LOUD avenge their Masters Tokyo loss by eliminating EDG

LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #2 dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira triumph over EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 S1Mon Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋) ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) with a 2-1 in the lower bracket of Champions 2023 to keep their tournament dreams alive. The winners of Champions 2022 were able to pull off a win in a competitive series where two maps went to all 24 rounds of regulation.

“EDG is a very good team. We had good reads, but they took certain risks that paid off for them, so we had to slow the game down, let them make some moves, force some rotations and execute together,” LOUD coach fRoD said after the match. “We were sticking to what we knew was working against them.”

At Masters Tokyo, EDG were able to find a 2-0 win against LOUD to eliminate them from the event. This was LOUD's chance at redemption and to possibly pick up a second Champions trophy, while a win for EDG would have cemented a top-four finish for the squad in China's first full year in the VCT.

Map one was EDG's pick, Bind, which was close throughout. EDG found a 13-11 win on the map, with a 4K from Smoggy to deny LOUD overtime.

The Chinese squad saw ZmjjKK take the battlefield piloting Reyna, on which he managed an astounding 300 ACS, seven first bloods, and a +9 kill differential.

LOUD, despite the close loss, looked unfazed on map two, Ascent. This was a map on which they had a 10-4 win record this year and it showed in their gameplay. They were able to find a decisive 8-4 half and continued their dominance, with EDG only winning one round in the second half before LOUD closed the map out 13-5.

On Ascent, tuyz , cauanzin , and Less consistently found multi-frags to keep the map firmly in LOUD's grip to take the series all the way to a map three.

“I think the loss on Ascent was our fault - we didn't prepare well for the map and it's our fault,” said EDG's AfteR .

LOUD had a 100% win rate on Haven this year with their Harbor-Viper composition, though they had only played it six times before today. fRoD called the composition their “comfort.”

“We feel really confident playing it. It's something we started playing early on on several maps. That comp is more catered to our playstyle and how we understand the game,” he said.

LOUD found an early lead, but EDG closed the half 6-6. The second half saw LOUD quickly take control, getting to a 11-6 lead. However, EDG would win five out of the next six rounds to make the score 12-11. A 3K from cauanzin would deny all hopes of OT though, and win LOUD the series.

EDG replicated their placement at Masters Tokyo: a lower quarter final exit for a top six finish. ZmjjKK, despite finding 53 kills over the series, barely broke even in terms of kill differential, and attributed the loss to his performance, especially some overheat moments on Haven.

“Most of the reason why we lost is on me. Hopefully next time I can correct my bad habits… I feel like the biggest takeaway for me is to put in all effort and do our own thing in every competition and game,” ZmjjKK said.

EDG take one last bow on the Champions stage. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

This ends EDG's tournament run for the year and having achieved two playoffs out of the three events this year, they have proven China's mettle despite this being their first full year competing internationally.

“Every international tournament, we're challenging ourselves,” said After.

As for LOUD, they will continue their trajectory upwards, and will face off against the winner of DRX vs FNATIC. LOUD's IGL saadhak is already very happy with his team's performance.

“When we made the team, we ended up having a really young team — qualifying for Champs was nice and winning VCT Americas was even better,” Saadhak said. “Losing hurts but I don't believe it actually affects us and I can't feel sad after everything we achieved this year. Our objective we got already: we've qualified for Champs. So I'm very happy.”

LOUD after their win against EDG. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

Their next game will be after a four-day break as Champions heads into its final four games.

Saadhak isn't fazed by the idea of facing either team, and has a great deal of respect for both.

“We trust each other a lot. Whichever team we play against, FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder or DRX DRX Korea Rank #7 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) , we will do our best, as we usually do. We're feeling good, pretty confident,” said Saadhak.