DRG becomes the first team eliminated in London, finishing 11th-12th to earn a $15,000 prize.

In the Swiss round of the 2026 VALORANT Masters London, a CN region inner-league match in the 0-1 bracket ended with XLG coming from behind to defeat DRG 2-1, pushing DRG out of the event. On a brighter note, DRG at least managed their first international tournament win—a single map victory—which counts as a breakthrough. And losing to a fellow CN team is still better than losing to another region. For fans, that's about the only consolation. DRG were the first team eliminated from the tournament, finishing in 11th-12th place and walking away with a $15,000 prize.

Looking back at their matches against VIT and XLG, DRG still suffer from an old issue: they take too long to warm up in international events. They lack the composure they show in domestic play, and players tend to feel nervous. In the match against VIT, they were constantly on the back foot—being dominated only made their performance worse, eventually leading to surrender. Against XLG, at least the players showed some initiative and were willing to take risks. In particular, Spiritz1 and Vo0kashu performed very well, coming just one round short of turning the game around and forcing overtime. It felt like a repeat of their match against T1 at last year's Champions—so close, yet so far.

This year, DRG revamped their roster, and the addition of Life provided some much-needed firepower, as the team was severely lacking in that area—especially in the info and controller roles, where they couldn't secure entry kills or produce explosive bursts. Now that they've ended another international campaign with such a result, it's likely the roster will undergo minor adjustments. They may build a new core around V神 and Huanling. The London Masters is now history for DRG; all that's left is to look ahead. Let's see how they perform in VCT CN Stage 2.