Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik, a German player with Turkish roots, is now one of the best top laners in the LEC and has an LCS trophy on his back. Was he always the best? What did he go through to make it this far? Let’s have a look at Sergen’s career and his steps to glory.
Broken Blade started his career with Mysterious Monkeys, a European minor league team. Following his transition to Turkish Victorious Ace, he found the opportunity of playing for Galatasaray, a very well known Turkish team, and climbed his way up to TSM where he faced a lot of criticism. He was still able to win an LCS before he left TSM to join Schalke in LEC, and G2 eventually.
First steps
Broken Blade’s first experiences were Mysterious Monkeys and Victorious Ace, both teams consisting of Turkish people. He also first met Abbedagge in MM. After not being able to win ESL Meisterschaft 2016 Summer Playoffs, BB joined Victorious Ace on a loan, helping the team qualify for TCL. Although he won ESL 2016 Winter Cup, his next step was TCL, when VA turned into Galatasaray Espor.
However, GS’ first split went very bad. To fix things, Galatasaray made a lot of changes, but no roster change could fix the team’s position in TCL 2017 Winter. Stuck at the 8th and last place, GS was relegated in their first-ever split, disappointing their many fans, and Broken Blade moved on to Dark Passage, a titan in Turkish esports.
DP was as big in esports as GS was in traditional sports those days, thus, Broken Blade was ready to play for a team with passionate fans. However, his DP run wasn’t lucky as well. Before the end of the regular season, he was traded with another experienced top laner from TCL, and Broken Blade joined Galakticos where he missed yet another playoffs.
Broken Blade was able to save his team from relegation, and Turkish fans recognized how good he was in the one year he played for such weak teams. As a result of this and his manager Mert Tanrıverdi’s trust, who worked with him during Victorious Ace and Galatasaray Espor times, BB joined the second-best team in the TCL 2018, Royal Bandits.
RB and BB’s rise
Royal Bandits hopped into TCL 2018 Winter with a lot of investment, putting now Rogue player Malrang in the jungle and another Korean star Cepted in the mid lane. Their bot lane consisted of HolyPhoenix and Dumbledoge, two players that are considered the best in their respective position in Turkey.
After finishing the first split behind SuperMassive with GBM and SnowFlower, RB finished the summer split regular season first place, even though Cepted, Malrang and HolyPhoenix left the team. With then-rookie Closer, Abbedagge and Freeze joining the team, RB still couldn’t outclass SUP, and missed Worlds after a 1-3 grand final.
However, Broken Blade’s journey was just starting. After a disappointing end to the split, Broken Blade joined TSM, exceeding even the wildest expectations for him.
TSM Broken Blade
BB’s first split was a success to many. It was his first challenge on such a level, and he became the fresh blood TSM desperately needed. His team wasn’t able to defeat Team Liquid in the finals, missing MSI after a 3-2 series, but BB was highly praised.
However, he wasn’t considered as highly the following seasons. While TSM missed Worlds after a loss against Clutch Gaming in the Regional Finals, Broken Blade got criticized together with Zven, but he stayed, and Zven left for C9.
With promising Kobbe joining, TSM still couldn’t find success in 2020. They started the summer split with legendary Doublelift, and the regular season was a quiet one for such an organization, they were expected to be kicked out by stronger teams like Cloud9 and Team Liquid.
Against all odds, TSM defeated their enemies one by one in a lower-bracket miracle run. They got their heads in the right direction after losing against GG in the first game, and kicked C9 out of Worlds first, and won the championship thereafter.
TSM finally made Worlds and won LCS after a long break, but it went even worse than anyone could ever imagine. TSM failed to find a single win while Broken Blade and his friends got smashed under the pressure. After a 0-6 Worlds run, BB left the team, and joined Schalke 04 Esports.
Back to Europe
S04’s LEC 2021 Spring run was very shaky, the team started well, had a lot of losses, and won three games in a row in super week to make the playoffs again. They impressed during the playoffs, with Broken Blade being highly praised for his flexibility, wide champion pool and great performances, even if he has a bad matchup.
However, Schalke 04 was having financial problems, and it affected the team’s next split. S04 finished the summer season 3-15 in tenth place, the team got sold, but Broken Blade was one of the few things that was right for them, everyone agreed. After a great season in a poor team, G2 Esports, that went into a rebuilding phase, took the free agent Broken Blade, as he fitted their expectations from a top laner who would replace Wunder perfectly.
His first season in G2 wasn’t perfect, G2 ended up fourth place and lost the first playoffs series against Fnatic. However, Broken Blade’s performances are still praised and he is still considered to be one of the best top laners in the LEC. It is a pleasure to watch him play, from Akshan to Renekton, he can play anything at a top class level.
Broken Blade’s stats
BB played Akshan the most this season, with four times, and he has a 50% win rate with the champion. His best pick was Yone, which he played twice and won both games. He had a 3.38 KDA overall and participated in 61.3% of his team’s kills.
He is number 5 on most champions played, and he is tied with Adam and Finn between top laners. He has the second best KDA amongst top laners right after Odoamne, but he has the most kills per game with 3.72, while closest competition are Wunder and HiRit, both with 3.06.
Throughout his career, BB played Aatrox the most, 28 times, and has a 50% win rate with the champion. His best win rate with a champion he played more than twice is Dr.Mundo, 83.3%. His best KDA is Nocturne which he played twice with 16 KDA, but if you look at the champions he played more than twice, especially on Vladimir where he has 5.78 KDA in 11 games.
Broken Blade is currently fighting to win LEC 2022 Spring Playoffs with his new team G2 Esports. If you are interested, find their matches, watch them live and place your bets on your favourites on Luckbox.
