Updated on May 30, 2:37 p.m. (GMT+8): Added information on stax’s replacement and adjusted title.
South Korean esports organization DRX announced on May 27, 2024, that they have made a roster change at the end of their VCT 2024 season run.
“After a careful and lengthy consideration, we made the difficult decision to remove Gutaek “stax” Kim from the team’s starting roster,” wrote the organization in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“Stax will remain part of the team as we head into VCT Pacific Stage 2, but he has been granted permission to seek new opportunities as a restricted free agent,” the organization continued.
Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul and Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan are now the only remaining initial members of the Korean powerhouse team. They were both part of Vision Strikers, which DRX acquired on January 7, 2022.
DRX’s Valorant roster for VCT Pacific Stage 2
Stax, the team’s long-standing captain, led the roster to a 3rd place finish at Valorant Champions 2022. He was also part of the Vision Strikers roster that achieved a historic 104-0 game win streak in 2021.
On May 30, 2024, DRX announced that Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk, an 18-year-old rookie, was moving to the active roster, replacing stax. Flashback was part of the South Korean organization’s prospects team in 2023.
- Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul
- Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan
- Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung
- Kang “BeYN” Ha-bin
- Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk
DRX’s Valorant team established themselves as the top team in the Pacific region during the VCT 2022 and 2023 seasons, qualifying for all international Valorant LAN events.
However, the team has struggled in the VCT 2024 season. They missed out on Masters Madrid after finishing 3rd-4th in the VCT Pacific Kickoff, and failed to qualify for Masters Shanghai, finishing 4th in VCT Pacific Stage 1.
The team has one last chance to qualify for Valorant Champions 2024. To do so, they must finish as one of the top three teams in VCT Pacific Stage 2.
VCT Pacific Stage 2 begins on June 15, 2024, and runs until July 21, 2024.
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