DRX is the legend of the world LoL: the story of Cinderella and the price of the world championship
Yuriy SheremetDRX (previously known as KILL-ZONE DragonX, DragonX) is a multigaming club from South Korea founded in 2018 by the company KING-ZONE. “The Dragons” became the most famous for its League of Legends squad, which was a foundation for the club.
Being young by the standards of the esports industry, the organization has already left its mark in the industry, having created one of the most beautiful stories about overcoming and the well-deserved reward after exhausting work. We propose you remember the triumphant Worlds 2022 and also dig into the history of the team from the LoL LCK schedule and its way to the title of the championship.
Joining League of Legends and the first results
KILL-ZONE DragonX was discussed for the first time in January 2018. The League of Legends team marked its arrival in esports with the buyout of a slot in the South Korean league LCK from the club Longzhu Gaming.
The debut League of Legends roster of DRX included Khan, Rascal, Cuzz, Peanut, Bdd, PraY, and GorillA. All the players used to be the members of Longzhu Gaming who had prevailed at LCK Summer 2017 the year before the takeover by KING-ZONE.
The experienced roster benefited KILL-ZONE DragonX: the team achieved victory at LCK Spring 2018, having made a statement as a serious power in South Korea. The weight of the victory was added by the margin with which KILL-ZONE DragonX took the spring championship and added diversity on League of Legends betting sites.
At LCK Spring 2018, the recently-created club finished the regular season with a score of 16-2, which guaranteed KILL-ZONE Dragon a direct slot in the grand final of the tournament. Their opponent in the final of LCK Spring 2018 was Afreeca Freecs who were not able to play competitively against the favorite. KILL-ZONE DragonX defeated AF with a score of 3-1.
Encouraged by the first big victory, KILL-ZONE DragonX went to the European Mid-Season Invitational 2018, which was hosted in Berlin and Paris that year. As the champion of South Korea, KILL-ZONE DragonX was one of the main contenders to prevail and almost meet the fans’ expectations.
Khan and the company finished the group stage in 3rd place, having advanced to the playoffs, and they reached the grand final there. The last rush of KILL-ZONE DragonX was stopped by Royal Never Give Up who defeated the South Korean colleagues with a score of 3-1.
The debut year in the competitive League of Legends brought KILL-ZONE DragonX a few significant results, including 2nd place at Rift Rivals 2018, 4th place at LCK Summer 2018, and the top 2 at LCK Summer 2018. No matter how well KILL-ZONE DragonX played the entire competitive season and considering the high competition in the region, such results look decent but they did not achieve the main milestone.
KILL-ZONE DragonX failed to qualify for Worlds 2018, which consequently led to further roster replacements and searches for a working formula. Saying in advance, it is worth noting that the search for a recipe for success was partially become successful by 2020.
The 2020 season and the first Worlds
In 2020, KILL-ZONE DragonX got rid of the subscript KILL-ZONE and then vowels, changing its tag to DRX. Roster changes arrived with the rebranding and it looked in the following way at the beginning of the year: Doran, Pyosik, Chovy, Deft, and Keria.
It is important to remember two nicknames from the DRX five in 2020. Both players will create the legacy of DRX in the future but at that moment, they were going to the first World under the colors of DRX.
To make it to the 2020 World Championship, DRX had to enter the top 3 at LCK Spring 2020 and proceed to the grand final LCK Summer 2020 later. The interim result was the top 6 at Mid-Season Invitational.
Having made it to Worlds 2020, DRX was distributed in Group D. Top Esports, FlyQuest, and Unicorns Of Love were its opponents in the quartet.
Having met resistance, DRX advanced to the playoffs with fights, finishing Group D with a score of 4-2. However, it was the end of their path: DRX lost to DAMWON Gaming with a score of 0-3 in the main stage and the last ones won the world championship later.
Whether to call the top-8 at the debut Worlds a successful result is a rhetorical question. We are moving forward and will talk about the period of decline of DRX.
The period of decline of DRX: the season 2021 - early 2022
In 2020, humanity faced a challenge called Covid-19. The deadly disease took the lives of many people and affected all aspects of life, including esports.
All major League of Legends events were canceled and only regional splits were left in the rating competition. The tough period impacted the performance of many top teams and DRX was not an exception.
The once LCK Spring champions reached the top 5 in the spring split of 2021 and failed in the summer, holding 10th place, which was the worst result in the club’s history.
Such a failed performance in 2021 led to global changes in 2022. At the beginning of the 12th competitive season, DRX returned Deft (who used to play for Hanwha Life Esports) in business, also, the team invited BeryL who had won the 2020 World Championship, being part of the roster of DAMWON. The famous bottom duo was supported by Pyosik who was famous for his Worlds 2020 performance, also, Kingen. The riskiest decision was to invite Zeka to join the team, he had a pretty solid credit of trust.
The team had a mediocre regular season. The achievements include the top 5 at LCK Spring 2022 and the top 6 at LCK Summer 2022.
Being one step away from the fiasco, DRX tried hard at the regional finals in South Korea and achieved success there. The second place at CK Regional Finals 2022 has become the best result of the team since making it to the grand final of LCK Summer 2018.
However, the rest of the DRX failures were covered up at Worlds 2022.
The story of Cinderella – the championship of DRX at Worlds 2022
The 2022 World Championship was the biggest event in the club’s history and it is unlikely to repeat this. The main tournament of the past year was both professional and symbolic.
- DRX has become the first team in the history of competitive League of Legends that won Worlds after qualifying from the Play-In stage
- DRX defeated the reigning world champions EDward Gaming with a score of 0-2 on its way to the Summoner’s Cup.
- In the semi-finals, DRX beat the champions of LCK Summer 2022– Gen.G
- In the grand final, DRX outplayed the most titled League of Legends, T1, which is headed by “the unkillable demon king”, Faker.
Add to the above-mentioned facts the fact that DRX beat EDG on Deft’s birthday who had the plan to retire before the tournament as he was unsuccessfully trying to make it on top for 9 years and the debutant Zeka beat the three-time world champion Faker in the final, and you will have “the real story of Cinderella”.
However, all movie stories are over at some point and DRX is not an exception. The team parted ways with Kingen, Pyosik, Zeka, and Deft at the start of the 2023 season, which predictably reflected on the team’s results at LCK Spring 2023.
DRX is a pretty interesting precedent for the competitive League of Legends. The club has brought one of the most epic scenarios to fans of the professional LoL and written its tag on the list of the World Champions.
And it makes us a bit sad. It is unlikely that someone will be able to repeat the success of DRX shortly and if someone manages to do so, it will not be DRX: although the club had become the world champion, the team failed to save the championship roster due to the increased appetite of the players and it is almost impossible to grow such a roster again.
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Yuriy Sheremet – Expert in mobile gaming and esports among shooters and MOBA games.
At EGamersWorld, Yuriy, as in 2020 when he joined the portal, works with content, albeit with adjustments to his area of responsibility.