How DRX management blew up their roster

The League of Legends community is definitely going to be looking back at the 2022 offseason, and wonder what happened. Moves were plentiful and a lot of unexpected turns were taken but nobody can deny the madness that was DRX management. By the time the dust had settled, DRX was left with only one player from their World Championship winning roster. Looking back at the scale of the failure, one can only wonder what led to this outcome.

Why Pyoshik left the LCK

Coming into free agency after winning the World Championship is supposed to be something every player in esports should hope for. Entering the market after probably the biggest achievement of your career should be a recipe for a big payday. But that’s not how esports work right now, especially in the LCK. By the time the DRX squad brought back the trophy in Korea, most of the LCK teams were set for 2023. And who could blame them? Some of them had their season end back in late August.

Junglers for LCK teams

The financial instability and top heavy make up of the LCK, meant that 4 of the 10 teams were coming into the 2023 season with budgeted rosters. Nongshim RedForce, Liiv Sandbox, Kwandong Freecs, and Fredit Brion all announced that they were going to promote players from the Challengers series. T1 had their young core extend their contracts before Faker re-signed, Damwon had everyone under contract before Nuguri retired, and Gen G couldn’t even afford to keep Ruler who went to JDG.

The only teams that didn’t have a jungler under contract or had the money to sign a new one were DRX and HLE. And that was before Viper came back to HLE, burning their budget and making Kanavi a dream. On the other hand, DRX has had a long history of mismanaging players. So it wasn’t a surprise when the two biggest overperformers asked for a raise. Neither Kingen nor Zeka were willing to take a pay cut to keep the band together, especially for this owner.

DRX history of mismanagement

For those of you who don’t follow the eastern regions closely, DRX management is comparable to TSM and G2. Just like Team SoloMid, controversy is a daily occurrence at DRX headquarters. And just like G2, there is an infamous CEO at the top of all that called DOwner. 

The 2020 season for DRX came crashing down after a disappointing finish at the World Championship. A squad led by one of the greatest LCK coaches in CvMax, featuring all time great talent in Deft, and young prodigies like Chovy and Keria. They ended up third and second in the LCK throughout spring and summer, mostly due to the dominance of Damwon.  There is no shame in falling to the greatness of Canyon and Showmaker, who would go on to become World Champions after eliminating DRX from every competition. But that’s not what their CEO and general manager at the time, DOwner, thought. 

Destroying 2020 DRX roster

Before taking responsibility for tearing the team apart and stepping down from the general manager role, DOwner took part in directing a video in which Chovy and Deft were painted as selfish and responsible for the outcome. Naturally, fans were more than upset, but all hell broke loose when the CEO blamed Chovy’s mother for their reactions. Saying that she pushed an agenda against the team and that he wasn’t wrongdoing. A few months later Chovy was playing for HLE while Keria found his new home on T1.

 A massive talent exodus had just occurred, with the loyal Deft and Pyoshik staying. But their owner wasn’t done pulling strings that would distract the team even further. DOwner had just gone ahead and legally prosecuted 100 fans for defamation. In the official report, those fans were quoted as calling the CEO a “bastard”. Supposedly, it was the first time that a sports organization had sued its fan base for criticizing its operations. This would only create a larger rift between the fans, the organization, and the players.

Coach Kim fired before 2022 season

Fast forward to the start of the 2022 season, and CEO DOwner had just fired their head coach Kim, two weeks before competition kicked off. Firing someone you hired 3 weeks ago is a sign of immaturity, and Coach Kim was quick to capitalize. Receiving the news via email and without proper documentation, led to a lawsuit that the coach won. DRX management would go on to double down, appealing the ruling in favor of the coach at a higher court.  Meanwhile, all of this was happening in the eye of the media, right as the season was about to start.

Heading into this offseason, DRX couldn’t meet the salary demands that Kingen and Zeka had requested. But instead of figuring a way out, DRX management stuck to pointing fingers. They accused Shadow Corporation of tampering with their players. This led to the removal of all traces of Kingen and Zeka in their honorary video for Deft. Blacking out half of the screen in the tribute video for the player that stuck through it all for 5 years to make your organization World Champions is an elite level of holding grudges. 

How DRX management blew up the 2022 roster?

Putting the puzzle together with everything that was said on stream, by LCK insiders and DRX, we can come to this timeline. DRX wanted to re-sign the entire roster but the offer was too low. This forced Zeka and Kingen to become free agents and explore their options. The bot lane composed of Deft and Beryl was willing to re-sign at below market value, only if Pyosik was retained on the roster. DRX management didn’t want Pyosik on the roster unless it was all 5 players together. But they did want to keep Deft and Beryl on the team. After Zeka and Kingen had committed to HLE, Deft and Beryl became free agents and Pyosik was the odd man out. DRX management had made it well known that they didn’t want Pyosik, but the question remains why? 

Why DRX doesn’t like Pyosik?

Pyosik came aboard DRX in 2020, alongside head coach cvMax and rookie Keria. Despite signing a three-year contract, both cvMax and Keria were out of there after a year. But Pyosik stayed. And that might have created a rift between management and the new coaching staff. Pyosik was not their choice and yet they were stuck with him. The CEO, DOwner, would go as far as co-stream DRX playoff matches, saying that it’s a ”real shame” he couldn’t trade Pyosik for Gen G’s Peanut. 

If your CEO is throwing you under the bus like that, you would probably feel a certain way. But Pyosik stayed a professional to the end, despite being benched, developing a tobacco addiction, and stress-induced hair loss. Grinding ranked games 20 hours a day on stream made fans and players worried but it worked out in the end. Pyosik is now on Team Liquid, one of the most player-oriented organizations in esports. Despite firing his agent to please his former employer, Pyosik is now on a team that should appreciate his efforts. 

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