A new League of Legends world champion will be crowned this weekend. DRX, the fourth seed of the LCK, looks to complete its miraculous run from the Play-In Stage all the way to the final moment where they’ll lift the trophy. Their final opponent: the mighty T1. Ahead of the Worlds 2022 grand final, DRX gave a press conference to answer questions from the international press. All questions have been sorted by whom the question was asked.
Note: During the press conference, on-site translators only translated answers to English if the question was asked in English. Questions asked by Korean-speaking media and Chinese-speaking media could therefore not be included in this article.
Pyosik
Q: You won the Play-Ins in a near-perfect week in Mexico. You became the LatAm champions and all of LatAm and Mexico is cheering for you. Do you have any words for those who supported you from day one on this journey?
A: I loved the tacos the most, so I will answer. We haven’t stayed in Mexico for a long period of time, but throughout our journey in Mexico, we got great impressions of the country and the city. I’m really grateful that the fans in Mexico and Latin America are still supporting us. Maybe in the future, I will come back and have more tacos.
Kingen/Zeka
Q: You’re going to play against the greatest League of Legends player of all time, Faker. Do you think that you can take them? And in the past, many people thought you couldn’t make it this far, so why do you think we should support you?
Zeka: This is my first Worlds and I made it to my first-ever Worlds final, so I was able to play under way less pressure. I was pretty much free from it. As long as I play as I previously did in Worlds, even though my opponent will be Faker, I’m pretty confident that I will do my best and I will do well. We were always the underdogs and you guys have been showing great support. So, with all your support, I believe we can do our best.
Kingen: First off, I want to say thank you for all the support for DRX. I think there are a lot of points that you guys can actually enjoy about this matchup. It’s gonna be Deft versus Faker. Their story has been out here for so long. Also, the mindset of DRX is about enjoying the moment and doing our best. We believe we will be able to get the best result possible. If you guys can also focus on that, it will be a great and entertaining matchup. About the matchup against Zeus: I learn a lot from him by watching how he plays, so I will try to analyze his playstyle and learn about the quirks he showed during the matches. [If we do that], we will be able to adapt that into our own play and we will be able to win. So, please keep supporting us.
Zeka
Q: Why do people keep letting you play Akali? And how was it for you to destroy Chovy four games in a row?
A: About the Akali: I think she actually requires a lot of winning conditions to pop off. You also need to execute the champion really well. I guess that’s the main reason why people sometimes let it through. About the semifinal: I kind of got the winning side of the matchup. At the same time, my teammates were doing a great job, so we were able to get the win.
Deft
Q: A lot of the Worlds 2022 narrative has been around you and Faker leading up to the final, especially since you both went to the same high school. If you were to give a piece of advice to the Deft of back then, what would that piece of advice be?
A: About the matchup against Faker: yeah, we went to the same school. We actually debuted in the same year. We started at the same starting line and then Faker was way ahead of me. There was never a chance for me to catch up and close the gap, but this final is a great opportunity to get my revenge on him. About the advice to Deft in the past: if he keeps working hard as he normally does, he will get his moment. Your time will come. So, I don’t think he needs any advice.
Q: What are the major differences between DRX and [your former team] Hanwha Life? And why has this DRX roster succeeded the most of all teams you’ve played on?
A: I think it’s the experience of the players that is a difference. This year, the players and our team itself is a lot more well-rounded. It’s true that the players are really talented, but at the same time, what impacted us the most is the fact that we went through thick and thin. We were able to accumulate a lot of experience together and gain a lot of tenacity. That is the major factor.
Q: At every step during the [Knockout Stage], you have faced one of your teammates. Meiko in the quarterfinal, Chovy in the semifinal, and now Keria in the final. After eight years, how do you feel about finally getting to the top stage as the [LCK’s] fourth seed and after beating your former teammates?
A: I’ve been beating a lot of my former teammates to reach the final, yeah. But if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have been where I’m at right now. I want to say thank you to everyone who has played with me in the past. Now that I have beaten so many of my former teammates, I’m going to keep it going. I’m gonna beat the remaining former teammate and I’m gonna win Worlds.
BeryL
Q: At Worlds 2022, we saw over 100 champions picked in the tournament. You in particular are known for your more creative picks, including the Heimerdinger support. Why do you think this Worlds had so much champion diversity? Do you believe that this tournament is an example that could lead to further champion diversity throughout the world?
A: Because we are having shorter times [to learn] patches since we have more patches, we have more champions these days. In order to have more diversity in the league, we have to delete Yuumi.
Coaching staff
Q: You have frequently been considered the underdog at Worlds. Do you prefer being seen as the underdog, or would you rather be the favorite?
A: I don’t really mind either way, but being the underdog makes you feel a lot more overwhelmed about the win. But that’s it.
T1 gave a press conference after DRX. Four Riot Games executives also gave a press conference to discuss the future of League of Legends esports. You can find the full press conference here. The grand final between DRX and T1 starts on Nov. 6, 1 AM CET and wil be streamed on the official LoL Esports site.
