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There are few players in professional League of Legends who are as quietly accomplished as DRX support BeryL. In four seasons of professional play, he’s never missed the World Championship, has won the event once, and finished as a runner-up as well—all with DWG KIA.
On those DAMWON teams, BeryL’s soft success was often sent to the back burner by the presence of the team’s top-side trio of Nuguri, Canyon, and ShowMaker—three players who have made up (and still are) the cornerstones of that franchise.
This season, though, BeryL has carved out his own pocket of success on a new team, DRX. He’s helped lead the organization to its second appearance at Worlds in three years. And this year, DRX’s road to Worlds was paved with struggles. After barely scraping into the LCK Summer Split playoffs as the league’s sixth and final seed, DRX had to string together two straight best-of-five wins against KT Rolster and Liiv SANDBOX to even make it to the play-in stage at the tournament. Both of those series went all five games, with DRX facing elimination games in both of them.
“As a professional player, desperation is the key,” BeryL told Dot Esports. “We all wanted to get good results and make Worlds. That desperation was the key to our resilience and [ability] to bounce back.”
And at Worlds, BeryL and DRX have already had to bounce back. After dropping the first game of their group stage run to Rogue, DRX rebounded with two straight victories against Top Esports and GAM Esports to move into sole possession of second place in their group.
Unrivaled experience in the bot lane
At BeryL’s side through all of that “desperation” this season has been veteran AD carry Deft, who has spent three of the last four seasons with DRX. And although BeryL is, by all traditional definitions, a “veteran” League player, Deft makes him look like a bushy-tailed rookie in most facets. Deft has played in both China and Korea, he’s served on five different teams, and has been in the pro League space since 2012.
And when standing next to Deft, BeryL doesn’t even consider himself a veteran player. Compared to Deft’s nine years, BeryL’s four gives the support player a perspective where he still feels like he has room to grow.
“I myself don’t really consider myself a veteran player, because compared to other players with a lot of experience, I don’t think I have that much experience,” BeryL said. “It’s only been four years since I debuted in the LCK. Based on [Deft’s] experience, he has a lot of game knowledge and know-how, and when I’m with Deft, I can tell he’s one of the oldest gamers around here, like Faker.”
While BeryL might have experience winning a World Championship, Deft has him beat in almost every other field of accomplishment and tenure.
And this year, BeryL will hope that some of his championship-winning experience may rub off on Deft, who’s been chasing the Summoner’s Cup since he was a favorite to win it on multiple teams dating back to his age-17 season. From Samsung Blue, Edward Gaming, and every other team in between, the idea that Deft could win Worlds has always been present throughout his career, no matter who he’s played for.
Allies turned rivals
To win Worlds (or at least make a deep run), BeryL will almost certainly have to get past his former squad, DWG KIA. Whether he’ll have to eliminate them directly or simply place better than them, BeryL will have to overcome his one-time teammates one way or another.
“Whenever I come to Worlds, I realize that even though we all come from the same region, we are enemies,” BeryL said of other LCK teams. “If I get to play against [DAMWON], I will do my best in order to get a victory.”
For now, though, DRX have to make it past the group stage. And in Group C at Worlds, Rogue have been running circles around every team, while JackeyLove and Top Esports always present a formidable threat. Although DRX would advance if the group stage ended today, there are still three games left on the schedule. But BeryL knows that due to a rapid-fire Worlds format, just a few wins could send them straight to the top four, especially if DRX carry enough momentum between the group stage and their potential appearance in the knockouts.
“I really want to make it out of groups and play best-of-fives, because one best-of-five will guarantee a spot in the semifinals,” he said. “So my goal right now is to make it out of groups and win at least one best-of-five to make it to the semis.”
A repeat 2-1 record in week two of the group stage will guarantee that DRX advance to the knockout stage, regardless of who they drop that one game to. If they go 3-0, they’d have a chance to earn the top seed out of the group.
BeryL, DRX, and the rest of Group C will play all of their second round robin games of the Worlds 2022 group stage on Saturday, Oct. 15.
Published: Oct 13, 2022 04:11 pm