Even before the start of the 2023 season, DRX players and staff were adamant about setting their goals high. At first, they wanted to get through the Pacific League without losing a single match. But coach Kwon \u201cArgency\u201d Soon-woo says the team and organization\u2019s real goal was even higher.<\/p>
\u201cIn the entire season, we emphasized our focus on qualifying for Champions and performing well there\u2014mostly because Champions is the most important tournament in the entire year,\u201d Argency said. \u201cDuring that process, we felt the burden during VCT Pacific League and also practice for Masters Tokyo so ultimately all of us had a bit of a burnout.\u201d <\/p>
The burden of not only starting a league in a new format but also being one of the favorites to not only do well, but represent Seoul\u2014where the entire VCT Pacific season, championship weekend, and recent LCQ were held\u2014created new pressure DRX had never faced before. Through this pressure, Kim \u201cMaKo\u201d Myeong-gwan still earned the title of MVP for the VCT Pacific season with his outstanding controller play, showing the fundamentals of DRX\u2019s core style were still shining through their mistakes.<\/p>
Argency said there wasn\u2019t another layer of pressure for the team having to represent the Asia-Pacific region at Masters Tokyo, but rather that the players enjoyed having a tournament in Asia for the first time.<\/p>
\u201cMost of the international tournaments we have had required us to hurdle over jet lag and different food,\u201d Argency said. \u201cBut this time around we didn\u2019t have to go through that. It was honestly quite nice.\u201d<\/p>
After their early exit from Masters Tokyo, the team came back to Korea and took a much-needed break away from the team house. After their time off, Argency said the players and staff are feeling refreshed.<\/p>
As for DRX\u2019s plan for the remaining time leading up to Champions, Argency said there will be a noticeable mental shift between the team\u2019s preparation for the tournament compared to the practice they\u2019ve been doing this year already.<\/p>
\u201cKnowing that we have a little gap between now and Champions, we will have to adjust our focus on individual practice and the overall theme of our gameplay,\u201d he said in the weeks following the team\u2019s exit from Masters.<\/p>
