Ivan "Johnta" Shevtsov has recently officially taken over as head coach of ZETA DIVISION in the Valorant discipline. We interviewed him, asking about his expectations for their first tournament — Red Bull Home Ground #5 APAC Play-in, what ZETA DIVISION lacked in 2024, and his expectations for the upcoming VCT Pacific league season.

In this interview:

• ZETA DIVISION’s interest in FENNEL’s core was known even before the official announcement. Were they interested in your candidacy for the head coach position right away?
• GON is the last remaining player in FENNEL. Will the new team be built around him?
• How did the trio of players, who joined you, react to the move? Was it sad to leave FENNEL, or did the joy of career growth overshadow those emotions?
• APAC Play-in for Red Bull Home Ground #5 starts on October 19. What are your expectations for the tournament, and how fair is the bo1 group stage system?
• This season, ZETA DIVISION has three coaches and an analyst. How well do you communicate during the team's preparation for the VCT season? Does the language barrier or your absence from the team hinder you?
• ZETA DIVISION showed mediocre results in 2024. Do you see the reasons for this, and have you already found a solution?
• VCT 2025 Pacific promises to be unpredictable: two new clubs and most organizations rebuilding their rosters, including GEN.G Esports, who had tremendous success in VCT 2024. What are your expectations for the season, and can your players from FENNEL handle the stress and pressure of the tier-1 stage?
• Sin Prisa Gaming — the winners of VCT Pacific Ascension 2024, who started the season in Premier mode. What can you say about this team and their journey to the VCT? How difficult will it be for them in the league, and can they stay there for a long time?
  

ZETA DIVISION’s interest in FENNEL’s core was known even before the official announcement. Were they interested in your candidacy for the head coach position right away?

I'm not sure how many options ZETA had, but the interest to me looked clear from the start. Esports is growing and I think there are not that many coaches who can suit a real head coach position. As you need to know how to manage many different things. It's not just about in-game coaching skills - it’s about building many processes around the team and the project: organizing the coaching staff's work, streamlining workflows, and ensuring player development both individually and as a team. In Valorant, the importance of a good coaching staff is increasingly recognized as a key factor in a team's success. After several conversations with ZETA DIVISION, it became clear that our visions aligned. I think the management's views on coaching is very modern. And also, I’m not a coach who can work just anywhere; it’s important that management understands my vision and goals and we have similar views on different things. I'm we are on the same page and I hope I can give a lot to the project. FENNEL players also received offers from different clubs and they said they would like to continue working with me, so we tried our best to transition to a new club together.

GON is the last remaining player in FENNEL. Will the new team be built around him?

As far as I understand, GON will be the captain of the new roster. He has all the necessary qualities for it. GON is a fantastic guy, and during this season, he was essentially the second leader of the team. I think they’ll build the new team around him.

How did the trio of players, who joined you, react to the move? Was it sad to leave FENNEL, or did the joy of career growth overshadow those emotions?

Of course, everyone was a bit sad to end their journey with FENNEL because this project became more than just a team for us. FENNEL did a lot for us. The management was great at organizing the work around the team, and through our victories and solid gameplay, we quickly gained a large fanbase. Recently, it felt like a family, so it was a bit sad to part ways. However, we ended things on a positive note. Both the players and I continue to stay in touch. Moreover, FENNEL and ZETA DIVISION have always had good relations as clubs.

APAC Play-in for Red Bull Home Ground #5 starts on October 19. What are your expectations for the tournament, and how fair is the bo1 group stage system?

The tournament format is a bit random due to the best-of-one system, but we understand this is an OFF//SEASON event, so it’s part show, part tournament. Red Bull always organizes their events with a "one tournament, one week" structure, so it fits this type of event. Moreover, this is a qualifier for the main tournament, which will be held in an arena, making it a solid level of qualification. It’s going to be interesting because everyone has new rosters, and it’s a bit of a "roulette" since no team is 100% ready, or even 50%. So, everyone has an equal chance, which will make the tournament even more exciting. 

Of course, we want to qualify for Red Bull Home Ground #5, but we know we had limited time to prepare and the team just started to work together so we are looking for this experience and gonna do our best to win every match we will play.

This season, ZETA DIVISION has four coaches. How well do you communicate during the team’s preparation for the VCT season? Does the language barrier or your absence from the team hinder you?

We have three coaches, but five people work with the team daily. I’m the head coach, responsible for the overall direction. Hibiki "XQQ" Motoyama and Carlos "Carlão" Mohn are my assistants. XQQ has a great coaching experience with Japanese players, he helps me to spread the vision we have with the players. He has a lot of players respect, so his words carry weight. Carlão works more on strategy, he helps me with the ideas and overall in-game moments. Also we also have an analyst gyac9 and our translator Toyo, who help us overcome the language barrier. I believe this won’t be a major issue, but time will tell. I think we have a really good coaching staff that will help the project achieve the new heights. Unfortunately, I will miss the APAC Play-in at Red Bull Home Ground #5 as I couldn’t complete all the necessary documents in time.

ZETA DIVISION showed mediocre results in 2024. Do you see the reasons for this, and have you already found a solution?

Although the roster had players with good individual skills, I think it was a problem with the roster in terms of roles and personalities. There were not enough players who could maintain team spirit and making everything balanced in a right way. The arrival of the FENNEL trio — Hikaru "CLZ" Mizutani, Shota "SyouTa" Aoki, and Yuto "Xdll" Mizomori — should resolve this, and that’s why ZETA decided to bring them in. Me, alongside the coaching staff will do our best to make the new roster work.

VCT 2025 Pacific promises to be unpredictable: two new clubs and most organizations rebuilding their rosters, including GEN.G Esports, who had tremendous success in VCT 2024. What are your expectations for the season, and can your players from FENNEL handle the stress and pressure of the tier-1 stage?

Yes, VCT Pacific will be very exciting. Many new rosters, so it’s hard to determine a clear favorite. Even GEN.G Esports made changes, and many other teams did as well. Regarding how my FENNEL players will handle the stress, I think they’ll be fine. We (FENNEL) always performed well against VCT teams in practice. Of course, there may be psychological issues and challenges throughout the season for CLZ, SyouTa, and Xdll due to their lack of experience, but I’m confident we’ll find solutions to overcome these.

Sin Prisa Gaming — the winners of VCT Pacific Ascension 2024, who started the season in Premier mode. What can you say about this team and their journey to the VCT? How difficult will it be for them in the league, and can they stay there for a long time?

Sin Prisa Gaming is a great team. We’ve practiced with them often, and in many aspects, they are similar to FENNEL. They’ve kept the core of their roster for a long time and stuck to their style of play, evolving it. We know them well and have often scrimmed against them. It’s a great story when a well-coordinated team with talented and young players reaches a new level. I think they will perform very well and might even stay in VCT for a long time — it’s all in their hands.