On Oct. 15, in the 2022 LoL World Championship group stage, DRX defeated Rogue and GAM Esports in order to advance to the knockout stage. In these two games, DRX played support Heimerdinger alongside Ashe. After the team secured a spot in the next stage, Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu joined Jeesun Park for an interview and explained the Heimerdinger pick.

You’ve secured a spot in the quarterfinals. How do you feel?

It feels like we’ve been surviving day by day since the regional qualifiers. [Laughs] Nothing’s ever certain, but I’m happy that we are safe for a while now.

As you said, you haven’t had a long break since the regional qualifiers through the play-ins and groups. The one-week break before the quarters would be precious. How will you manage your condition?

Having to play in the play-ins worked better for the team. We had to adapt to the environment early — with the jetlag and altitude sickness. Since we had that, it was much easier to adapt after coming here.

You played Ashe and Heimerdinger two games straight, which brought a wild reaction from the fans. Can you explain the pick a bit?

Top-tier teams can pick Heimerdinger. Since our top and mid laners are really strong in lane, the game gets really comfortable if the bot lane wins too. That’s how we were able to play him. Also, BeryL seems extremely happy when he plays Heimerdinger, so watching him is fun. [Laughs]

How were the counters, Nasus and Syndra?

It’s been so long since I saw him last, so I was a bit nervous, thinking Nasus had something up its sleeve, but when we actually played against him, he had nothing. [Laughs] It was easy. On the other hand, Syndra was a pretty good pick. It can throw the turrets, and when it lands QE, it’s dangerous. There was some pressure while playing against her.

The Anivia pick in mid lane was hard to predict too. How did Zeka react?

Actually, I met Kati in Champions Queue, and he played Anivia really well. I said he might play it, but we were surprised they picked it while flexing Syndra to support.

There were many skirmishes during the game. What were you aware of the most while playing?

We thought we had the better comp, so we tried not to fall in the early game. Since we made some mistakes, we could have lost.

There are many fans cheering for you in the venue. Tons of alpaca dolls and photos. How do you feel about it?

It’s been a long time since I played at Worlds with a crowd, so I wasn’t that conscious of the fans I had outside of Korea. Now that I see them all with my own eyes, I’m really happy.

Any last comments regarding the remaining games?

I believe we’ll have to play tiebreakers. I’ll make sure that we win that to advance in 1st place.