OpTic Gaming OpTic Gaming Inactive vs DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 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) is a matchup that had everyone spellbound in their seats over the course of 2022. It was a battle that always went the distance, be it a BO3 or a BO5. Whether it was at Reykjavik, Copenhagen, or Istanbul, however, OpTic had been the winners at the end of the day.

But things wouldn't be so close at Masters Tokyo. NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #1 FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold beat DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 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) 2-0.

“We had to play one game a week for eight or nine weeks, it was physically taxing for me and the players,” DRX head coach termi said. “This is our first time going into a league tournament format and we overlooked the factor of taking care of our players physically and paying more attention to their well being. Next year we'll consider that a lot more and make sure they don't burn out.”

This isn't exclusive to DRX. Multiple teams across regions had brought up how the current league format leaves them unprepared for the stress of events like the league playoffs and Masters.

To make it worse, both teams faced a grueling run in the group stage before making it here and both lost their opening game in the bracket stage.

“We've been through a rough patch,” said stax .

DRX take a bow Take a bow, DRX. You've earned it. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

Both teams entered the match in hopes of fixing issues with team chemistry. NRG differs from OpTic by two players, and one of those two, ardiis , made some key mistakes in NRG's match with FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #3 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder . DRX also doesn't appear to have fully figured out their roster synergy, with them playing Foxy9 in the first games then swapping him for Zest after losses later in the tournament.

Map one was DRX's choice, Pearl, where they found a strong start. On defense, both teams traded rounds rapidly until late in the half, where DRX found five in a row to close it out 8-4. However, NRG were revitalized on their own defensive side, finding several well-planned retakes to win the map 13-11, denying OT.

Even though Rb was the server MVP, stat-wise there was just a glimmer of a team diff in NRG's favor, especially in terms of KAST. More than that, NRG just looked better prepared when it came down to retake strategies and ult management.

Map two was Haven, a map DRX had won the last time they'd played it at Tokyo, against FUT. Today, they struggled considerably more. NRG were the ones to find an 8-4 start this time. Once they switched to attack, DRX would win only one more round before ardiis would find a 4K with his Jett knives to send the Korean squad back home.

Best flanking Jett gameplay footage of all time.

“We needed this quick 2-0 to boost our confidence; it's the perfect result. We all played bad yesterday,” said Ardiis.

ardiis redeemed himself from the FNATIC match on Haven, as he stood far above everyone else with a 350 ACS and a +14 kill differential. In contrast, only Rb on the side of DRX squeaked past the 200 ACS benchmark, while four of NRG's players managed it.

With their elimination from Masters, DRX will return to Korea and begin preparing for Champions 2023.

“It would have been the best if we could have gotten more out of Masters and had a deeper run, but [this loss] means we can go back to Korea and get some rest and get started on Champs,” said termi.

As for NRG, they will face off against the loser of Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses North America Rank #22 Derrek Derrek Ha NaturE Nicholas Garrison supamen Phat Le icy Jacob Lange yay Jaccob Whiteaker vs Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #22 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak . They would prefer to face Evil Geniuses again if they had a choice.

“An EG matchup is more favorable for us since we're more familiar with them than Team Liquid,” said Victor .

“We're more focused on us as a team, anything for them is good as well, so I'm just happy for anyone at that point,” Chet said.