In his pod,
Comment: Laz, are there any days when you don’t play VALO at all?
Laz: I haven’t played since I got back.
Comment: Taking a break is important too, right!
Laz: Ah, well, let’s talk about this after the announcement. Basically, I don’t take two days off in a row as a professional. Let’s discuss this more another time.
This might mean that he ends his brilliant career…?😭
https://x.com/sar_l161/status/1813474152663425216?s=46&t=e04cIxsMxSzf_pkeDawWTQ
ZETA management just ruined possibly one of the best JP players in valorant history. If they snatched up SyouTa, Meiy, and GON early on they could've had a Dep, Laz, SyouTa, Meiy, GON roster with GON as IGL. That and a decent coach that's not fucking Carlao would probably have made a run at an international.
Meiy I get because he was on CR. SyouTa could have been picked up by late 2022 as he had potential but I'm not sure if he really had loyalty to that FENNEL team at the time, but they decided to stick with crow LOL
Honestly ZETA's biggest mistake is sticking with Crow and TENNN who had just gone through eye surgery
the only people who deserve criticism on zeta are the coaching staff. how do you have 6 fucking coaches (3 if we assume half are for academy) and get shitstomped on Icebox twice against 2 different teams and you float it (or straight up pick it) because you're more confident in it than your other maps? Like how bad must your perma be if you're okay with letting Icebox through even though you're ass on it? What are these guys being paid to do?
They got exposed early on in Kickoff and ended up having an even worse scoreline in Stage 2! That's like almost 5 months later! And Icebox has been in the pool for a while! Like it just baffles me.
Honestly finding Carlao is crazy. Like you have to be actively looking for that guy to sign him, because he coached the middest team in Americas and doesn't know a lick of Japanese afaik. Like they actively sought out this guy. That or he offered to coach and they just decided he was worth it more than approaching other coaches from anywhere in the world considering they were okay with a foreign one.
Obviously idk wtf goes on in the ZETA administration but I'd love to know what was going through their heads when they were approached by or looked for this guy.
This is because the Japanese playerbase's perception of the game is extremely surface level. The majority of fans in Japan still believe to this date that crow wasn't the problem.
This is what happens when people who play 5 swiftplay and 3 unrated every single day, and then go on about their lives. The number of girlfriend boosters in Japan are growing every single day. What kind of opinion do you expect from these people other than the casual one? Obviously there exists a minority that care about the eSports, hence they are not afraid to criticize those who do bad.
ZETA management didn't care about team's performance until the Tokyo choke happened. When more people were speaking up against frauds like crow and XQQ, management realized that the fanbase is no longer ruled by the mask wearing girls who shake the players' hands after every game. They had to kick them out, but just to be safe they kept them as coach and content creators. cr0w, who peaked Diamond 2 in NA ranked, is not a coach of anything. He isn't doing shit.
LMFAO
Actually clueless
I mean JP ranked is pretty low level too ngl, they just approach the game so passively. Honestly it looked like Dep and Laz were the only JP players who have the passion and drive to do well. During 2023 every time ZETA won a round or lost a round I could see Laz's emotions written on his face and honestly it made me so sad because the guy is actually being elohelled. Perhaps he should have looked to just join a mixed roster but I totally understand why he wanted to stay on ZETA as at the time they were Japan's best shot at doing well internationally.
Looking at Meiy though, I do see a salvageable future. He's aggressive and smart - definitely a step in the right direction and could be internationally recognised with the right environment.
In other pod, he said "Well, you’ll probably figure it out soon enough by the frequency of my streams. Let’s discuss the details after the announcement. Also, please stop commenting things like “play VALO.” It’s quite unpleasant. Let’s wait for the announcement."
It was a very shocking for me. I'm sad that Laz made this comment.
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