HYUNMIN: “We just want to help MaKo lift his first trophy” – VALORANT Champions Interview

DRX have been quietly plodding along through the VALORANT Champions lower bracket, with their knocking out of tournament favourites G2 somehow not having propelled them to favourites status. That’s likely to change now, having also eliminated Paper Rex — the nailed on pre-tournament favourites following their Masters Toronto win. After the 2-0 victory, Hotspawn spoke to DRX duelist Song “HYUNMIN” Hyun-min for an interview.

Hotspawn: You’ve just knocked out PRX, and had an incredible personal performance — especially on map one.

What are your immediate thoughts?

HYUNMIN: So, yeah. For my performance today, I would say I was pretty lucky. I hope I can just keep on this performance that I showed today till the end.

Hotspawn: Why lucky? It’s your level, isn’t it?

HYUNMIN: I guess I had some lucky rounds that helped us get some kills.

Hotspawn: You’ve now knocked out both PRX and G2, the two tournament favourites.

What do you make of DRX’s run here at Champs?

HYUNMIN: So I think we just have to win it out now because we eliminated two strong teams that were tournament favourites. So I think for them, we will have to win out the tournament.

Hotspawn: What are your thoughts ahead of facing Fnatic tomorrow?

HYUNMIN: They’re obviously a very, very experienced and very strong team. Last time we played them, we were winning, but they had a lot of resilience that helped them win. So I think it just comes down to whoever just plays better that day.

Hotspawn: DRX has pioneered the Waylay/Yoru duo at this tournament.

Why do you think other teams hadn’t really picked up the agent before?

HYUNMIN: I think the main reason that other teams didn’t really play it is because it has a lot of risk. For us, we were eliminated from Stage 2 pretty early on, so we had some time to prepare for Champions if we did make it. So I think we were just experimenting and took a risk with Waylay and Yoru, and it turned out to be really good.

Hotspawn: So do you think it’s worked out in your favour that you had extra time?

HYUNMIN: Yeah, I think so, yeah.

Hotspawn: You’re still in your rookie year in tier one, and when we spoke earlier in the season you told me that you used to watch the old Vision Strikers lineups when you were still starting out.

What do you think of your journey with DRX so far, now being deep in a VALORANT Champions run with them?

HYUNMIN: It still doesn’t feel real that I’m playing for DRX. I watched all of their past tournaments and their past Champions runs, and I’m just happy that I’m a part of one of their greatest Champions runs.

Hotspawn: When my colleague Zahk spoke to you during Stage 2, you highlighted how you’d grown both inside and outside of the game during this time.

How has such a legendary player like MaKo had a role in your development?

HYUNMIN: MaKo is a very, very experienced player, and he’s one of the best smokes players in the world. So I think just playing alongside him and practising every day with him, when you spectate him we just learn a lot differently; what type of decision making he makes in certain scenarios. I think that helps a lot.

Hotspawn: Has there been a specific moment from him that sticks out to you?

HYUNMIN: I guess his mindset when we’re down in tournaments. He says like, “It’s okay”, he’s been here before, stuff like that, and talks to us experience-wise. I think that helps a lot for us for sure.

Hotspawn: Does having MaKo on your team, and specifically the fact that he’s still not won a global event, make you want to win even more for him?

HYUNMIN: Yeah. [It] definitely gives us more motivation. We just want to help MaKo lift his first trophy after such a long time. [I] hope we make it out to the finals.

Hotspawn: You also told my colleague that you mostly like eating fast food. But you’ve been playing a tournament in the culinary capital of the world.

Please tell me you’ve been taking advantage of the food in Paris.

HYUNMIN: Oh yeah. So we’ve been eating a lot of different foods, but mainly our team likes Korean food. So we’ve been eating a lot of Korean foods from different restaurants. We’ve been eating hamburgers here and there. Yeah, I think we’re just trying out everything.