DRX LazyFeel, a 17-year-old LoL player from Vietnam, is in the spotlight after becoming the first ever import player in the LCK.
The 2025 League of Legends Championship Korea (LCK) Cup has officially kicked off today, with 10 LCK teams participating for a single slot in the upcoming international tournament, First Stand 2025.
While the 2025 LCK Cup itself has its own unique charm, such as the implementation of Fearless Draft, one other interesting fact is there is the first-ever import player (and a non-Korean) playing for the LCK: DRX LazyFeel.
Who is DRX LazyFeel?
Trần "LazyFeel" Bảo Minh, a Vietnamese player born in 2007, first joined DRX Academy in June 2024 and was promoted to join DRX Challengers in November 2024. He was called up on the 2025 LCK Cup first match on Jan. 15 to temporarily replace DRX's main team's Botlaner, Teddy, as he is unable to participate because of a health issue.
DRX Teddy will not be playing today's match as he has developed symptoms of a severe flu. In his stead, DRX LazyFeel has been called up as an emergency substitute. Please join us in supporting DRX LazyFeel in today's match!
The reason for my call-up is because Teddy is sick. I was quite nervous when I first heard the news. It's a nerve-wracking opportunity to perform in Tier 1, but I'm just as happy. Lastly, I'll do my best to live up to my fans' expectations.
Being called up from Tier 2 to Tier 1 in an emergency is not rare in LCK. Previously, T1 Academy's Jungler, Guwon, also stood in for T1 Oner in the 2024 LCK Spring Regular Season and won the series against BRO by 2-0.
However, being the first ever non-Korean player to debut in LCK and win the series, has never happened in the history of LCK, and personally become a great honor for LazyFeel.
To be the first non-Korean player (in LCK) is such a great honor, and I'll do my absolute best. I'll make sure to do my best to win with my hyungs (bros). DRX Fighting!
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LazyFeel performs great in his debut match, despite lacking preparation
During the first match against BRO, DRX was obliterated by 18-2 and over 16k gold behind, with the only 2 kills scored by LazyFeel who used Corki. However, DRX successfully brought the series to the matchpoint after winning their second match by 13-5, with LazyFeel scoring 7/1/5 on Kaisa.
The third match was very fierce, lasting over 41 minutes with DRX eventually winning against BRO by 22-17. While LazyFeel recorded a 6/4/9 KDA on Kalista, the one who stole the spotlight during the third match would be DRX Ucal with a 7/0/10 Mid Ambessa.
DRX's victory is especially extraordinary, as it would be challenging for DRX to communicate with LazyFeel, considering it was an emergency call-up and they haven't practiced much before, as well as LazyFeel can't communicate fluently in Korean.
Overwhelming support from Vietnamese fans
DRX LazyFeel showered with support not only from DRX fans, but also from Vietnamese fans, even before the series began, and now he has gained even more after showing great performance and securing his first win for DRX. Additionally, fans mentioned that regardless of the result, they are already proud that a Vietnamese player can play in a Tier 1 tournament.
Vietnamese fans have recently been in the spotlight for their enthusiasm toward LoL Esports, contributing over 1.1 million viewership records at the 2024 Worlds Finals.
Despite their representative team, GAM Esports, exiting early in the tournament, Vietnamese fans remained highly engaged on social media and in live chats. Their passion was further fueled by GAM’s CEO, TK Nguyen, whose popular “It’s GAM Time!” catchphrase added extra excitement to the event.
Stay tuned on esports.gg for 2025 LCK Cup updates.
