Jane Pan

Jane Pan

Computer Science Graduate Student

VCT 2022 Day 9: DRX vs. Zeta Division

Date:

#ZETAWIN #ZETAWIN #ZETAWIN

Introduction

Everybody loves a good underdog story, and Zeta Division was the underdog of underdogs for VCT 2022. Prior to this year’s Masters Reykjavík, Japan had won a total of 3 maps in the previous three international world majors. Zeta Division is a rebranding of Absolute Jupiter, which had performed even worse than Japan’s top seed Crazy Raccoon; in fact, they even pulled out of the 2021 Last Chance Qualifiers, forsaking their final opportuniy to compete on the international stage of VCT 2021.

The extra months of preparation paid off at this year’s Masters Reykjavík, but not immediately. In their first games in groups, Zeta was crushed by Korea’s DRX in an overwhelming 0-2 defeat, winning just five rounds total across both maps. Yet their defeat would trigger one of the most unexpected and compelling underdog runs in Valorant history, with Zeta knocking out Brazil’s Ninjas in Pyjamas and EU’s FNATIC in groups, as well as Team Liquid in the lower bracket. Now, we will analyze several of their rounds in their revenge match against DRX, who has just been knocked to lowers by NA’s OPTIC.

Led by CS veteran Laz, Zeta has mastered a playstyle of slow plays with controlled risk-taking and aggression, anchored by solid fundamentals and excellent team communication. Their combo-heavy execs, often triggered in the last few seconds of attack side, bait more aggressive enemies into overextending or more passive enemies into wasting utility before Zeta even commits to any site.

DRX, a rebranding of 2021’s Vision Strikers, will adopt a default-heavy and highly reactive playstyle. Their passiveness and limited flexibility will lead to their 2-1 loss to Zeta.

Disclaimer: They call me the demon of unranked. I have no idea what I’m talking about.

I’ll be talking about the following rounds:

Map 2, Ascent

The score is 0-1 (ZETA-DRX).

Zeta’s Comp:

  • Dep: Jett
  • crow: Sova
  • Laz: Chamber
  • TENNN: Killjoy
  • SugarZ3ro: Astra

DRX’s Comp:

  • Rb: Jett
  • stax: Skye
  • Zest: Sova
  • BuZz: Chamber
  • MaKo: Astra

Map 2, Round 14

The score is 7-7 (ZETA-DRX). Zeta is on attack side. It is the bonus round for DRX, who have just lost the two pistol rounds; ZETA is on half-buy.

Zeta’s Comp:

  • Dep: Phantom
  • crow: Spectre
  • Laz: Ghost
  • TENNN: Sheriff
  • SugarZ3ro: Bulldog

DRX’s Comp:

  • Rb: Vandal
  • stax: Phantom
  • Zest: Odin
  • BuZz: Phantom
  • MaKo: Vandal

The round starts with both Zeta and DRX distributed around the map. TENNN is in B Lobby, watching Tunnel. Laz and SugarH3ro are in A Lobby, next to A Long. Dep and crow move towards Top Mid. Meanwhile, for the DRX defense setup, Astra is in Back Site of B with a star at the A Long entrance, while stax guards A Short. Rb defends from Bottom Mid while MaKo and Zest hold A Site.

  1. Laz and SugarZ3ro push down A Long as Dep and crow move down Cat. TENNN pushes into Tunnel briefly and places his Turret; BuZz quickly destroys it.
  2. A well placed flash from stax pushes back the Zeta players on A Long.
  3. TENNN rotates back to A through T-spawn. Dep is pushed up to the entrance of A Short; he thinks that Mid is safe since SugarZ3ro has smoked off Bottom Mid and B Link, but unbeknownst to him, Rb has actually pushed through the smoke and is now right behind Arch. Laz and crow prepare to push down Cat with the Spike while SugarZ3ro
  4. [4v5] stax dogs through A Short and stuns Dep. Knowing an A hit is coming, BuZz rotates through CT-spawn and stax returns to support MaKo on A Heaven. Meanwhile, Rb peeks out of Arch and picks off Laz as he walks down Cat.
  5. [?] stax flashes A Link for info; Dep is still at its entrance. Meanwhile, Rb rotates back to B Site through CT-spawn to support Zest. Doing so gives up Mid control and allows crow and TENNN to join Rb at A Short for free.
  6. SugarH3ro smokes off CT-spawn, TENNN mollies Market, and crow destroys the Zest’s trap in Pizza. Zeta now has full control of Bottom Mid, clearing the way for a site hit. SugarZ3ro prepares by placing stars.
  7. SugarZ3ro prepares to push through MaKo’s smoke on A Main. Dep, crow, and TENNN push through A Short; SugarZ3ro smokes off Garden and wells the site to prevent the defenders on Heaven from dropping down quickly. crow darts Window and locates all three DRX defenders on A.
  8. [4v4] All Zeta players entry. The three pushing from A push back BuZz, who teleports back to Heaven. SugarZ3ro wins the aim duel with MaKo. SugarZ3ro watches A Main, TENNN holds A Door, and Zest and Rb have pushed to Gen with the spike.
  9. BuZz and stax swing out of Heaven.

Map 3, Split

The score is 1-1 (ZETA-DRX).

