“They have a really good aim”, reflects Demon1 on DRG’s first match at Champions 2025

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After their hard-fought match against T1 in the Champions 2025 series, Demon1 spoke to the press and highlighted the promising talent within his DRG team.

DRG turned heads with a competitive first match against T1 at Champions 2025, but all eyes were on Demon1, who recently joined the team. After a break from international competition, he’s eager to show he’s still a top player.

It was so exciting to see some of our DRG players get their first taste of international competition in this series! Though we unfortunately lost to T1 0-2, it was a really close match – both games went to overtime, they really fought hard. Now we’ll have to go up against G2 Esports in the Lower Bracket, since they lost to Team Heretics. Hopefully we can bounce back!

T1 defeated DRG at Champions 2025

DRG lost a hard-fought match against T1 on September 14th. Players Lin “SpiritZ1” Ding-yu and Zhang “Akeman” Haoran, who were playing on the international stage for the first time, said they were initially nervous but quickly found their footing. While they gained confidence throughout the match, both admitted their inexperience affected their performance in key moments. Despite this, they felt their overall strategy was strong and they were able to demonstrate their individual skills.

Luo “Flex1n” Rui, the team’s in-game leader, explained that despite understanding what the opposing team was doing, they struggled to adjust their strategy mid-game. “We lost rounds because we didn’t make the best calls,” he said.

The team’s momentum was interrupted by a couple of lengthy technical breaks during the match. Their in-game leader said he told everyone to concentrate on anticipating what T1 would do next and to remember their planned strategy.

Demon1 returns to the Champions stage

Everyone was excited to see Maximilian “Demon1” Mazanov compete internationally again. After a championship win in 2023, he hadn’t been performing at the highest level, with his teams missing out on major tournaments. Now, he’s back in the spotlight, stepping in for Ilya “vo0kashu” Ushakov, who couldn’t attend the tournament due to visa problems.

Demon1 thought the team had a strong performance overall, even though they lost a few early rounds on the first map because the game moved quickly. He sees these losses as a learning opportunity and stressed the need to review what happened and figure out how to improve. He also feels like he’s fitting in well with the team.

Demon1 says the biggest hurdle has been communicating with his teammates due to the language difference. He acknowledges it can be difficult to follow everything, but remains optimistic. He’s been pleasantly surprised by their skill, particularly SpiritZ1’s aiming ability, and believes they just need more experience in crucial moments. Since this was their first match, he’s hopeful they’ll perform better in the Lower Bracket.

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2025-09-15 23:11