DRX return to form and take down LOUD

Coming into Champions 2023, the core roster of DRX DRX Korea Unranked Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) had a seven tournament streak of winning their opening match. After taking down defending Champions winners LOUD LOUD Brazil Unranked dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira , that streak reached eight.

Large swathes of an otherwise competitive three map series were dominated by a DRX squad whose protocols looked much improved from their struggles earlier this year. A nailbiting LOUD victory on Lotus was followed by convincing DRX victories on Split and Ascent in which they outlasted heroics from aspas to move on to face Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Unranked ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky Ruxic Uğur Güç hiro Emirhan Kat koalanoob Gianfranco Potestio in the winners match of group D. LOUD were relegated to an elimination match vs. Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Unranked paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak .

DRX intended to shake things up when they let Lotus through the map veto. Previously, they had banned the map at every possible opportunity. Their only previous showing on the map was a Bo5 loss to a Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Unranked mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov squad that controlled both vetoes. LOUD themselves had a less than stellar 1-2 record on the map, although the one win was against the indomitable FNATIC FNATIC Europe Unranked crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder .

LOUD chose to bring pace early on. Initial aggressive plays towards Mound or Rubble gave them an aggressive anchor point to pivot towards the other side of the map. However, their 4-0 lead was quickly overturned by a 7-0 DRX run as the Koreans started to read the setups.

Despite rough starts from both BuZz and Rb , DRX kept LOUD off guard largely thanks to great mid-round rotations. A critical round 23 clutch from aspas helped LOUD scrape together enough wins to force overtime. DRX ran out of steam late to lose 15-13 in the second extra frame.

A two-kill defensive performance from the usually consistent MaKo hurt, but it was the opening kill record that sank DRX overall. Despite the close scoreline, DRX only managed to get the first pick in a mere 28% of the rounds. Star duelist aspas was a driving factor in that with a clean 5-0 opening duel record against his counterpart, BuZz, to go along with a 13-3 Raze vs. Raze beatdown overall.

“I am aware that your round winrate goes up to 70% if you get the opening kill … we are going to have a video session and talk about it,” DRX's coach termi said after the match. Regardless, DRX's success in man disadvantage scenarios proved to be a massive factor in the series.

On the other side of things, LOUD breathed a sigh of relief.

“Really happy with the boys, especially the adaptations we were making,” coach fRoD complimented his team.

The adaptations would begin to run dry on Split. LOUD dropped the Viper in favor of Breach, and they found some early success in the fledgling stages of economic development. Unfortunately for the Brazilians, DRX looked far too disciplined on the defensive end once they got rifles in hand. The half quickly spiraled into an 8-4 DRX lead.

Desperate to forge a comeback, LOUD were instead quenched when a resurgent MaKo clutched the pistol, then a round 18 2v5 that all but sealed the deal.

Once LOUD's fabled home ground, Ascent had faded from the peak of LOUD's map pool over the course of the year. It looked like they were going to get off on the right foot in the pistol round, but Rb had other ideas.

“I saw two smokes on site so I took advantage of that and was confident I was going to get the defuse,” he stated afterwards.

LOUD tried to keep pace, and a miraculous spray transfer 1v4 clutch from Less tied the map at 4-4. However, DRX immediately won an eco round, and ran away with another 8-4 lead. LOUD struggled to find the utility value from the uncommon Breach and Viper picks.

aspas finished the first half with an uncharacteristic three kills. Over the next four rounds he averaged three kills per round in a stunning about face. With the series up in the air, DRX seized the moment. With their economy stabilized, they once again dominated the gun rounds to close the map 13-8.

The final play was fittingly another man disadvantage clutch from Rb.

“I had really strong faith that he was going to pull through and win,” termi said about the pressure of the final moments. Rb certainly didn't feel the pressure.“It was just another day at work,” he said.

After the game, LOUD praised DRX's performance.

“They adapted really well and really fast, we couldn't show everything we had,” saadhak applauded.

DRX consistently called rotations, stacks, and aggressive hits that kept LOUD off guard. The rigid structure that defined but sometimes limited them was lifted. The gameplan from DRX didn't come out of nowhere.

“We tried to switch our overall playstyle to be more aggressive,” termi said about his team's preparation for the tournament overall. He also added that they actively leaned into it when they saw LOUD's unconventional agent compositions.

Across the series, 11 clutches and numerous round wins from disadvantageous circumstances kept DRX afloat against a wave of LOUD opening kills. The reintegration of Zest certainly played a role in the supportive consistency. Although DRX praised Foxy9 's potential, they also confirmed that he wouldn't be making an appearance at Champions, and that they had fully committed practice time to Zest.

“After Masters Tokyo, we had our starting five fixed,” termi said.

Facing the first three-match loss streak in organization history, LOUD aren't looking to hit the panic button.

“We are going to prepare for Team Liquid the same way we prepare for everyone else,” proclaimed saadhak.

Banner image by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games