A new era for Korean VALORANT has come.
Korean VALORANT squad DRX has kick-started the Pacific's off-season shuffle, shifting Jung "Foxy9" Jae-sung and Kang "BeYN" Ha-bin to the bench and farewelling Yu "BuZz" Byung-chul from the roster altogether.
DRX is not expected to re-sign Foxy9 or BeYN, and with BuZz confirmed out too, it brings an end to the Vision Strikers/DRX era in Korean VALORANT — an era that included several playoff appearances at Champions and Masters-tier events and a period of dominance that paved the way for the region to make a mark internationally.
One chapter closes...
BeYN and Foxy9 had been permitted to "seek new opportunities as restricted free agents", DRX confirmed on Oct. 6. The announcement came shortly after a post from the org farewelling BuZz.
BuZz stated on X (formerly Twitter) he was open to offers shortly after DRX's announcement. His departure sees him split from teammate Kim "MaKo" Myeong-kwan after over three years of competition spanning two teams.
MaKo, BuZz and Vision Strikers became Korea's trailblazers in the esport, demolishing everyone in the 2021 season of VCT Challengers and sweeping all three stages of competition in the region.
After defeating F4Q to complete the sweep, Vision Strikers finished in the top eight at VCT Masters Berlin. BuZz, MaKo, and Vision Strikers topped their group but were bundled out of the event with a loss to Gambit.
Their dominance in Korea was enough to lock a spot for VALORANT Champions 2021, but the Korean outfit fell to Cloud9 and Fnatic in the group stage. A month later, DRX acquired the entirety of Vision Strikers and went about defending their crown in the 2022 season.
BuZz and MaKo kept DRX firmly in the top spot regionally and once again surprised on the main stage with another top-eight finish at Masters Reykjavik and a third-place finish at VALORANT Champions 2022 against OpTic.
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...another chapter opens
DRX remained consistent for the following two years but could never rise above that 5th-6th mark at Champions. 2024's edition of VCT Pacific saw them finish runners-up once again — this time to rivals Gen.G — and a defeat at the hands of Heretics in Seoul proved to be the end for the lineup.
APAC VALORANT reporter @TanmayMhatre suggests MaKo and Cho "Flashback" Min-hyuk will be joined by HYUNMIN and Leviathan, with Rare Atom's No "freeing" Ha-jun rounding out the roster. This move has yet to be confirmed, but the rumors come amid a roster frenzy in the APAC scene.
VCT Pacific team announcements are expected to begin flowing tomorrow, so all eyes will be on where the Vision Strikers veterans end up and just how different the Pacific VALORANT landscape will look heading into 2025.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest VALORANT news.
