TLDR: LOUD have good macro tactics, but they lack midround adaptation.
LOUD just beat Liberty and basically guaranteed themselves a bye in the BR playoffs. This win did not come without some serious weaknesses in their game being exposed. LOUD have the best average individual skill across the team out of anyone in BR, and contrary to popular belief, they have relatively good teamplay. However, they did struggle with the cohesive nature of Liberty's tactics. It took some miracle plays to rescue the final map, and besides one stretch of rounds on Haven, LOUD never strung together a lot of rounds despite making good plays in most rounds. The problem that I see comes down to the nuance of their strategy. LOUD have excellent set plays with macro level executes and micro level utility combos, however the midround and adaptations are lackluster.
1) Adaptation
While writing this, I saw a clip from the latest Platchat episode where they basically said the same thing. When rounds are thrown into disarray, LOUD's utility and timing break down. There is a clip at 1:31:45 which shows an example of their lack of direction in midrounds. I think it is particularly visible when opponents make aggressive defensive plays with utility. When people criticize LOUD for their individual play it is these situations that are usually pointed to. On the defense, LOUD have very good
2) Variation
LOUD's macro plays match up fairly well with other good teams. However, once they get stopped, they often flounder. The best example I can think of is their Ascent attack. They set up 4 players towards A at least 80% of all rounds. Liberty decided to punish this by taking mid in a couple of crucial rounds and by continuously leaving only one or zero players B to fend off Less's lurk. I had this problem with the Saadhak led Vikings last year as well where when their initial plays didn't work and they ended up completely zoned by utility or a player down, their next moves were so much less potent. LOUD are keeping more opposite side map control than Vikings used to, so the rotations are better, but they still struggle to outmaneuver opponents if they lose the initial engagement.
My grades on individual performance:
Aspas 8/10: He has been excellent in the entry department and don't believe people that say he cannot play with the team. He is almost always working in tandem with another player and is usually directly opening space that is critical for what the team is doing like site executes. He is however, the biggest culprit of losing discipline in midrounds. His individual form has been good but not great against the good teams, but he should pad the stats until playoffs.
pancada 7/10: A top tier site anchor and one of the best mechanically gifted controllers.
Sacy 7/10: He has been somewhat disappointing so far. In particular, he is often part of the groups of LOUD players that are caught pushing together without clearing separate angles. He plays with his team a lot, but it feels like they need more practice being methodical.
Less 7/10: A young question mark, he has stepped up fairly well. His awareness at times can be lacking, but the gamble on him looks like it will pay off.
Saadhak 6/10: As an IGL and someone who takes a lot of entry fights, his anticipation of coordinated enemy plays has been rough. A lot of LOUD's tactical struggles fall on him to call
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