DRX announced the restricted free agency of both Goo “Rb” Sang-Min and Kim “Zest” Ki-seok today. The players have been moved from the active roster to the reserve.
The duo will be replaced by the team’s substitute player Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung, and Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk, an 18-year-old player from the organization’s academy team, DRX Prospects.
The newcomers will join Kim “stax” Gu-taek, Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan, and Byung-chul “BuZz” Yu on the starting roster for the VCT 2024 season.
DRX benches Rb and Zest before the start of the VCT 2024 season
No reason was provided by either DRX or Rb and Zest for the change. Zest and Rb have been an integral piece of the puzzle for the Korean squad since their much-vaunted Vision Strikers days.
Vision Strikers still holds the record for the longest win streak in Valorant history, with a 104-0 record before F4Q finally broke their streak. This led them to make some roster changes, with Kim “glow” Min-soo moving to a coaching position, and both MaKo and BuZz joining.
The revamped team would qualify for Masters Berlin and Champions 2021, finding top-eight and top-12 finishes, respectively.
Upon becoming DRX VS, the team kept the same roster and continued to consistently qualify for international LANS. They would find top-six placements at both Master Reykjavik and Copenhagen in 2022, and capped their year with a third place finish at Champions 2022.
2023 saw them add Foxy9 to the roster, and while successful, the team still failed to find a trophy, with a top-four finish at LOCK//IN, second place in the VCT Pacific League playoffs, and a top-eight performance at Masters Tokyo.
They ended the season with a top-six placement at Champions 2023.
Rb started as the team’s primary Jett player, dabbled with the sentinel role in 2022, and, over the last year, has transitioned into a flex role.
Throughout VCT Pacific and his team’s international appearances, he played a wide variety of agents, mainly focusing on the sentinel role and on maps with secondary duelists.
He filled in Raze, Neon, and the occasional Yoru. Zest, too, filled several shoes for the team as the situation called for, though his primary agents are Viper and Sova, along with Fade and Skye on maps where the agents were played.
The organization announced that they were moving Flashback to the main roster from the prospects team. Flashback made his debut with the main DRX team at the TEN Global Invitational.
He also made an appearance at Red Bull Home Grounds, and at both events, he filled in a flex role, alternating between Viper and Killjoy.
DRX’s Valorant roster
- Byung-chul “BuZz” Yu
- Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan
- Kim “stax” Gu-taek
- Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung
- Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk
- Seon-ho “termi” Pyeon (head coach)
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