyle that makes him a standout player.
Bin is changing with the MSI 2023 meta
Bin has done a lot in his relatively short career. He started competing in 2019 and really put himself on the map during his miracle run with Suning at Worlds 2020.
His Fiora Pentakill against Damwon Gaming cemented him as a bold player who had a reputation for carrying his team through just how hard he was able to outmatch the opposing top laner.
But things have changed. On BLG, there’s a new carry to play around, Elk.
For some, Elk’s standout performances in recent weeks, both domestically and at MSI, have been a surprise. But Bin knew all along Elk had it in him to become China’s next superstar ADC.
“I knew Elk in the very early stages, even before we were both in pro play. I always knew he was one of the best ADCs in China,” Bin told Dexerto. “No matter what results he got in the past few years, he’s just been the best ADC. I’m glad he finally got to show his abilities.”
Having faith in his ADC has allowed Bin to step away from his role as a carry. He’s now taken on a more weakside-oriented role on the team, playing champions dedicated to teamfighting. And, unfortunately, this wasn’t all by choice — something we found out when asking him about the LPL finals.
“I don’t think I learned anything from the LPL finals; it’s just that I didn’t pick tank champions. This time, I showed off my tank champions and I think I’m very good on tanks. I’m going to show it in the following games.”
League of Legends is a very fluid game, one where each role’s main contribution to the team can rapidly change depending on the constantly shifting meta. After his loss to JDG, Bin immediately took to solo queue and started practicing tanks.
He also all but shut down the idea that he’d be playing the carries he’s known for.
“I think in this meta, especially for Camille, it’s just not a very good pick. It’s not good at laning, not good at teamfights, so it’s really hard to pick that right now.”
Though Bin has identified that he can’t play the champions he’s known for, he isn’t keeping that from letting him play the way he wants to. Or from thinking he’s the best top laner at MSI 2023.
Bin calls out T1 Zeus and wants to prove he’s the best
If nothing else, Bin is confident in his playstyle. Even if he has a rough game or two, he remains undeterred and maintains the belief that he’s better than his opponent.
Though he conceded that Eric ‘Licorice’ Ritchie “played really well” and told us BLG target-banned Rumble during their set against Golden Guardians, Bin still felt like he was the better player at the end of the day: “I always believe I’m the best, especially when I’m at my peak.”
Bin also feels that he’s been able to take the playstyle he’s known for as a carry and bring it into the more tanky, teamfight-oriented playstyle that’s required of top laners these days.
“What makes me different from other top laners is my courage. I play very aggressively.” Bin also promised that he’s going to stay “true to his playstyle”, even if he’s doing it on a new set of champions.
When asked about which top laner he’s most looking forward to facing at the event, he didn’t hesitate to call out T1’s Choi ‘Zeus’ Woo-je. Though RNG beat T1 last year, Bin didn’t seem happy with the way he played against Zeus.
“We met at MSI last year and he solo killed me. I want my revenge.”
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