Zeta’s Comp:

  • TENNN: Raze
  • crow: Skye
  • Dep: Sage
  • Laz: Viper
  • SugarZ3ro: Astra

DRX’s Comp:

  • Rb: Jett
  • stax: Skye
  • Zest: Sage
  • MaKo: Viper
  • BuZz: Astra

Map 3, Round 16

The score is 12-4 (ZETA-DRX); it is match point. Zeta is on attack side. DRX is on an eco round.

Zeta’s Loadout:

  • TENNN: Vandal
  • crow: Vandal
  • Dep: Phantom
  • Laz: Vandal
  • SugarZ3ro: Vandal

DRX’s Loadout:

  • Rb: Op
  • stax: Vandal
  • Zest: Bulldog
  • MaKo: Judge
  • BuZz: Spectre

The round starts with all five ZETA players ready to push A Main. DRX has a standard defense setup: Zest and stax are defending A from A Main and Heaven, respectively; Rb is near Vent, holding Mid with MaKo in Mail; and BuZz is defending B Main.

  1. Hearing Zeta approaching, Zest walls off A Main and hopes to use the vertical advantage from standing on the wall to compensate for his weaker gun. Unfortunately, with five riflers, the wall is broken quickly.
  2. [5v4] Zeta commits a large amount of utility to ensure their push into A Main. crow pops seekers and dogs into site; the seekers force Zest off the wall and he is quickly taken down by TENNN. Meanwhile, SugarZ3ro smokes Screens to prevent Rb from op-ing from across site, and Laz smokes ramps to ensure that defenders come from A site only.
  3. TENNN tries to entry into site, but stax is watching from Heaven. As BuZz smokes off A Main, stax pops seekers and spams TENNN through the Astra smoke. Meanwhile, MaKo is rotating through CT-spawn and Rb has moved to A Heaven. stax moves to Screens, leaving MaKo and Rb to defend Heaven. Pushing directly into site is no longer possible, but Zeta has full control of A Main.
  4. Dep holds the Zeta flank from A Lobby as the remaining three playesrs prepare to push A Heaven. Laz pops his wall, allowing Zeta to fully advance into Ramps. DRX now has no idea how many Zeta players are still in A Main, so MaKo pops his wall and returns to Vent to prepare for a Mid push. Meanwhile, Rb moves further back to avoid a slow orb from Dep and attain a better angle with his Op.
  5. [4v4] SugarZ3ro attempts to jump-peek heaven but is punished by Rb, who retreats into Screens to guard A Main. Now, DRX knows that at least one person in Zeta has tried to push A Heaven, but they don’t know how many will follow. stax switches with him; his info-gathering kit and rifle are better equipped for this situation.
  6. [!] Laz pops his wall; crow joins Dep in rotating through T-spawn to Mid. Laz’s wall prevents DRX from seeing Dep and crow leave A, leaving stax and Rb pinned to defend A site.
  7. Laz takes advantage of MaKo’s wall coming down and advances further into Ramps; now he is on the border of Ramps and Heaven. stax flashes Ramps and blinds Laz, confirming that there are still Zeta players pushing Heaven. With Laz’s wall up, however, pushing Ramps is impossible for stax, so he retreats to Screens, potentially to support Rb in case of a site push.
  8. [!!!] Just as his wall is about to come down, Laz pushes forward into Heaven and ults. His pit covers both Heaven and the passageway from Screens to CT-spawn. This cuts off any rotation between Rb/stax and MaKo/BuZz; they must either cross through the pit or rotate through T-spawn. Dep and crow will now fake a push onto B site to entice stax and Rb into a rotation.
  9. Meanwhile, Dep and crow have arrived at mid; MaKo is deep in Vent, so Dep enters Mail and heads towards site.
  10. [??, 5v3] Mako sees Dep’s back turned in Mail. He holds his fire and walks into full view of Mid, hoping to get a timing on more players; unfortunately, crow sees him and easily wins the aim duel with a gun advantage.
  11. [?, 5v2] Alerted to the B push by MaKo, stax attempts to push through Laz’s pit. Laz has predicted this and quickly deals with him.
  12. [!] BuZz prepares for a site hit from B Heaven, and Dep slows B Back Site before quickly retreating. The fake is not convincing, but it doesn’t have to be; all they need is for Buzz to stick around for a few more seconds. If he rotates to B before Zeta can take care of Rb, DRX can push into the pit from both sides and potentially win the 2v1. BuZz stays on B Site for now.
  13. [??, 5v1] Dep and crow rotate back to A through Vent. Rb tries to prepare for their arrival by posting up on Screen with his OP. Laz throws Snakebite on the passageway to CT-spawn to protect his flank before ducking out of the pit; he gets a fantastic timing on Rb and retreats back into the pit.
  14. [FRAG WIN] Realizing the plant is happening on A site, Buzz rotates through CT-spawn. Laz hears him and headshots him before he even enters the pit.

Conclusion

After knocking out DRX, Zeta would go on to defeat SEA’s Paper Rex. They were eliminated in the Lower Finals by OPTIC in a 0-3 game, placing top 3 overall. Two days later, OPTIC won the tournament in a 3-0 victory against Brazil’s LOUD, leading to the first NA victory in an international LAN since the previous year’s Masters Reykjavík.