“It’s sad to think the year is already over for us” ZETA LAZ following the Valorant Champions 2023 elimination
After defeating all the competitions, ZETA Division qualified for the Valorant Champions 2023. Through the VCT Pacific LCQ, ZETA Division came up with innovative compositions. With Raze as the central feature for the compositions, ZETA came up with brilliant compositions, bringing back the beloved LAZ-Chamber play. The new ZETA compositions featured Neon, Chamber, Cypher along with other commonly played agents. Their structure, discipline and mechanics helped ZETA Division secure Valorant Champions 2023
The Valorant Champions 2023 Journey:
With mere fifteen days for the tournament, ZETA Division was drawn into a group alongside Bilibili Gaming, NRG and Fnatic. Coming into the tournament, Fnatic was a heavy favorite to win the whole thing. NRG themselves were amongst the few teams in contention for the trophy. With NRG and Fnatic in to face, ZETA had to take down both of the titans to secure playoffs.
ZETA’s first game was against Fnatic, a team par none. Facing Fnatic, ZETA division displayed utmost resilience and despite the one-sided scoreline, the games were closer. But unfortunately ZETA lost the game.
On the other side of the bracket, Bilibili Gaming had flipped the script and defeated NRG. ZETA’s elimination game was against NRG. A team notorious for slow starts but deep runs.
The Final Game:
Facing NRG, ZETA debuted their Neon-Raze bind composition. The pace of the composition and proactive defense had shaken NRG. Before a glitch led to a tech-timeout, ZETA was leading 6-3.
After a 45 minutes long timeout, the game restarted. After the timeout, NRG came back to secure a manageable 5-7 scoreline. ZETA extended the lead in the start of the second half, but NRG’s defense answered back winning five rounds to get the lead. The score was tied at 11-11 before round 23 and ZETA had lost three members on A. LAZ, the team’s IGL and captain took over and ace clutched the round to secure map point.
Unfortunately, NRG won the next round and secured the map with a 15-13 final score. Haven was one-sided, with ZETA only winning a single round. With the map loss, ZETA’s VCT year came to an end.
Post-Match feelings:
After the game, talking about the ace-clutch that extended their lives, LAZ said:
“Although I did have some good plays. In the end, all that matters is that I did not get the win. There were a lot of things too, so I don’t have any positive things to say towards the play.”
Tennn, exclusively played Raze on the re-invented ZETA division. Previously, Tennn had mentioned how he missed playing raze during a VCT Pacific Interview. But he expressed how he felt he underperformed in Los Angeles:
“Although in the LCQ, my raze performance was really working, When I came to the Champions, I felt that my Raze was not up to standard yet”
As a final note for all the ZETA fans, The leader of ZETA Division Valorant Ushida “LAZ” Koji said:
“It’s sad to think that the year is already over for us. But because of all the support and cheers from all the fans, that’s the reason we are here today. So thank you very much for your support”
ZETA Division is a beloved team. With fans not just in Japan but worldwide. With the team’s early elimination, the fans are heartbroken but will definitely keep supporting ZETA during the team’s low. The team will definitely come back stronger.
The show doesn’t stop in Los Angeles. The Valorant Champions 2023 will return with the knockout stage starting today. For more updates on Valorant Champions 2023, follow Valorant Champions tour Twitter.
Credits: Riot Games // Valorant Champions Tour.