Sunday marked the opening day of 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour Masters 1, where Korea’s DRX faced Japan’s Zeta Division in the first match of groups. DRX looked impressive, sweeping Zeta Division 2-0 to advance in the group stage, while Zeta Division now drop into the losers bracket.
Complete domination from @DRX_VS as they take the 2-0 victory! #VALORANTMasters pic.twitter.com/Y8yIQB5LOQ
— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) April 10, 2022
Who are DRX and Zeta Division?
DRX are a Korean team comprised primarily of the former Vision Strikers squad that attended Champions in 2021. The roster consists of Kim “stax” Gu-taek, Goo “Rb” Sang-Min, Kim “Zest” Gi-seok, Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul and Kim “Mako” Myeong-kwan. They won the VCT Korea Stage 1 Challengers playoffs to compete in the group stage at Masters 1 this year.
Meanwhile, Zeta Division are one of Japan’s best teams. Up until about six months ago, their roster had been consistent for years. But after they failed to take wins on the international stage multiple times, the organization decided to make some roster changes. Tenta “TENN” Asai, Shota “SugarZ3ro” Watanabe and Yuuma “Dep” Hisamoto all joined Zeta Division in December of 2021. They went on to win the VCT Japan Stage 1 Challengers playoffs to secure their spot at Masters.
DRX decimate Zeta Division in first game of Masters 1
The first map of this series was Icebox, which most thought would be Zeta Division’s map to win. DRX crushed that notion handily, taking the map at a whopping 13-2 scoreline. Next up was Haven, which once again looked great for DRX. Zeta Division we able to put up a bit more of a fight toward the end of the game, but it was too late and DRX took the map 13-3 and the match 2-0.
.@Buzz_kr sprays them down to secure the round! #VALORANTMasters pic.twitter.com/1EAxvVfZG7
— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) April 10, 2022
DRX will now move on to the next match in the group stage, facing the winner of FNATIC vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas. Zeta Division drop into the losers bracket to take on the loser of that match in a run for playoff contention survival.
