[VALORANT]DRX kicks off Paris campaign with win over Team Liquid
15 Sep 2025
Day two of Champions Paris wrapped up with one of the competition's early upsets, pitting one of the world's most in-form teams in Team Liquid against arguably the competition's most out-of-form team in DRX.
DRX, who as an organization has never lost the opening match of any international event it has attended, kicked off its Paris voyage with a 2-0 win over Team Liquid. The series started with a 13-8 win on DRX's pick of Abyss and ended with a 13-10 pick on Liquid's Bind.
Team Liquid entered the match having won seven of its previous eight matches, a run that was capped off by a 3-0 victory in the grand final of EMEA Stage 2. On the other hand, DRX had been out of action for nearly a month after being eliminated two games into the Pacific Stage 2 playoffs. The Korean side qualified for its fourth straight Champions event, or fifth straight dating back to its Vision Strikers days, as the Pacific region's fourth seed after TALON fell to Rex Regum Qeon in the lower final, punching its ticket to Paris.
The Korean Zellsis is back. (Photo by Colin Young Wolff/Riot Games)
DRX came up with a new look of sorts, dropping in-game leader Estrella from the starting lineup in favor of BeYN. The move enabled DRX to take on a double-Duelist approach, placing Flashback on Yoru duties while free1ng played the Sentinel and secondary Controller role.
DRX's pick of Abyss was an easy one for termi. At the start of the year, the map was one of his team's best. Before it left the map pool, DRX had a seven-game winning streak on Abyss, a run dating back to Champions Seoul. With HYUNMIN on Waylay and Flashback on Yoru, DRX deployed a unique and disruptive double-Duelist comp, while Team Liquid opted for a more info-heavy double-Initiator comp with trexx on Sova and paTiTek on KAY/O. In addition to Abyss's return to the map pool, MaKo's return to the IGL role was another relic of DRX's hot form at the start of the year that returned with Champions.
From the get-go, DRX saw its Duelist pair pay dividends on the wide map. Flashback and HYUNMIN led the charge, helping DRX win six out of the first seven rounds. The pair combined for 20 kills in the attack half, with 14 from Flashback alone. A change in Team Liquid's approach helped the European squad tie things up by halftime, but DRX's double-Duelist composition was well-suited for defense as well.
Keep an eye out for HYUNMIN, and you might lose track of Flashback.
Solid retake utility from both Duelists allowed DRX a chance to fight back on defense. After winning the pistol and anti-eco, DRX gave up just two rounds to Liquid's attack to close out the map 13-8.
If Abyss showed any signs of rust or on-stage shakiness for either side, Bind had anything but that. DRX chose to start on attack, and once again, the Duelist pair was leading the charge for the team. HYUNMIN, on Waylay again, had 13 on the attacker side of the map, while Flashback's 3-3 record in first bloods created opening duels in the early moments of the game.
Team Liquid had confidence in picking Bind, a map on which it went 5-1 in Stage 2. The first half was back-and-forth, starting with Liquid stealing an eco round following a DRX pistol and ending the half with the honors even yet again at 6-6. Another double-Initiator comp looked to provide Liquid with entry flashes and easy plants, leading to wins in the pistol, anti-eco, and bonus rounds to start the second half.
On defense, DRX armed Flashback with an Operator, with which he would rack up eight kills by the end of the map, to shut down key areas of the map. DRX responded to Liquid's three rounds with three of its own, and while Liquid interrupted the run to claim a momentary 10-9 lead, it only delayed the inevitable. DRX won seven of the last eight rounds to claim the win 13-10, with no shortage of heroics from the likes of MaKo and Flashback.
Ballsy defuse from MaKo and anguish for Liquid.
In recent years, DRX has become known for being masters of the group stage, and for good reason. With a win over EMEA's top seed, DRX moves on to play the second seed of Americas in NRG, a matchup that hasn't been seen since Masters Tokyo. Meanwhile, Liquid will fall to the lower half of the Group C bracket, forced into a heavyweight battle with Chinese giants EDward Gaming.
