The Korean squad looks to their youth ranks to bolster their title aspirations next year.
SOUTH KOREA – DRX have announced the promotion of Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk from their academy team, DRX Prospects. The 18-year-old will thus take his first steps in tier-one competition with the Korean powerhouse, although DRX have not clarified the precise plans for whether he will be included in the primary playing-five or other arrangements for the seven-man roster will be made.
“DRX VALORANT is thrilled to announce that Flashback has been called up to join the main team from DRX Prospects. Please join us in welcoming our bright talent to our main roster,” the announcement reads.
DRX had been testing out Flashback with their main during the OFF//SEASEASON period at the TEN VALORANT Global Invitational and Red Bull Home Ground Tokyo before making the move permanent.
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Outside of competitive play, the DRX Prospects player has been seen at the pinnacle of the Radiant APAC rankings for a while among heavy hitters such as Ilia “something” Petrov, Kititkawin “PTC” Rattanasukol, and others. After terrorizing ranked plays with Duelist as his most-picked role, it was not long before DRX gave him an opportunity to prove himself against tier-one opponents on LAN.
Since getting a chance on the main roster, the youngster has performed well, especially after emerging as DRX’s top-performing player in a match against Chinese powerhouse EDward Gaming in the former event. Despite public pressure to perform under Korea’s leading team, Flashback’s stat line reads like a fairy tale for a newcomer’s debut on LAN, matching or even surpassing those of experienced tier-one players.
The team’s next scheduled outing is the VALORANT East Asia Tri-Cup, with their competition taking place in Chengdu, China, in January 2024.
DRX are now:
- 🇰🇷 Kim “stax” Gu-taek
- 🇰🇷 Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul
- 🇰🇷 Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan
- 🇰🇷 Goo “Rb” Sang-min
- 🇰🇷 Kim “Zest” Gi-seok
- 🇰🇷 Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung
- 🇰🇷 Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk
- 🇰🇷 Pyeon “termi” Seon-ho (Head coach)
- 🇰🇷 Kim “glow” Min-soo (Coach)
- 🇰🇷 Kwon “Argency” Soon-woo (Coach)
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Cover photo courtesy of DRX
