17-year-old VNese gamer became first foreign player in Korea's top gaming league
Teenager Tran Bao Minh, nickname 'LazyFeel', became the first foreigner to play in the Republic of Korea's League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) gaming tournament and even went one step further, as he won his debut match 2-1.
The seventeen year old, who plays for 2022 World Champions DRX's reserve team, was called up to the first team as starting player Park 'Teddy' Jin-seong was unavailable due to an illness.
DRX's opponent, OKSavingsBank BRION (also known as BRO), was a major opponent having won the Republic of Korea's KeSPA Cup in December.
After losing the first game in the best-of-three series, 'LazyFeel' and teammates played a flawless game 2, with the youngster bagging seven kills to tie the series 1-1.
In the decider, despite challenges in the early part of the game, DRX pulled off a remarkable comeback in 41 minutes to win the series 2-1 and claim their first victory in 2025.
Minh received praise all around from teammates and pundits on social media after his incredible performance.
"I think 'LazyFeel' is really trying hard to be on the same page with the team, he's so good," said Korean teammate, Son 'Ucal' Woo-hyeon.
Korean esports journalist Ashley Kang, posted on X: "LazyFeel just won his first LCK match and he's still 17 years old. He is (even) younger than iPhone."
The LCK's official X account also posted a congratulatory message: "Welcome to the first non-Korean player to play in tier 1 of the LCK, DRX LazyFeel!"
LCK is one of the top five regional leagues in the esports game 'League of Legends', and nine out of fourteen league World Champions were LCK member teams. The match between DRX and BRO attracted 217,442 viewers watching the game at the same time on Wednesday.
Minh, along with fellow Vietnamese Vo 'Chika' Le Nhan, who is 18, beat 200 other Vietnamese players during DRX's scouting tournament held in HCM City in June 2022 to became trainees at DRX's academy team.
While 'Chika' returned to play for Vietnam's MGN Vikings Esports in the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP), Asia-Pacific's top tier league, 'LazyFeel' impressed coaches with his talent and was promoted to the reserve team, called DRX Challengers, in November 2024.
Just one day before he was called up to the first team, 'LazyFeel' was voted 'Player of the Game' after his performance in the 2-0 win against the reserve squad of Gen.G Esports.
Should 'Teddy' still be unavailable for the next match, 'LazyFeel' along with DRX will face current World Champions T1 on January 18.
