From bullying to a round tour of the world competition, the LJL division is a phantom god, and the DFM one-year international competition has no results
On the fourth day of the S13 World Qualifying Tournament, DFM from Japan's LJL Division lost to BDS in the loser's bracket and unfortunately eliminated from this World Championship, which also disappointed many LJL fans. As the team that has made the most appearances in international competitions in the past few years, DFM has made history for the division, but this year, they can only be described as miserable.
From the departure of "Evi" to the team bullying turmoil, DFM has had a mixed season
For DFM, the start of the 2023 season was not smooth, and the core player of the team, Evi, left DFM for Team Heretics in LAC, after which DFM introduced TOL2 as his replacement for the new year's season.
Tol2's performance throughout the season was actually very inconsistent, which made him a weak point for the team, but the other lines were relatively strong, so DFM eventually won the LJL Spring Championship and got a ticket to the MSI mid-season.
However, with the MSI game, the shortcomings of DFM were gradually exposed. In the end, DFM bid farewell to MSI with a 0-4 record, and the team's performance can only be described as disappointing. Most notable is the poor performance on the road. Since this is an international tournament with teams from all over the world, they cannot rely on other routes to close the holes in TOL2 as they do in their home leagues. Eventually, when the balance of the road is broken, the other roads fall apart.
In a post-match interview, a DFM player said: "In a normal game, more than half of the time is spent under the tower. I hope to reduce this. "It was a very disappointing race for DFM, which has shown strength in international competitions.
However, a fate worse than the failure of MSI awaits DFM
During the summer game, tol2 posted on social media that it was bullied by DFM manager and coach Ceros, which also made a great impression on DFM's word of mouth, the incident also attracted official attention, and finally the relevant personnel were punished, although the matter came to an end, but for the overall lineup structure of DFM, caused some shock.
World race in adversity, world の high wall
After the bullying incident, TOL2 also left DFM, and DFM fell into a state of emergency in the face of major setbacks. With the main players, managers and coaches gone, they must find a way to get everything back on track.
In the end, LJL's lower player Yutapon moved to the upper road, while substitute Milan was placed in the lower starting position. Despite the turbulent atmosphere in the team, they played well with Yutapon's excellent play and Milan's consistent performance, and struggled to defeat SHG in the playoffs to advance to the World Championship.
On the eve of the World Championship, the team brought Vivid as a coach, and even invited the 31-year-old player Apamen (who had previously retired) to join the team, and made a comprehensive change to the team, turning Yutapon back to the next path.
Apamen has been retired for a year and a half, has a family and children, and has not played an international match in his career, which means that this year's international competition is the biggest match he has faced since returning to the field.
Unsurprisingly, the World Championship arena is not easy, and he always seems to be unable to cope with many young singles, especially against BDS's Adam. In fact, not only on the road, but also other DFM roads are also in trouble in this World Championship. In the end, they lost back-to-back to CFO and BDS, ending this year's World Championship with an overall record of 0-4.
If you count the 0-4 record on this year's mid-season MSI, DFM has a 0-8 record in this year's international competition, and has not won a small victory, and it is no wonder that many LJL fans are disappointed.
At the 2021 World Championships, they defeated C9 to become the first LJL team in the history of the division to reach the group stage. At the 2022 World Championships, although they failed to reach the group stage, they also beat a strong team like RNG in BO3 for a small game.
Many DFM fans hope that in 2024, the team will return to its best with an excellent lineup and perfect form. Despite the disappointing end to the season, we applaud DFM's efforts in difficult circumstances.