Leviatán vs Zeta Division: Leviatán survives Zeta Division scare

Day 1 of the Omega bracket at VCT LOCK//IN Sao Paulo will see Zeta Division take on Leviatán. The first match for both these teams will be an elimination match as is the case at VCT LOCK//IN. 

Zeta Division represents Japan on the international stage. The team made waves last year when it surprised everyone with some stellar performances against some of the world’s best teams. For a region without much FPS experience, Zeta Division has the unyielding support of VALORANT fans in Japan.

On the other hand is Leviatán, a team that dominated the local LATAM scene last year. The team was one of the heavy favorites to perform well at VCT Champs last year but it ended up in the top 8. ‘The Top 8’ sounds like a disappointment but that’s just because of how high the expectations were for this roster. 

Leviatán will undoubtedly be the favorites in this match, with the Brazilian crowd rallying behind their South American players. But Zeta Division is a team where players are working hard and always ensuring.

Right from the very start, Leviatán was extremely aggressive in their playstyle suffocating Zeta Division all across the map. Ascent was Leviatán's map pick and they came into this map with a plan. Zeta picked defense and Leviatán was targeting the A bombsite in the earlier rounds.

After securing a couple of rounds, partly due to their pistol round win, Leviatán saw an inlet when Zeta Division decided to be aggressive in the 4th round. A quick mid-round call meant Leviatán changed their attack plan to go to the other bombsite.

But it wasn't just raw aggression. Leviatán was able to execute perfectly on to the B bombsite. The perfect synergy as the Chilean players converged on the bombsite was very confusing for Zeta Division. They were often caught unawares by the Leviatán cross-fire. And Leviatán were the attackers!

One particular play that was the highlight on Map 1 was Mazino's Omen teleporting right on top of two Zeta Division players. The two Japanese players even glanced in his direction but were just pre-occupied with the incoming players. And Mazino got the drop on the Zeta players. It was a phenomenal play, one that might be replicated in future matches.

Towards the end of the first half, Leviatán's gameplan was somewhat countered by Zeta Division. But they were not able to stop the excellently timed swings by the Leviatán squad. Despite having some role swaps on the team, Leviatán looked like a well-oiled machine.

The final round of the first map saw an excellent play by Mazino yet again. The clip which can be found here shows how he repositioned himself to seize the advantage against Zeta Division post-plant.

The second map was Pearl and Leviatán had never played Pearl in an international setting before. While Leviatán was extremely dominant, almost to a masterclass-tier level on Map 1, Map 2 was much more even.

There were crucial moments on Pearl when XQQ (Zeta Division coach) made some adaptations and the players changed their approach to the game. What was crucial was that Zeta Division players were still having a strong mentality, one that allowed them to stand up tall to Leviatán.

Despite a strong start for Zeta Division, Leviatán' still managed to bring it back to a 6-6 score at half-time. Switching over to the second half, Leviatán was able to pull ahead taking a sizeable lead.

But in the later stages of the game, Zeta Division changed their gameplan, playing back and allowing Leviathan to waste their time. Ultimately, it was a close battle but Leviatan pulled through

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