This is the other side of the coin. After making history in mid-January as
the first non-Korean player to compete in the LCK, AD Carry Trần “LazyFeel” Bảo Minh will be ineligible to participate in the LCK CL playoffs with DRX Challengers, the club announced on Wednesday. "
According to LCK regulations, a player who has played in seven LCK games is not eligible to compete in the LCK CL playoffs," the club stated on X. A month ago, the Vietnamese player was promoted to DRX’s first team to replace Park “Teddy” Jin-seong, who had been sidelined by the flu.
Teddy’s illness persisted, and LazyFeel ended up playing multiple matches in the LCK Cup Group Battle. In total, he participated in four best-of-three series (three wins, one loss), amounting to eleven games—exceeding the limit set by Riot Games. Additionally, LazyFeel played three of DRX Challengers' five group-stage matches in the LCK CL Kickoff, a competition with a format similar to the LCK. To manage his workload, team coach Noh “Alive” Jin-wook stepped in for the remaining two games.
DRX CL won all five of its matches, securing the Herald Group’s victory in the Group Battle and earning direct qualification for the playoffs' second round. There, they will face the winner of the match between T1 Esports Academy and BRION Challengers. T1 Esports Academy may soon encounter a similar issue, as their starting AD Carry, Sin “Smash” Guem-jae,
has been filling in for Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyung on the first team for the past four best-of series (ten games) in the LCK Cup, officially to provide the coaching staff with additional data. In response, midlaner Moon “Guti” Jung-hwan has temporarily switched roles to AD Carry for T1 Esports Academy’s last two matches in the LCK CL.
