Why Deft’s World quarterfinals win is one of LoL’s best moments

For ten grueling years, Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu has maintained elite performance at League of Legends’ highest competitive tier, yet his quarterfinals triumph at Worlds 2022 against Edward Gaming might represent the ultimate achievement in an already storied professional journey.

Deft’s path through professional gaming has chronicled extraordinary individual skill, repeated near-misses at championship glory, and the profound personal toll of complete dedication. With South Korea’s mandatory military service requirement approaching, this international tournament could mark Deft’s final appearance on the global competitive platform.

Examining a complete ten-year competitive span, Deft stands among esports’ essential foundational personalities. Last weekend, he produced one of competitive League’s most memorable instances on its biggest platform – here’s the deeper significance.

Foundations of Greatness: The Samsung Blue Era

Deft first appeared on the LCK competitive stage during February 2013 as part of MVP Blue’s roster. At this developmental stage, Deft displayed youth and inexperience while simultaneously demonstrating exceptional mechanical talent while alternating marksman responsibilities with Gu “Imp” Seung-bin. His rapid skill progression became evident quickly, and by Champions Winter 2013-2014, he transitioned to Samsung Blue, comprising one segment of the dominant Samsung sister team structure that existed before league regulations restricted organizations to single team representation.

His initial competitive split with Samsung Blue showcased consistent improvement, culminating in a fifth-to-eighth final standing, but 2014 marked the period where Deft genuinely began establishing his competitive reputation.

Samsung Blue ascended rapidly during Champions Spring 2014, achieving playoff dominance through convincing victory performances. Both Samsung squads operated at peak performance levels, establishing themselves as the region’s premier competitive forces. Champions Summer delivered a narrow 2-3 finals loss against KT Rolster, an organization Deft would subsequently join later in his career.

During that season’s World Championship tournament, Samsung White and Samsung Blue were regarded as equally probable favorites to claim the Summoner’s Cup championship trophy. Tournament organizers implemented different strategic approaches, as playoff bracket arrangements positioned the sister teams for confrontation in what numerous analysts had anticipated would be the championship final matchup. Deft’s Samsung Blue would succumb to the eventual tournament champions Samsung White, prompting his departure to compete in China’s LPL for two years during the significant Korean talent migration period of 2015.

Deft dedicated the subsequent two competitive years to Chinese competition with Edward Gaming, securing the LPL 2015 spring split championship by overcoming LGD and his former teammate Imp. He extended that success into a notable Mid-Season Invitational championship victory.

The LPL Regional Finals also fell under EDG’s control, defeating Invictus Gaming, who had recovered from a previous loss against Edward Gaming during playoff competition. Following a second-place finish in LPL Spring 2016, and a championship victory in Summer, Deft had formally achieved all-star competitive status. He returned to Korean competition in 2017, where he would compete for KT Rolster, DragonX, and Hanwha Life Esports, before rejoining DragonX for the 2022 competitive season.

Throughout this remarkable competitive trajectory, Deft consistently failed to advance beyond the Worlds quarterfinals stage despite qualifying in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2021. Repeatedly, Deft had fallen just short of the semifinals platform since the devastating Samsung organizational mirror match during the World Championship that potentially represented his championship opportunity.

Despite clearly separating himself from competitive peers, competitive circumstances repeatedly prevented Deft from reaching the competitive heights he’d previously attained during earlier career phases.

Ghosts of the Past: Facing Edward Gaming

Last weekend, Deft and DragonX confronted LPL powerhouse and reigning world champions Edward Gaming during Worlds 2022. The Chinese representatives entered as favorites according to most analytical assessments and community sentiment.

The series commenced with closely matched performances, DragonX securing early objective control advantages while EDG maintained nearly identical gold accumulation. A decisive team engagement at what appeared to be DRX’s Ocean Drake soul opportunity fundamentally shifted game dynamics and EDG secured the opening game victory.

Then arrived the devastating second game collapse, where extraordinarily unfortunate circumstances positioned DRX and Deft at the precipice of elimination. At 39 minutes into the match, EDG elected to pursue Baron Nashor after successfully eliminating DragonX’s jungler Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon. DRX found themselves in unfavorable engagement conditions without credible smite contest potential, prompting Deft to assume personal initiative through teleportation to a minion wave adjacent to EDG’s destroyed top lane inhibitor.

DragonX maintained significant gold advantages, but EDG possessed recovery potential, motivating the elite AD carry to attempt a game-concluding maneuver.

Eliminating both Nexus defensive structures, Deft targeted the vulnerable Nexus core, rapidly depleting its structural integrity with the characteristic speed of a fully-equipped Ezreal. EDG’s top lane specialist had initiated recall procedures, but the timing appeared insufficient, or so every spectator observing the match believed.

At the precise final instant when Deft prepared to execute the concluding basic attack, the top lane inhibitor regenerated, rendering the Nexus temporarily indestructible. This represented once-in-a-career misfortune, occurring on the world’s most significant competitive stage during what might represent Deft’s final competitive appearance.

Broadcast commentators expressed collective astonishment, Jax launched toward the exposed Deft, and the strategic opening vanished. Edward Gaming secured Baron Nashor, the ensuing team engagement, and proceeded to conclude the second match.

