DragonX Retains Deft, Joins CvMax On Quest To Win Worlds 2020 [LoL]

DragonX re-signed former Samsung Blue star Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu as their franchise cornerstone coming into 2020. Shortly after announcing their newly signed head coach, former Griffin HC CvMax, they retained one of the best ADC’s in the region. Deft will be playing his 7th season next year, debuting for MVP Blue in 2013. He rose to superstardom in Season 4 after winning Champions 2014 Spring with legendary mid laner Bae “dade” Eo-jin. Samsung Blue disbanded shortly after the abolishment of sister teams and Deft went to China to play for EDG. While playing for the LPL, he won three domestic titles, as well as the inaugural MSI tournament in 2015. He then returned to Korea in 2017, this time to play for KT Rolster. He won another LCK title with KT in 2018 Summer before finally joining Kingzone Dragon X.

• Read: Potential LCS Rosters for the 2020 Season

Deft became famous for his excellent teamfight positioning and no-nonsense style of play. Former Samsung star Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong once said Deft is the most intelligent ADC he played with, the polar opposite of Gu “imp” Seung-bin, the embodiment of relentless aggression. Mata also played against Deft for some time in the LPL. However, they returned to Korea together years later on KT Rolster. There, they formed one of the most hyped superteams in League history. Together with S4 champion Heo “PawN” Won-seok, they featured legendary KT jungler Go “Score” Dong-bin. On top of that, they were anchored by Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho, arguably the best top laner in the world at the time.

Deft’s individual success

Despite their strong roster, KT Rolster’s 2017 lineup failed to triumph over SKT’s dominance. They lost in the playoffs thrice before finally winning their only title, in Summer 2018. Coming into Worlds 2018, they were undoubtedly THE team to beat for the title. They stomped the group stage 5-1, dropping only one game to EDG. Unfortunately, that was the beginning of the end for KT. In the quarterfinals, they drew Invictus Gaming, LPL’s #2 seed that year. We all know how that went. They almost lost 3-0 if not for one of the best base races in the history of Worlds. They managed to claw their way to a deciding game 5 but failed to pull of the reverse sweep.

• Read: GenG Renews Contract With Ruler And Life. Drops Rest Of The Lineup [LoL]

After 2018, KT decided their superteam experiment just wasn’t working and dropped PawN, Deft and Mata off their roster. Deft then joined a retooled KingZone team along with PawN. They placed 3rd in Spring and then regressed to a measly 7th in Summer. Deft played as well as he could but just couldn’t lift his team to wins. It also didn’t help that PawN couldn’t stay healthy for long enough for the team to build cohesion. Deft also had the 3rd lowest gold share among starting ADC’s in Summer 2019. Many fans believed he was not being utilized to his full potential then. However, for the 2020 season, we may finally see a locked and loaded KingZone with Deft at the helm.

[선수단 재계약 – DRX Deft 김혁규]
DRX는 최고의 원거리 딜러인 Deft 김혁규 선수와 LoL 월드챔피언십 우승이라는 공동의 목표를 이루기 위해 재계약을 체결하였습니다. DRX는 Deft 선수를 중심으로 롤드컵 우승을 향한 도전을 이어나갈 예정입니다. pic.twitter.com/UhA32sIeNP

— DragonX (@DRXGlobal) November 18, 2019