ZETA DIVISION 's Laz announces retirement

“The reason behind this decision is that, although I tried to focus on VALORANT as much as possible, throughout the season I started to feel that it has become too physically demanding to maintain it,” he said.

He has been in the competitive Valorant scene since 2020, previously playing for Absolute JUPITER before joining ZETA in 2021. Before Valorant, he made his professional debut in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in 2015.

In 2022, Laz and ZETA DIVISION went on an eight-match winning streak through Japan Stage 1 Challengers and Japan Stage 1 Challengers Playoffs to qualify for Masters Reykjavik, where they finished third behind  OpTic Gaming  and  LOUD . They would also reach Champions in 2022.

Laz of ZETA DIVISION at VALORANT Champions Los Angeles (Photo by Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games)

In 2023, Laz and his team achieved a 5th-6th placed finish in the Pacific League and would go undefeated in the Pacific Last Chance Qualifier to reach their second consecutive Champions event.

“I still want to contribute to the competitive scene, but in a different way,” he said. “I will be glad if you can support the Valorant esports scene with me.”

ZETA DIVISION is now:

•  Yushin "yuran" Hato
•  Hiroki "hiroronn" Yanai
•  Yuma "Dep" Hashimoto
•  Shota "SugarZ3ro" Watanabe
•  Carlos "Carlao" Mohn (Head coach)
•  "nokaze37" (Analyst)
•  "gya9" (Analyst)