DragonX renews Deft’s contract, dumps everyone else

DragonX has renewed its contract with Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu and has big plans for him.

The organization is doing a hard reboot of its roster, dumping its entire lineup outside the bottom laner. Deft is considered one of the best in the position, gaining notoriety during his time with Edward Gaming in the LPL. In the LCK, Deft has always been a formidable player, even when his team isn’t the best in the league.

DragonX will build around its biggest star

In 2018, Deft and KT Rolster won the summer title and entered the 2018 League of Legends World Championship as the favorite to win.  KT Rolster fell in the quarterfinals to eventual tournament winner Invictus Gaming.

From there, Deft parted ways with KT Rolster and joined Kingzone DragonX, now rebranded DragonX, where he was paired up with support Park “TusiN” Jong-ik. Deft and TusiN quickly became one of the best bottom lane duos in the league, with a uniquely aggressive style. TusiN split from the organization earlier this month and is rumored to be heading to the LCS.

DragonX had a decent year, but drama behind the scenes hindered the team’s chances to succeed. According to several reports, the management had disagreements with head coach Kang “Hirai” Dong-hoon that ultimately led to his departure from the team. The environment was problematic for the players, especially when management started openly talking about who they would release coming in the coming off-season.

Those conversations and the new coaching staff are the reason behind DragonX’s changes.

The team recently hired former Griffin coach and controversial personality Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho. cvMax is known for demanding control of the roster and even stated that he wouldn’t join any team unless he was guaranteed total freedom. The terms of cvMax’s contract were not disclosed but it’s possible that he got the control he wanted.

Since its inception in the LCK, DragonX has been a contender. The team has had multiple international appearances, but falls short whenever it matters the most. In 2017, DragonX, known as Longzhu Gaming at the time, was one of the favorites to win the World Championship. The team was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Samsung Galaxy.

DragonX will confirm the rest of the roster in the coming days.