Team Secret falls to the might of Japan’s ZETA DIVISION
Team Secret fell to the might of Japan’s ZETA DIVISION after succumbing to a close 2-1 defeat during their faceoff in the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) 2023: Pacific League last Saturday, April 29, 2023.
So close yet so far 🥲
The road to Tokyo continues next week, GG WP @zetadivision 🤝#LabanSecret #ItLiesWithin pic.twitter.com/awiJd18cd6
— Team Secret (@teamsecret) April 29, 2023
After previously winning against a Japanese squad the previous week, the Adobo Gang failed to take down ZETA DIVISION in three very close games.
“We didn’t really have a lot [of information] on [ZETA DIVISION],” coach Evan “Warbirds” Olzem revealed in a post-match interview, citing how ZETA haven’t played Split and Fracture in this tournament.
To start the series, Secret lost Game 1 on Split—a map picked by ZETA, which also turned out to be the Japanese squad’s map debut in the Pacific League—13-9.
They were consistently ganked by ZETA, most notably by Shota “SugarZ3ro” Watanabe who frequently flanked mid, causing their numbers to dwindle before they were able to execute retakes.
“I think SugarZ3ro had like a really, really good series,” coach Warbirds commented on the ZETA controller main’s performance.
Their second-half efforts sparked a glimmer of hope given they won five straight rounds that started from their first buy round and ended in the nineteenth. However, ZETA recouped and won three straight rounds to end up as the victors of the first map.
Reeling from their Game 1 loss, Secret rallied back and unleashed their fury in Lotus, which was coincidentally their map debut this time around.
The team looked strong at the beginning evidenced by their quick 48-second win in Round 2 but just as quickly overheated. They started the game with a swift five-round win streak before succumbing to ZETA’s own five rounds, eventually leading to a tie game by halftime.
After losing the first two rounds in the second half, Secret got a flawless win at Round 15 which started a six-round rampage to clinch map point. Despite failing to close the map in Rounds 21 and 22, Secret ended the game in Round 23, winning the second game 13-10.
Unfortunately, Secret fell off in Fracture. Despite securing five rounds in the first half and a four-round win streak in the second, Secret failed to hold off ZETA’s advances which led them to lose 13-9 yet again to ZETA.
With a record of three wins and three losses, Team Secret is now ranked sixth overall with only three games left to play in the group stages. Secret’s final three games will see them go against T1, DRX, and Global Esports respectively.
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