Why DRX will never win anything

A few weeks ago i saw an episode of Thorins Valorant talkshow and there they had a guest who is apperently very involved in the korean scene. They have talked about DRX´s chances to win an event, where thorin made a great point imo. (Thorin has been involved in the CS 1.6 scene and also lived in Korea for a while so i kinda trust him if it comes to these topics.)

Unless a game becomes a cultural phenomenon in Korea there will never be a scene developed enough to become dominant like in other games, since things either are very very niche in korea or cutural phenoms. Valorant hasn´t managed to become a cuturally accepted game, which is why he doubts that this will ever happen. Still, in these niche games you usually get a hand full of Koreans who become really dedicated in their craft, which are theoretically speaking on a world class level. Sadly for them, the practice they get in their region aint good enough to keep up with the other regions. What they do then is focussing on perfecting the early round game, which is obviously the most structured part of the round. The longer the round goes on tho, the less you can relly on protocols, which is usually the time where these teams fail. According to Thorin this has been a thing that already happened in CS 1.6, where the korean scene was not that big but you still had always a Korean team which was like in the top 8-12 range.

I strongly believe that this is what happens to DRX right now, and unless the Korean scene develops there is no way that they are going to win an event, since they will never be able to develop god tier late rounds if their region is so shiet.

They do practice with teams from all over asia

Although I understand your point, I am disappointed if no one saw that DRX's midrounds are way better than they were. It might still be one of their weakest points, but it stopped being weak with the addition of Zest. Although a bit vingative in his calls, Zest is a very smart IGL that understands how the rounds play and has an insurmountable confidence in his calls.

chiono [#3]

Although I understand your point, I am disappointed if no one saw that DRX's midrounds are way better than they were. It might still be one of their weakest points, but it stopped being weak with the addition of Zest. Although a bit vingative in his calls, Zest is a very smart IGL that understands how the rounds play and has an insurmountable confidence in his calls.

True. DRX has the best mid-round calls out of any time I've seen play so far.

Shashwat_Singh [#2]

They do practice with teams from all over asia

Still there are not that many good asian teams tho. PRX kinda has the same u´issue, just not as prevalent. They are also at their best in early round scenarios or when they rely on a set play, thats why they play so fast btw, cuz they need to essentially win the round within the first 30 seconds. When they were not able to get that advantage at the beginning, Guild often won the rounds. That is how you counter PRX and DRX, you wait and interrupt their early round and then play out the late round. You usually have to play quiet a cheesy style at first.

chiono [#3]

Although I understand your point, I am disappointed if no one saw that DRX's midrounds are way better than they were. It might still be one of their weakest points, but it stopped being weak with the addition of Zest. Although a bit vingative in his calls, Zest is a very smart IGL that understands how the rounds play and has an insurmountable confidence in his calls.

Might be, but i feel like they are still way to reliant on protocols. The same goes for asia in general. Maybe it would be a great thing if they spend the off season in NA or EU to better their mid and late round teamplay.

Astralis, the greatest team of all time in CS GO, always had really good strats, but what was even better was their mid and late round. These mfers never lost the 3v3 in their prime.

Shashwat_Singh [#2]

They do practice with teams from all over asia

Tournaments and Scrims are both different things. In scrims, you play to learn and gain experience. On the other hand, You apply the learnings and experiences you got from scrims in tournaments with prices and circuit points at stake to qualify for a bigger stage.

Makes sense, but i still believe in them copium

id trust mr "esports" thorin
he is esports after all

Stopped reading at thorin

Na1myy [#6]

Might be, but i feel like they are still way to reliant on protocols. The same goes for asia in general. Maybe it would be a great thing if they spend the off season in NA or EU to better their mid and late round teamplay.

Astralis, the greatest team of all time in CS GO, always had really good strats, but what was even better was their mid and late round. These mfers never lost the 3v3 in their prime.

I feel like that is part of their DNA. It is like telling PRX to not be agressive. You might say "Well, they might lose cause they do not adapt.", but I still feel like their protocols are getting looser, meaning they are giving a bit more space for individual decision, but any looser than this and I feel like they lose their identity as DRX.
I also feel like many asian teams are far from relying on protocols. I do not know how much asian Valorant you watch, but only Korean and some Japanese teams rely heavily on protocols. In SEA, you might have BLEED and TS (a bit less), but other than that it is pure octane gameplay. Chinese Valorant is also super in your face type.
I do not know how well DRX will do this time when it comes to their placement, but I really enjoyed their Iceland games, honestly, I just enjoy watching them play. Although I want them to win the whole thing, I want them to show how good their Valorant is to the world and, even though they might lose, they always deliver banger games.

reallyrainy [#9]

id trust mr "esports" thorin
he is esports after all

Who is more trustable on esports topics then esports himself?

chiono [#11]

I feel like that is part of their DNA. It is like telling PRX to not be agressive. You might say "Well, they might lose cause they do not adapt.", but I still feel like their protocols are getting looser, meaning they are giving a bit more space for individual decision, but any looser than this and I feel like they lose their identity as DRX.
I also feel like many asian teams are far from relying on protocols. I do not know how much asian Valorant you watch, but only Korean and some Japanese teams rely heavily on protocols. In SEA, you might have BLEED and TS (a bit less), but other than that it is pure octane gameplay. Chinese Valorant is also super in your face type.
I do not know how well DRX will do this time when it comes to their placement, but I really enjoyed their Iceland games, honestly, I just enjoy watching them play. Although I want them to win the whole thing, I want them to show how good their Valorant is to the world and, even though they might lose, they always deliver banger games.

