Absolute JUPITER add XQQ as Head Coach

The Japanese organization JUPITER was one of the first organizations in the world to decide to invest in the VALORANT esports scene. In April, they announced the acquisition of Japan’s best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, Absolute, which resulted in the inception of ZETA DIVISION. With eyes on the top spot in Asia and the world, the organization announced the addition of a new coach, Hibiki "XQQ" Motoyama.

In Japan, the team has won nearly everything that has come their way, starting with RAGE VALORANT JAPAN INVITATIONAL, followed by RAGE VALORANT JAPAN TOURNAMENT, GALLERIA GLOBAL CHALLENGE 2020 - PLAYOFFS, and Mildom Masters. Thanks to their dominant performance, the squad debuted in the first place of THESPIKE.GG’s rankings, focusing on the Japanese scene.

However, as the competition has risen in the region, in the region, the team has struggled to match their early dominance, especially as they face the best teams from South Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. This resulted in 2nd place during AfreecaTV Asia Showdown, and third place at A.W EXTREME MASTERS ASIA INVITATIONAL, while DRX claimed both victories. Currently, Absolute JUPITER are still the best in Japan, but sit behind Vision Strikers who are in the 1st spot on THESPIKE.GG’s Asian Rankings.

Ahead of the upcoming VALORANT FIRST STRIKE JAPAN Powered by RAGE, the organization has decided it’s a good time to add to the coaching staff as they look to return to the top of the Asian region, and prepare for international competition.

The new coach, XQQ, has been transferred to JUPITER from CYCLOPS athlete gaming, who he’s been associated with since 2018 when he joined the organization as coach of the Overwatch division. Priorior to the start of his coaching journey, he was an Overwatch player for a few Japanese organizations such as DeToNator and SunSister. He was relatively unknown at the beginning of his coaching career, though that quickly changed, especially when he helped the squad to lift the trophy during Overwatch Challenge Cup 2018 Winter Offline Finals and to finish 2nd at Overwatch Contenders 2018 Season 2: Pacific. Thanks to that, he became recognized thanks to his innovative style of leading the team and was considered a pioneer for many strategies.

At the beginning of 2019, XQQ was transferred from the Overwatch squad to the Rainbow Six: Siege team, who were playing under the CYCLOPS organization as well, and with whom he found a lot of success. He won Alienware Japan League Spring/Summer Finals, Alienware Japan Championship Finals, Pro League Season 11 Japan, and most recently, in October this year, Japan Championship 2020 Finals.

With the addition of the second coach, the organization “is confident that they will grow further” and “will continue to strive to be the best in Japan and the best in the world”. Do you think XQQ could’ve been the missing piece that now will help the team to face the toughest opponents in the Asian region? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

**Absolute JUPITER are now: **

Kouji "Laz" Ushida Ryu "Reita" Oshiro Tomoaki "crow" Maruoka Ryo "barce" Takebayashi Takemori "takej" Shogo

Hibiki "XQQ" Motoyama (Head Coach) Sawada "JUNiOR" Yuya (Coach)