It marks the end of the memorable Vision Strikers chapter, with stax, BuZz, and MaKo as the only remaining members from that historic roster.
SOUTH KOREA – DRX have moved Goo “Rb” Sang-min and Kim “Zest” Gi-seok to the reserve roster as they head into the 2024 VCT season.
The move represents the end of an era, leaving only Kim “stax” Gu-taek, Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul, and Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan from the original, dominating Vision Strikers roster. It will also presumably see Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung moved from a rotational position in the six-man roster into a full-time slot, as well as the newly-promoted Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk.
The news still comes as a surprise despite the duo not participating in the first two OFF//SEASON events, where two youngsters stepped in for them.
Rb and Zest, who achieved #11 and #17 at The VALO2ASIA Awards 2023 respectively, were the founding members of the team that was formed in June 2020 under the Vision Strikers banner before being acquired by DRX in early 2022. They are two of the most successful players to touch the game to this day, as they helped shape Vision Strikers’ legacy with an impressive streak of 103 consecutive wins during the first year of VALORANT.
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With the duo, DRX also won a plethora of regional Korean titles and consistently qualified for every international event starting from VALORANT Masters Berlin, marking a total of eight appearances. They have always been a dangerous opponent in tier one but struggled to lift trophies, with a runners-up at VCT Pacific 2023 and a second runners-up at VALORANT Champions Istanbul 2022 being some of their highest placings.
The benching of Rb and Zest follows DRX’s struggle to replicate past international showings, where a 7-8th finish at VALORANT Masters Tokyo contributed to the slip down in rankings. DRX showed some encouraging signs at Champions Los Angeles, in which they took a map off of EMEA powerhouse FNATIC in a dominating fashion before Rb and Zest were absent in the following two OFF//SEASON tournaments.
This therefore brings an end to a 42-month period of competitive play between the duo and the DRX VS team. Rb’s and Zest’s current contracts with DRX are both set to expire in 2026, according to the Global Contract Database, during which they are free to explore offers from other organizations in anticipation of the upcoming season.
DRX are now:
- 🇰🇷 Kim “stax” Gu-taek
- 🇰🇷 Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul
- 🇰🇷 Kim “MaKo” Myeong-kwan
- 🇰🇷 Jung “Foxy9” Jae-sung
- 🇰🇷 Cho “Flashback” Min-hyuk
- 🇰🇷 Goo “Rb” Sang-min (Reserve)
- 🇰🇷 Kim “Zest” Gi-seok (Reserve)
- 🇰🇷 Pyeon “termi” Seon-ho (Head coach)
- 🇰🇷 Kim “glow” Min-soo (Coach)
- 🇰🇷 Kwon “Argency” Soon-woo (Coach)
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Cover photo courtesy of Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
