ZETA Division: Underdogs to Japan’s hope in VCT Master’s

Let’s take a look at Japanese VALORANT giants, ZETA Division and their recent success.

ZETA Division, previously known as Absolute JUPITER entered into VALORANT eSports in April 2020. They soon became a huge powerhouse in Japan. Playing locally, they proved to be one of the best teams in Japan.

Japanese teams earning a combined record of one win and seven losses at international events. Only one spot was awarded to the winner of Challengers JP for the first Masters of 2022. Japan was considered to be one of the weakest regions in VALORANT by analysts and fans. But ZETA Division has proved all of them wrong.

Also read: VCT Master’s 2022: One of these 4 teams will be taking home the VCT Master’s trophy

ZETA Division’s road to success and early failures

The first match against Korean representative DRX went as expected, with a ruinous loss 13-2 and 13-3. Against Fnatic, despite the EMEA squad tumbling down due to many last-minute substitutions, even the biggest ZETA DIVISION fan was not confident in taking the win.

Moving on, ZETA Division was responsible for knocking out Team Liquid, NiP and Fnatic. Everyone was stunned by these results because right after their first loss against DRX, the fans had written them off as contenders and many even considered them the weakest team in the tourney.

Many viewers and analysts claim that ZETA Division had a bizarre stroke of luck against these teams. But a team does not win against the biggest names in VALORANT based off luck. It seemed as if they came into the tourney with no confidence but after their first win, they gained back all their superpowers.

Also read: Tenz’s reaction to caster’s “raisins” analogy on Paper Rex

Roster and Future for ZETA Division

The ZD roster is comprised of an all-Japanese squad that’s been playing FPS titles at a competitive level for a long time.

• Koji “Laz” Ushida
• Tomoaki “crow” Maruoka
• Yuma “Dep” Hashimoto
• Shota “SugarZ3ro” Watanabe
• Tenta “TENNN” Asai

They will be facing off against Paper Rex in the Lower Round 3 which is an elimination match. The winner will move onto the Lower Finals and have a shot at advancing to the Grand Finals. Many fans want ZETA Division to win because who doesn’t love a good underdog story.