I habe to say DRX and PRX deliver some satisfying Valorant even though they kinda have the same flaw. It just looks really good when they are on point. I just feel like if you could improve their mid and late rounds somehow you would literally have astralis of Valorant right here. The similarities are so prevalent already, quiet an even skill distrubtion with amazing strats and innovative ideas. I would love to have an Astralis of Valorant.

Just watch this right here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IFMhhtff-k

In champions, one of the DRX players was interviewed and they said that for 2022, they would work on being more flexible. So this problem will soon be an issue of the past,especially if they practically against teams like prx who are hyper aggressive and need to be adapted to in the game.

The problem for DRX isn't beating teams like PRX, it's been mostly the DRX show when its Asia vs Asia. Any time DRX has to play EMEA, BR, NA teams that they have less experience playing against their different playstyle/comp meta - that is when their protocols dont seem to be designed to counter as well as they are vs Asian teams. The individual skill level is there so they can hang, but ultimately they've been coming up short against the best intl teams because in my opinion, lack of experience playing against that style of play. While I normally can't stand Thorin or any of his takes, he may have a good point here, however all DRX need to do is to win some more matches and get that deep tourney run in so they can start building that experience, and start proving that stain thorin wrong

Na1myy [#5]

Still there are not that many good asian teams tho. PRX kinda has the same u´issue, just not as prevalent. They are also at their best in early round scenarios or when they rely on a set play, thats why they play so fast btw, cuz they need to essentially win the round within the first 30 seconds. When they were not able to get that advantage at the beginning, Guild often won the rounds. That is how you counter PRX and DRX, you wait and interrupt their early round and then play out the late round. You usually have to play quiet a cheesy style at first.

"they need to essentially win the round within the first 30 seconds" if u vod review their matches i dont know if u will think the same, they have so many rounds where they fake and double fake, also double lurks. Their retake is pretty good and fast.

Who was the guest so that I can validate what he said?

Cuz rn it sounds like a lot of bs to me, valo is prob the most popular growing game in kr rn

Believing Thorins Opinions OMEGALUL

imo they cant improve because they are at the top for too long time in korea, this happened to loud and kru too. i really hope one day they are gonna merge jp and kr to one region, or just merge all asian and then make 5 spots for them

Na1myy [#5]

Still there are not that many good asian teams tho. PRX kinda has the same u´issue, just not as prevalent. They are also at their best in early round scenarios or when they rely on a set play, thats why they play so fast btw, cuz they need to essentially win the round within the first 30 seconds. When they were not able to get that advantage at the beginning, Guild often won the rounds. That is how you counter PRX and DRX, you wait and interrupt their early round and then play out the late round. You usually have to play quiet a cheesy style at first.

I'd say PRX midrounding is some of the best itw rn.

Na1myy [#13]

I habe to say DRX and PRX deliver some satisfying Valorant even though they kinda have the same flaw. It just looks really good when they are on point. I just feel like if you could improve their mid and late rounds somehow you would literally have astralis of Valorant right here. The similarities are so prevalent already, quiet an even skill distrubtion with amazing strats and innovative ideas. I would love to have an Astralis of Valorant.

Just watch this right here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IFMhhtff-k

I completely agree with the fact that if DRX looks on point they look almost unstopable, the problems relies on the requirements to look on point. The comms have to be flawless in order to make their teamwork at the standard they are known for.
PRX is a more scrappy team, even if the game is not exactly going well for one of their star players, they have some backup firepower on their roster for sure.

Achieving what Astralis did in CS in a game like Valorant is completely insane. I honestly do not even know if it is even possible, the more I think about it, the more I arrive at the conclusion that a thing like that could've only happened at the real beginning of the game, such as, last year. I might be wrong of course, but in a constant meta-changing environment with some heavy comp countering possibilities I really do not know.

KoreanOverlord [#17]

Who was the guest so that I can validate what he said?

Cuz rn it sounds like a lot of bs to me, valo is prob the most popular growing game in kr rn

paperthin the KR VCT ENG caster

I’m not a fan of franchising at all, but if there’s a positive that I can take from it, it’s that exposing DRX to other Asian teams will force them to adapt more than in their own region, where most teams will be weaker than them. They did say they’re focusing more on champions, so I think Istanbul will be a true testament to whether they’ve fixed their problems or not, however right now they look pretty good and it’ll be interesting to watch them against leviathan and potentially optic/xset

Hmmm

Bro drx style is too rigid. If u kill their utility agents early they look like a headless chicken. Their midrounding and strats are so poor. Like I get they play as a team but u feel like they need to be more adaptable

once they get analyzed its over for them. they always go to an event with a single strat and thats their problem. but you know what? its VALORANT! it doesnt matter they win or lose on tournaments! Riot Games will pay the Orgs anyway just for making champions... free $600K so why does it matter who wins in this social media game?