The Case Against Termi

Argument 1: Prelude to Lock//In (2023)

Coming out of 2022, DRX had just placed 3rd at Champions 2022, losing to the most heartbreaking Marved play of all time. Regardless, they were EXTREMELY close to the top, with only OPTIC and LOUD beating them out. Conveniently, however, both OPTIC and LOUD split up following 2022. And yet, Termi threw away this apparent advantage by practicing without Zest (and with Foxy9) up until a short bit (a week? maybe two?) before Lock//In. Risks aren't always bad, but when you can't follow through on it, it becomes exclusively a disadvantage.

Argument 2: "Training" stax (2023)

During the 2023 regular season, Termi wanted to "train" stax to become a more independent IGL, and as such practiced a rule for many games of not taking timeouts. Now I'm not saying stax was the greatest IGL, but he was SUFFICIENT, and had just come out of double top 3 placements. As a result, why Termi chose true, official matches to "train" stax instead of scrims is a baffling mystery. It was as if he had nothing else to worry about despite DRX's Haven being horrifyingly bad.

Argument 3: Subbing out Foxy9 (2023)

I'm not one to say anything positive about Foxy9, but subbing him out every single time he underperformed was horrible decision-making. Even under the security of having qualified to Tokyo, following a bad game against PRX Foxy9 wasn't given the chance to recuperate. Instead, Termi called up Zest, who had not been scrimming with DRX for an entire regular season. Unsurprisingly, they didn't look so great then, nor did they look so great when Termi did the EXACT SAME THING at Tokyo. So desperate was he to not give Foxy9 a chance that he pulled out comps from the 2022 KR STAGE 1 CHALLENGERS season during that event (Neon on Split vs. PRX, e.g.), running hard executes and lineup tactics during a meta that favored slow, FNATIC-esque utility baits. This decision resulted in modern DRX's worst ever performance at an international event.

Argument 4: Zest & Rb (2023)

All things considered, DRX had an excellent showing at Champions 2023—they beat some genuinely good teams and only lost to FNATIC in a decently close match and EG who won the entire tournament.

Zest looked incredible on Viper (a role that would’ve been extremely important come the early 2024 double controller meta), and had performed overall just really solid despite being taken off his comfort initiator role and being forced to play whatever Termi wanted. Speaking of which, Rb was also an insane flex player, who was at that point only behind Chronicle and f0rsaken for the very best in that category. Despite this, Termi decided that their poor performance at the mighty and esteemed “AfreecaTV League” was too much to bear—and so just abandoned them for Foxy9, who was objectively worse than both Zest and Rb.

Argument 5: Self Sabotage at Bangkok (2025)

In an echo to his very first big mistake, Termi decided to once again abandon what he knew worked. DRX won their first non-Korean regional tournament at Kickoff, and looked excellent doing it—the best they’d looked in a long, long time. Termi then proceeded to change every single one of their comps. At best, it’s questionable. At worst, I wouldn’t 100% doubt foul play.

Argument 6: IGL Swapping

A brief timeline of DRX’s IGL history since Stage 1 2024 appears as such:

Stage 1, 2024: stax
Stage 2, 2024 & Champions: MaKo
2025 Off-Season: free1ng
Kickoff 2025 & Bangkok: MaKo
Stage 1 2025: Estrella

If Termi truly cared about “training” an IGL, why is swapping the around like his two nuts?

Counterargument 1: “DRX Had Reached Their Peaks with Zest and Rb”

How exactly do you know that when Termi switches up faster than a homie with a new girlfriend? And if so, why doesn’t that same logic apply to TERMI HIMSELF? He’s been around just as long, if not longer than Zest and Rb, so why haven’t we ever stopped to consider that maybe Termi is the one holding DRX’s peak back?

Counterargument 2: “Termi’s Famous Set Plays”

I’ll admit, Termi can cook up a good set play once in a while. But while I, as an avid DRX watcher remembers all of those plays like the palm of my hand, I give at least an 80% chance you couldn’t name any of them outside of the ones from Vision Strikers (2021). Why? Because EVERYONE does set plays these days. It’s just not as special as it used to be.

When you think of 2023 Harbor-Viper, do you think of DRX? When you think of double initiator as an archetype, do you think of DRX? Probably not! Because if another team does it better than DRX, it doesn’t matter that DRX thought of it first. Termi’s impact on this game as a whole does not protect him from the fact that HE SUCKS!!!