At the start of 2025, the
DRX
DRX
Korea
Rank #3
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)
of old was officially gone. The team's roster included just one remaining player from the 2022 roster that was a mainstay in the top six of international tournaments.
Two of their players were rookies to tier one VALORANT in 2025, and a lot of teams in the Pacific region only grew in strength around them in prior years. That was why when DRX surprised plenty of fans and analysts alike to win the VCT 2025 Pacific Kickoff tournament, all eyes went to the two talented rookies who revitalized the team.
These two rookies are free1ng and HYUNMIN , both talented players who weren't part of the DRX organization beforehand. DRX had their fair share of talent they promoted from rosters they oversaw in the past, from former flex Foxy9 to current flex Flashback , but the team looked outward to improve within for 2025.
One of those rookies, free1ng, was a key player in the success of
Dplus Esports
Dplus Esports
Korea
Rank #6
Felix
Park Hyeon-ho (박현호)
Rico
Han Jun-seo (한준서)
CabezA
No Gun-hyung (노건형)
Bangnan
Jung Min-u (정민우)
RedLight
Kim Eun-soo (김은수)
kAyle
Jung Soo-yong (정수용)
, and after a brief stint on the Chinese team
Rare Atom
Rare Atom
China
Rank #9
zhe
Niu Zhe (牛哲)
Satoshi
Fei Zhixian (费郅贤)
ZiXuan
Liu Junwei (刘俊伟)
Midnight
Wang Yingjie (王英杰)
, he officially joined DRX at the end of 2024. That time with Dplus proved that free1ng was a talented Sentinel and likely a tier-one player in 2025. But that's not the role he has played since joining DRX, playing mostly Initiator to start his tier one career.
“Just last year on Dplus, I had little faith in the roster aside from free1ng,”
Nongshim RedForce
Nongshim RedForce
Korea
Rank #4
Persia
Yang Zi-on (양지온)
Francis
Kim Mu-bin (김무빈)
margaret
Kim Ji-woo (김지우)
Dambi
Lee Hyuk-kyu (이혁규)
Ivy
Park Sung-hyeon (박성현)
affiliate and VCT Pacific caster William "Chobra" Cho said. “He almost single-handedly brought them to the Ascension tournament, and I had zero issues with him joining tier one. I was curious how he would do as an Initiator [with DRX], since he primarily played a lurking Sentinel role before. Yet, he was very quick on rotations and adapted well to Tejo. That Initiator/Controller in the DRX system is responsible for trades, and he does that well.”
DRX hype themselves before a match early on in VCT 2025. (Image via DRX)
In both Kickoff and Masters Bangkok, free1ng quickly solidified himself as one of the best Tejo players in the world. When he started hot and never seemed to wane in Kickoff, it was clear it wasn't a fluke. His outstanding usage of utility combined with the calling from both coach
termi
and the leadership of teammate
MaKo
was a perfect storm, harkening back to the
Vision Strikers
Vision Strikers
Inactive
stax
Kim Gu-taek (김구택)
Rb
Goo Sang-min (구상민)
Zest
Kim Ki-seok (김기석)
BuZz
Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철)
MaKo
Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관)
days of immaculate set plays. Even after DRX left Bangkok with some disappointment, that hasn't shaken free1ng off his signature agent heading into Stage 1.
“My teammates all helped me get to this point, including past and current teammates, but the release of Tejo helped me evolve into a great Initiator,” free1ng said. “The recent nerfs aren't as dramatic or as crucial to his success as people think.”
That self-given ‘great Initiator' tag might be a bit of an understatement for free1ng, at least on Tejo. Of all the Initiators at Pacific Kickoff, free1ng was by far the best statistically. He ended the tournament with a 1.16 average match rating, which was fifth across all Pacific players, and ended with an average of 1.24 K:D, which was fourth. Even with DRX falling at Masters Bangkok, free1ng still ended as the second-best initiator, only behind
G2 Esports
G2 Esports
North America
Rank #1
jawgemo
Alexander Mor
trent
Trent Cairns
valyn
Jacob Batio
JonahP
Jonah Pulice
leaf
Nathan Orf
'
trent
.
As for HYUNMIN, his role was set from the moment he joined DRX: to replace a big hole left behind in the Duelist slot by the departure of star Duelist
BuZz
. HYUNMIN had to quickly fit into a position BuZz had held since 2021, when the team was still Vision Strikers. But still, the new DRX roster was able to top that
T1
T1
Korea
Rank #1
stax
Kim Gu-taek (김구택)
Meteor
Kim Tae-oh (김태오)
Sylvan
Go Young-sup (고영섭)
BuZz
Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철)
iZu
Ham Woo-ju (함우주)
superteam, BuZz's new team, twice at Kickoff thanks to some stellar play from their new Duelist.
“For me, I knew I had big shoes to fill with BuZz leaving,” HYUNMIN said. “Starting Kickoff, I had a lot of pressure, but going on to win Kickoff and reach Masters, it gave me and my team a lot of confidence.”
While Free1ng was playing the new agent to its best possible level, HYUNMIN was filling in by playing both Jett and Raze exactly as DRX wanted. Not only was he playing well, ending Kickoff second place in ACS at 245.4, but he ended tied first at first kills per round, at 0.22. His confidence to outshoot some of the best aimers in the world was crucial to DRX's hot start.
“HYUNMIN is a fairly selfless Duelist, just there to play whatever the team needs or wants, but that doesn't mean he won't go for those high-risk plays that Duelist players need to do,” Chobra said. “It did look bad at times for him because it wasn't the most fair situation, but it was what the team wanted and needed to succeed.”
His performance at Masters Bangkok wasn't nearly as strong as his Kickoff tournament, but DRX was still able to get their standard 5th-6th place finish. The team is now focused on Stage 1 and Masters Toronto, and they know they can't be a team that peaks early on in the year and crumbles as future events arrive.
“The teams that fall off after doing well early on have to do with mindset; [they're] teams that slack off or put in less effort after achieving success,” HYUNMIN said. “As for us, I know we're going to work harder after Kickoff and Bangkok, so we'll be ok.”
That won't be easy, especially as other Pacific teams look to take their international slot. Not only that, but the rivalry between DRX and T1 has a lot of history behind it. Former DRX players helped lead T1 to the Masters Bangkok trophy, but the rivalry of Korean organizations trying to lead VALORANT esports adds more fuel to the fire.
DRX BeYN and T1 stax first bump at Masters Bangkok. (Image via DRX)
“T1 is the most respected and wanted esports org in Korea, while DRX hasn't built the same reputation as T1,” Chobra said. “DRX's advantage is its deep history as the top Korean VALORANT team, and the org probably knows that they have to keep up their standard to cement them as the Korean VALORANT organization. You don't get opportunities to challenge that role in Korea often, and DRX has it.”
It didn't help that T1 got their first title at Masters Bangkok while DRX has continuously struggled internationally to replicate their regional form. However, every VCT season is a marathon, not a sprint. DRX has all the pieces to perform, and HYUNMIN is confident that the power will swing right back towards DRX the next time they inevitably face T1.
“I like playing against T1, but we also know we gotta be the better team that day, and at Bangkok, it just all fell apart,” HYUNMIN said. “Overall, I think we are the better team, and we will win next time.”
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