The last dance? Deft: Even if I go to the military next year, I don't think it's my last year

In the 2022 global finals, Deft's DRX completed a stunning and peculiar dark horse counterattack story, many people thought that Deft's last dance was perfect, but in 2023, Deft who left DRX chose to join DK, this stay is another year, overall, although the spring DK performance is not good, but the recent summer game, DK's state is significantly better.

In a regular season game just past, DK swept HLE 2-0, and in an interview with Korean media after the game, he was also asked about "Is this really your last year".

Was it a very important series for DK's playoffs, you guys ended up beating HLE 2-0, how do you feel now?

Deft: We lost to HLE in previous series, so this time I really wanted to beat them and... If we go back to the same pattern, we will always end up failing, and if something goes wrong with the next BP, we will always lose. But ShowMaker-Canyon-Canna did a fantastic job, so I thought to myself, "Wow, my team is really great."

DK suffered a losing streak before, what made you feel "my team is amazing" today? What makes you feel that DK's performance has improved over previous competitions?

Deft: The priority of the next road is very important in this version, you see the other teams; When they lose the right to get off the route, they struggle very much. It's the same with our team, and once we lose our way, it's hard for us to turn things around. Then, today we came up with a way down that had the potential of Carry and really had to win the line right. We didn't even think about Yumi when we first prepared today's BP because Yumi was weakened, right? Then Yumi is immediately locked by HLE. We could have reacted more flexibly in the rest of the BP, but we ran out of time, and in the end we just picked Delevingne and Eich.

The matchmaking stage was more difficult than we expected, we only won the matchmaking stage before the first time we went back to town, and then from level 5, the road became so difficult that I didn't see an opportunity. I wonder how we can find opportunities... But Kellin at Ash was really proactive in supporting the middle and we found a solution there. Today I felt that "this is a team that can win even if I make mistakes and don't perform well".

As you said, DK's performance looks much better today, the map looks very clear, is that the reason for the patch adjustment? Are DK players more confident now? Has the team atmosphere gotten better? People will be curious about why DK is doing better.

Deft: To be honest, even if we lost to the top teams, I always felt that if we played against them again, we would be able to beat them. In a nutshell. I wonder "if BP were the opposite, would we lose?" I think no, we're going to win. I'm not saying... We are lagging behind in looking at BP or something else.

I often have the feeling that if we exchange BP with our opponents [KT, GEN] or something, we will win the game. I was under the impression that we were not behind the enemy team in terms of operation, but were slower in figuring out the version or prioritizing our BP directly. Meanwhile, today, the new patch has just been enabled and we have prepared a lot of good options that make the game very easy.

I completely agree with you, even if the team doesn't perform well in the regular season, if the team sets a version trend in the playoffs, then first adjust to the version of the right way to play and win, that sounds positive, right?

Deft: The most positive thing is that even during training matches, I can feel how confident my teammates are feeling now, which really makes me happy.

Which player feels confident now? Is it the ShowMaker that is bouncing around the canyon today?

ShowMaker, let's be honest... I think he's confident because he's always so good. But after the last GEN series, he kept blaming himself. I always thought we lost that game because of me. I screwed up BP in the third game, I messed up the rhythm. But ShowMaker he always thought it was because of him that he lost the game, and I don't even know why ShowMaker feels that way, he's so good. But this time – preparing for the HLE series, ShowMaker played really well.

Deft, I've wanted to ask this question since the beginning of the interview, and I probably asked it more directly. Because in an interview a few weeks ago, Canyon said that I don't know if he's joking, but... He says to you, "Deft, isn't this your last year? So people naturally wonder when they listen, "Deft has been fighting for so long, will we see him again next year?" Do you have any response to this?

Deft: Seriously, last year I thought it would be my last year as a pro, but I'm still here, so who knows what's going to happen in the future? However, I would say... I think I'll keep playing professionally if there's anything I can do. Of course, I will not do anything illegal to evade military service, and that's it; If something works for me, it works, and if not, I'll do my best this year.

If this is your last year as a pro – what does 2023 mean to you?

Deft: In 2022, I often have the same problem... (Ah, that's true.) I will always ask you this question) To be honest, I don't think much about it right now, but I never thought that when I came back from the army I would continue to be a fighter, but now I think I can continue to fight, even though I have served in the army. So I don't think it's my last year, even if I'm going to join the army next year. This actually puts me at ease now.