DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) has eliminated FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #8 xeus Doğan Gözgen MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan qRaxs Doğukan Balaban from contention at Masters: Tokyo after a three map series. DRX has now qualified for the playoffs at Masters: Tokyo, marking the squad's fourth playoff appearance in a row at international events, while FUT Esports have been eliminated.

DRX came into the series off the back of a disappointing loss to Evil Geniuses and have since substituted Zest for Foxy9 . Zest described the move as “a last minute decision.” DRX had previously made this move in the late stages of the VCT Pacific playoffs where they took second place, taking losses only to Paper Rex in the playoffs.

“At the end of the day our ultimate goal is the trophy,” said Zest.

stax on stage DRX have made playoffs at yet another international event. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

While Zest certainly showed himself capable of still holding his own on the international stage, it was BuZz who showed up in strides for DRX.

The Korean proved his worth across the series with consistent high level performances. He ties with both MaKo and qw1 for highest rating in the server, but certainly delivered the most impact.

BuZz's play on Fracture was a crucial aspect of DRX's ability to take the map by bolstering their weaker defensive side. In round ten BuZz found a triple kill with the Bucky and Classic to secure a thrifty round win for DRX.

After losing both Arcade and much of the B site, FUT were in prime position to secure a clean site execute. This was before BuZz came out of Tower with a Bucky. After landing an immediate kill onto an oblivious AtaKaptan running deep into the site, BuZz played around his surroundings and teammate MaKo to catch MrFaliN making an effort to take space in the bombsite. The Korean Killjoy proceeded to make expert use of the map geometry to avoid the remaining FUT members and take down a distracted MOJJ with the Classic.

BuZz holds down B with the Bucky

Despite DRX's later dominance in the series, it didn't start out this way. qw1 put on an absolute clinic on Bind to deconstruct DRX while dropping 28 kills on Raze. The next highest player on the server was BuZz with just 19.

With an eight and zero first kill to first death ratio and 190 ADR on Bind, qw1 was a star for FUT. The Turkish team will be sure to look forward to a similar appearance from qw1 come Champions 2023, while hoping to see increased performances from the likes of ATA KAPTAN and qRaxs .

The two were previously some of the highest rated players for FUT with both sporting team high ratings in their wins against Attacking Soul Esports Attacking Soul Esports Inactive monk Wang Haoyu (王浩宇) Yuicaw Huang Yung-chieh (黃湧傑) YHchen Chen Yuhan (陳昱瀚) Zero1 Meng Zhen Ren (任梦真) at Masters: Tokyo and against Giants Gaming Giants Gaming Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Fit1nho Adolfo Gallego nukkye Žygimantas Chmieliauskas hoody Aaro Peltokangas Cloud Kirill Nehozhin and Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #5 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso in the VCT EMEA playoffs.

While FUT may not be happy with the result the mood certainly seemed to be high in the FUT camp.

“For the first time in my life I was smiling, I was laughing, while losing the game and that was because of ATA KAPTAN,” said FUT coach Gais .

FUT Esports stand on stage after elimination from Masters: Tokyo Despite their elimination, FUT made an impressive showing out of Bind. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

Unfortunately for FUT, the rest of the series was littered with DRX dominance. Upon moving to the attack side of Fracture, the Koreans dropped just six rounds over the remainder of the entire series.

BuZz held a 1.31 rating over the last two maps and continued his top-level form that has been present throughout the entire tournament. BuZz is joined by VCT Pacific regular season MVP MaKo in providing star level performances for his team. MaKo has impressed since his very first showing on the international stage and justified his reputation against FUT. MaKo conceded zero first deaths over DRX's two map wins in the series, providing the solid back bone of DRX he is known for.

While BuZz and MaKo may have been stars for DRX, substitute player Zest's impact on the series should not be understated. Zest won a crucial 1v3 clutch in round 18 of Fracture just as FUT had finally begun building momentum on the defense. Zest has also provided impact in terms of calling and aiding IGL stax .

“I can make calls when stax is down,” said Zest.

Zest on stage Zest played with DRX in place of foxy9 against FUT. (Photo by Coling Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

Discussion has been heavy around the re-addition of Zest to the starting lineup as DRX has struggled to find roster consistency in recent times. As a team that has previously been called out for being too repetitive in their strategies FUT coach GAIS had words to say about Zest's substitution and DRX's return to a slower playstyle.

“With Zest in we knew they would play slower … if they had foxy9 they could have closed it out much faster,” said FUT coach GAIS.

With the win over FUT, DRX have secured themselves a spot in the playoffs at Masters: Tokyo. DRX are set to match up against fellow VCT Pacific team Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #6 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday, June 17th.

FUT have been eliminated from Masters: Tokyo and will look forward to Champions 2023 in August.

stax celebrates after win over FUT DRX move on to the playoffs. (Photo by Coling Young-Wolff/Riot Games)