LOUD have officially become a world champion after coming out victorious in the definitive VALORANT rivalry against OpTic in the grand final of the 2022 VCT Champions.
The VCO season came to a dramatic close on Sunday when LOUD laughed last against OpTic in their fifth meeting of the year.
The grand final of VCT Champions 2022 began at Ascent, which has been the strong map for LOUD. They went on dominant victory in the series.
OpTic looked much more capable this time around when they took control after the buy rounds began on defense. They peek early to disrupt LOUD’s executes before retreating to safe, deep angles.
OpTic went into a 7-5 lead at halftime. Their performance was truly highlighted by aggressive Marved lurks and opening duels from yay.
On their attack side, OpTic came out firing and reached a 12-8 lead.
LOUD, on the other hand, rallied with four straight wins that showcased their defensive prowess, regaining momentum in the process to force overtime.
LOUD took advantage after a crashies Classic right-click failed OpTic in the second OT. They then went on to pinch the OpTic and execute the next round to secure Ascent 15-13.
Not giving up, OpTic rallied early on Bind, with Marved hitting a 1v3 post-plant in the pistol round. This got the team going, and they won a 1v2, saving them from an anti-eco the next round.
At halftime, OpTic cruised to a 10-2 lead, owing to their very impressive attack l. They punished the A site over and over with crisp executes; all thanks to Marved and yay, who had 14 frags each after one half.
With an equally impressive attack side, LOUD claimed the pistol, anti-eco, and the bonus round to start the second half.
LOUD were on the verged of making OpTic sweat after an insane 1v3 clutch coming from aspas. But after an OpTic timeout, a couple of heroic peeks from crashies gave OpTic its 11th and 12th round. The rounds went on to tie the series on Bind in the very next round via a 13-6 victory.
With the momentum for OpTic carried into Breeze, they won four straight rounds to start their defensive side with heroic performances from crashies and yay.
LOUD responded with four wins in the next five rounds after a timeout. Saadhak stepped up on the KAY/O, and aspas did his best yay impression with the Operator on Jett.
LOUD came back into the tie despite losing 5-1 initially. This then lead to a back-and-forth affair between the teams. With neither side able to pull away, it led to an 11-11 tie.
OpTic claimed the lead first and took the B site with fine execution. They forced LOUD into a 3v4 retake that was shut down by yay’s Operator.
aspas responded with the Operator himself to get a massive triple on Jett to force OT.
LOUD then went on to claim their second map of the series in extra rounds, 16-14, after three OT.
After their second overtime victory of the series, LOUD got off to a nice defensive start on Haven.
However, OpTic still managed to find some success, trailing only 5-7 at halftime.
LOUD then took the second half pistol, which put the pressure on OpTic. They then took the anti-eco and the bonus to go up 10-5 in a potentially decisive map.
Continuing from where they stopped, LOUD closed out the map in the second round, the series, and a world championship in dominant fashion, with a 13-5 win on Haven.
This is seen as revenge for LOUD on Optic at the best possible moment that sees them claim their second-ever VALORANT world championship.
LOUD is also the first team not from North America or EMEA to win an international trophy and have, of course, won the first one ever for Brazil.
Written by Oladipupo Mojeed
