In 2020, the Absolute roster, one of the country's most successful CS:GO rosters in its history, transitioned over to Valorant and played under the name Absolute JUPITER Absolute JUPITER Inactive makiba Miyamoto Akatsuki Laz Ushida Koji crow Maruoka Tomoaki barce Takebayashi Ryo takej Takemori Shogo Reita Oshiro Ryu with the five-man core of Ushida "Laz" Koji, Maruoka "crow" Tomoaki, Oshiro "Reita" Ryu, Takebayashi "barce" Ryo, and Takemori "takej" Shogo.

They entered the new game with the goal of becoming the region's top stars, and it didn't take long for them cement themselves as just that. Their dominance would be proven as Absolute JUPITER won First Strike: Japan, showcasing what Japan had in store early on in Valorant's esports scene.

However, they weren't the only ones who had eyes on becoming Japan's best. Crazy Raccoon Crazy Raccoon Inactive , another rising team with a Japanese/Korean roster, rose through Challengers 1 and proved to be Absolute JUPITER's equal. Handing them a loss in Masters 1: Japan finals and in the Challengers 2 playoffs finals, Crazy Raccoon booked their ticket to Masters: Reykjavik, leaving the full Japanese team in the dust.

On the international stage, Japan was primarily represented by Crazy Raccoon, who qualified for all three international tournaments in 2021. With the addition of a second Japanese slot at Masters: Berlin, Crazy Raccoon was given a lifeline since Absolute JUPITER – by then known as ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #10 Laz Ushida Koji yuran Yushin Hato hiroronn Hiroki Yanai Dep Yuma Hashimoto SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe – came out as the first seed of the region after winning Challengers 3 playoffs.

"Japan had two slots in Masters 3, so I felt like I had to win to not waste the slots," said crow.

There, ZETA completed a feat that Japan hadn't done in their past international appearance: win a map. They did so against KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #4 keznit Angelo Mori Klaus Nicolas Ferrari Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro heat Olavo Marcelo , another mainstay in international competition, but Crazy Raccoon took the next step by winning Japan's first-ever match against Liberty Liberty Inactive guuih Guilherme Mariano pepa Matheus Colleto duhT Eduardo Teixeira Zanatsu Carlos Eduardo tockers Gabriel Claumann .

Despite those successes, neither Japanese team made it out of groups, but crow and ZETA DIVISION felt the brunt of Japan's underperformance at Berlin.

"I was really frustrated that we could not win one match," crow said.

ZETA Laz (centered) and ZETA DIVISION's first appearance on the global stage was a disappointing one. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

Despite the disappointing group-stage elimination, ZETA DIVISION still had a chance to qualify for Champions. However, they declined APAC LCQ in order to restructure for 2022. NORTHEPTION NORTHEPTION Japan Rank #6 YoWamu thiefy Masato Tsujita Pepper Shoki Banjo Esperanza Jeong Jin-cheol (정진철) Wolverine Cho Hyun-tae (조현태) took their place and had a stellar performance, finishing second behind eventual Champions representative FULL SENSE FULL SENSE Asia-Pacific Rank #3 JohnOlsen Chanawin Nakchain PTC Kititkawin Rattanasukol Leviathan Thanyathon Nakmee foxz Itthirit Ngamsaard Sushiboys Panyawat Subsiriroj .

On December 1, ZETA DIVISION announced they had offloaded barce to content creation, and split with Reita and takej, who went to REJECT REJECT Japan Rank #3 GangPin Chae Jung-moo Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) muto Hals stand-in BRIAN . Changes were due, as the old core had faltered to keep up with the times.

According to crow, the original Absolute roster had some difficulties with roles as a result of being a team built for CS:GO rather than Valorant. But offseason roster changes gave them an opportunity to remedy that.

In their stead, ZETA signed former NORTHEPTION stars Shota "SugarZ3ro" Watanabe and Tenta "TENNN" Asai, along with Yuma "Dep" Hashimoto from REJECT. Fans of the team were optimistic that this would be the combination of players to launch ZETA to the next level.

"The new members have an aggressive playing style," crow said. "Me and Laz, as core members, are conscious of letting them play spontaneously so that we can take advantage of that."

With a new arsenal at the ready, ZETA DIVISION was ready to take Japan by storm with hopes to qualify for the first international tournament of 2022.

Unlike most regions where the top teams were given byes into the group stage, Stage 1 Challengers: Japan had teams participate in two sets of open qualifiers. The Japanese "superteam" breezed through from open qualifiers all the way to the grand finals, only dropping three maps along the way, two of which were from Crazy Raccoon.

Ultimately it was who ZETA DIVISION dealt the first blow in the 2022 edition of the rivalry between Japan's titans, as they secured their ticket to Reykjavik after defeating Crazy Raccoon 3-1. Like a well-oiled machine, everyone on ZETA was on the same page.

"Overall, we had good chemistry because we were all in the same mindset of improvisation during the game," said crow. "In particular, Dep and I had many opportunities to communicate, such as doing a lot of duo rank matchmaking and sharing a room during boot camp, which affected how we worked together in the tournament."

ZETA DIVISION
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ZETA look to reclaim their glory as the roster's coming fresh off a hot streak in Challengers 1: Japan

After nearly seven months of international absence, ZETA DIVISION is ready to take on the world. For Laz and crow, Masters: Reykjavik is a new opportunity but also a chance for redemption.

"I am happy to be here for the first time because I missed the competition in Iceland last year," crow said. "I am here to take revenge for our poor result in Berlin last time."

ZETA DIVISION have a long road ahead of them in Group A, as they have to overcome two teams who qualified for Champions last year, DRX DRX Korea Rank #2 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) and FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 Leo Leo Jannesson Derke Nikita Sirmitev Boaster Jake Howlett Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder , as well as a new challenger in Ninjas In Pyjamas Ninjas In Pyjamas Inactive . The Japanese superteam's first match is against the Korean titans DRX, as both teams look to best their Asian counterpart and get off to a strong start.

A lot of doubts surround ZETA DIVISION and Japan as a whole. Some believe that Japan has regressed or stayed stagnant, while others believe this iteration of ZETA is the strongest entrant Japan has sent to the world stage so far, and believe the team to have upset potential.

Regardless of opinion, ZETA DIVISION's performance will be a stepping stone for Japanese Valorant and could show, as crow hopes, that this minor region can go toe-to-toe against the world's best.

"We want to prove that the level of the Japanese region has improved."