Day two of Champions Paris wrapped up with one of the competition's early upsets, pitting one of the world's most in-form teams in Team Liquid against arguably the competition's most out-of-form team in DRX.
DRX, who as an organization has never lost the opening match of any international event it has attended, kicked off its Paris voyage with a 2-0 win over Team Liquid. The series started with a 13-8 win on DRX's pick of Abyss and ended with a 13-10 pick on Liquid's Bind.
Team Liquid entered the match having won seven of its previous eight matches, a run that was capped off by a 3-0 victory in the grand final of EMEA Stage 2. On the other hand, DRX had been out of action for nearly a month after being eliminated two games into the Pacific Stage 2 playoffs. The Korean side qualified for its fourth straight Champions event, or fifth straight dating back to its Vision Strikers days, as the Pacific region's fourth seed after TALON fell to Rex Regum Qeon in the lower final, punching its ticket to Paris.
DRX came up with a new look of sorts, dropping in-game leader Estrella from the starting lineup in favor of BeYN. The move enabled DRX to take on a double-Duelist approach, placing Flashback on Yoru duties while free1ng played the Sentinel and secondary Controller role.
DRX's pick of Abyss was an easy one for termi. At the start of the year, the map was one of his team's best. Before it left the map pool, DRX had a seven-game winning streak on Abyss, a run dating back to Champions Seoul. With HYUNMIN on Waylay and Flashback on Yoru, DRX deployed a unique and disruptive double-Duelist comp, while Team Liquid opted for a more info-heavy double-Initiator comp with trexx on Sova and paTiTek on KAY/O. In addition to Abyss's return to the map pool, MaKo's return to the IGL role was another relic of DRX's hot form at the start of the year that returned with Champions.
From the get-go, DRX saw its Duelist pair pay dividends on the wide map. Flashback and HYUNMIN led the charge, helping DRX win six out of the first seven rounds. The pair combined for 20 kills in the attack half, with 14 from Flashback alone. A change in Team Liquid's approach helped the European squad tie things up by halftime, but DRX's double-Duelist composition was well-suited for defense as well.
Keep an eye out for HYUNMIN, and you might lose track of Flashback.
Solid retake utility from both Duelists allowed DRX a chance to fight back on defense. After winning the pistol and anti-eco, DRX gave up just two rounds to Liquid's attack to close out the map 13-8.
If Abyss showed any signs of rust or on-stage shakiness for either side, Bind had anything but that. DRX chose to start on attack, and once again, the Duelist pair was leading the charge for the team. HYUNMIN, on Waylay again, had 13 on the attacker side of the map, while Flashback's 3-3 record in first bloods created opening duels in the early moments of the game.
Team Liquid had confidence in picking Bind, a map on which it went 5-1 in Stage 2. The first half was back-and-forth, starting with Liquid stealing an eco round following a DRX pistol and ending the half with the honors even yet again at 6-6. Another double-Initiator comp looked to provide Liquid with entry flashes and easy plants, leading to wins in the pistol, anti-eco, and bonus rounds to start the second half.
On defense, DRX armed Flashback with an Operator, with which he would rack up eight kills by the end of the map, to shut down key areas of the map. DRX responded to Liquid's three rounds with three of its own, and while Liquid interrupted the run to claim a momentary 10-9 lead, it only delayed the inevitable. DRX won seven of the last eight rounds to claim the win 13-10, with no shortage of heroics from the likes of MaKo and Flashback.
Ballsy defuse from MaKo and anguish for Liquid.
In recent years, DRX has become known for being masters of the group stage, and for good reason. With a win over EMEA's top seed, DRX moves on to play the second seed of Americas in NRG, a matchup that hasn't been seen since Masters Tokyo. Meanwhile, Liquid will fall to the lower half of the Group C bracket, forced into a heavyweight battle with Chinese giants EDward Gaming.