The New York City audience erupted in explosive vocal reactions that physically resonated throughout the competitive venue, and the global community paused collectively.

It appeared to confirm the decisive conclusion, the ultimate demonstration that pure misfortune would prevent Deft from reaching Worlds’ semifinals during this concluding opportunity. The anticlimactic conclusion to eight years of “near achievement” evaporated and Deft’s competitive misfortune reached its culmination. However, as League of Legends esports historical records will permanently document, that outcome never materialized.

The Impossible Comeback: Anatomy of a Reverse Sweep

The subsequent three competitive matches represent some of the most intensely contested League of Legends gameplay ever presented during Worlds quarterfinals competition.

During what might represent his final professional match, Deft selected Draven without prior visibility, an exceptionally aggressive, high-risk selection positioned well beyond established meta preferences and his customary champion pool. This constituted another hazardous decision by the experienced bot lane specialist, but on this occasion, the strategic gamble yielded positive results.

Gradually, elimination by elimination, DragonX systematically countered EDG’s advantages across successive matches, each instance showcasing distinct strategic configurations and team compositional approaches.

This wasn’t Deft single-handedly dragging a reluctant roster to victory; this represented a revitalized and reoriented DRX competing for tournament survival, positioned against competitive constraints.

Each match balanced on competitive razor’s edge that could eliminate the Korean underdog representatives and signal the conclusion of Deft’s professional journey.

That catastrophic competitive moment never arrived, however, and Deft astonishingly continued securing victories. The competition never represented one-sided domination. Edward Gaming continuously tested DRX’s competitive capabilities, but the Korean representatives consistently managed to achieve victory across repeated engagements.

At approximately forty minutes into the decisive fifth match, DRX maintained 8,000 gold advantages over their opponents, one dragon elimination from Ocean Soul acquisition when top lane specialist Hwang “Kingen” Seong-Hoon suffered elimination. Only through an extraordinary smite acquisition did DRX secure the Ocean Soul advantage, and that seemingly impossible objective capture represented the decisive factor that overwhelmed EDG’s competitive resilience.

DRX engaged in four-versus-five combat at 36 minutes into the match, but despite numerical superiority, the economic disparity proved insurmountable for the Chinese defensive efforts.

Deft survived with minimal health reserves as EDG’s structural integrity collapsed, and every observer monitoring the series recognized a fundamental reality: the conclusion had arrived. DragonX capitalized on the miraculous smite acquisition and concluded the match before any EDG member could regenerate.

However, it wasn’t the extraordinary competitive stakes and plays that established this moment as the ultimate representation of what League of Legends competition offers. It’s the subsequent developments that carry deeper significance.

The Man in the Arena: Understanding the Human Cost

Following the match conclusion, Deft received questioning from interviewers Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere and Jeesun Park regarding the significance of returning to semifinals competition after 2,942 days. That duration represented the temporal span since Samsung Blue and White confronted each other, marking Deft’s journey back to the penultimate Worlds competitive stage.

When Deft received this inquiry, the reality of his competitive positioning registered profoundly and he instinctively covered his face with his hand while emotional tears flowed freely.

Pyosik, positioned adjacent to him, smiled with empathetic understanding and gently tapped his teammate’s shoulder, but only one individual comprehends the complete significance those nearly 3,000 days genuinely represent.

Deft has dedicated the entirety of his adult existence to the singular objective of competitive excellence. While countless supporters have become familiar with his identity and narrative, none can measure what was genuinely sacrificed except the competitor on the platform, Theodore Roosevelt’s conceptual “man in the arena,” Kim Hyuk-Kyu.

Investing ten years of continuous competition pursuing a platform that most players will never experience, attempting and failing repeatedly to reclaim the competitive excellence demonstrated with Samsung Blue, only Deft can ever understand the complete personal cost.

No supporter, no commentator, no analyst, specialist, or media personality has witnessed every sleep-deprived evening, every devastating defeat, and every measure of dedication expended in service of competitive excellence.

Deft’s victory last weekend transcends mere historical resurgence or exceptional gameplay. When Deft emotionally broke into tears, eight years separated from his previous Worlds semifinals appearance, the esports community observed a momentary insight into the personal sacrifice inherent in pursuing authentic excellence.

Only Deft, and Deft exclusively, can completely comprehend the existence he has relinquished in pursuit of competitive mastery.

But for one brief instance, for a transient, emotionally resonant moment, we can comprehend the enormous burden of that responsibility.

It remains irrelevant whether DRX proceeds to experience one-sided elimination by GEN.G or if 2022 genuinely represents Deft’s concluding competitive year in League of Legends. Deft’s quarterfinals triumph chronicled unparalleled determination, ten years of unwavering commitment, and the profoundly personal expense of extraordinary capability.

Deft’s victory represents a defining moment in League of Legends esports history, because it embodies, fundamentally and exceptionally, human experience.

No reproduction without permission：Game Guides Online » Why Deft’s World quarterfinals win is one of LoL’s best moments How Deft's historic Worlds 2022 victory represents a decade of sacrifice and ultimate esports redemption