The group stage of the Valorant Champions 2023 is nearing its conclusion, with 6 teams already known to have advanced to the playoffs where they will compete for the championship title. Today we'll delve into one of them - LOUD, the current world champions and one of the main favorites for the win. We'll reflect on the team's professional journey and assess their chances for the championship.

The organization announced their Valorant roster in early February 2022, which included 5 players: aspas, Less, pANcada, saadhak, Sacy, along with coach bzkA. Later on, the team was joined by analyst markin and streamer Coreano.

Interestingly, most team members had no prior experience of playing together; of the 5 players, only saadhak and Sacy had previously played together in Team Vikings. Despite this, the team did not suffer from a lack of synergy; on the contrary, right after its formation, the newly established team began to dominate both in their region and in international competitions. LOUD has victories in two stages of VCT 2022: Brazil Challengers Stage 1 and Stage 2, as well as a 2nd place in VCT 2022: Stage 1 Masters - Reykjavík. The subsequent Masters in Copenhagen didn't go too well for them, ending in an 11-12th place finish. After this, many lost faith in the Brazilian squad, thinking that the newcomers just got lucky with a few tournament wins and that it wouldn't be repeated. However, LOUD quickly dispelled these rumors with an impressive performance at the previous Valorant Champions 2022. Losing only 1 match in the group stage, the team easily made its way through the upper bracket to the grand final, where they defeated the main tournament favorites, OpTic Gaming, 3-1.

Current VCT Season

As often happens after a significant victory, the team underwent major changes. First, they said goodbye to two players, pANcada and Sacy, who moved to Sentinels, and later to coach bzkA. Despite the fact that new replacements for the departing players were quickly found in the form of cauanzin and tuyz, it was felt that the previous spark was missing. Since the beginning of 2023, LOUD has won the regular season of VCT 2023: Americas League and took 2nd place at VCT 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo. The last VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo ended with the team in 7-8th place. Many might say that this season will be the end for the team, suggesting that they are running out of steam and need radical changes. But on the other hand, this year's situation mirrors the previous year. A 2nd place at LOCK//IN São Paulo is like a 2nd place at Masters Reykjavík in 2022. The win in Americas League is like the victories at the two stages of VCT 2022: Brazil Challengers, and the 7-8th place at Masters Tokyo is like the 11-12th place at Masters Copenhagen. So, it's quite possible that this year's World Championship will be a victorious one for LOUD, and they will have consistent results for two years in a row.

What might prevent the team from winning the championship title?

First and foremost, what could halt the team's progress is the team itself. Currently, there are many rumors online suggesting that the club's main star, aspas, is planning to leave the team and, in general, there's poor synergy among the players. For a detailed exploration on this, you can refer to our coverage. Later on, the players from LOUD refuted these claims, but where there's smoke, there's fire. Hence, whether to believe it or not is up to you. We'll just be waiting for the conclusion of the championship to confirm or debunk these rumors for you. Additionally, one cannot overlook the other contenders. The main rivals to the Brazilians are the European team, Fnatic. The "Oranges" are considered by bookmakers to be the primary candidates to win the tournament. One shouldn't forget about the American top team Evil Geniuses and the Koreans from DRX. The latter already defeated LOUD during the group stage and could pose a significant threat in the future.

Now you are familiar with the brief yet intriguing story of team LOUD, so the conclusions are for you to draw. We believe that the Brazilians will undoubtedly make it to the semi-finals or even the grand finals, but it's too early to declare them the winners. It's essential to keep an eye on the playoff stage, which will provide a comprehensive picture of what's unfolding at the Valorant Champions 2023.

Also read: 2023 Valorant guide on agent Reyna - abilities and tips.