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VCT Americas League playoffs: LOUD qualify for the Grand Finals

Like the rest of the VCT leagues around the world, the Americas region already knows its first qualifier for... Eduardo | 27. May 2023

Like the rest of the VCT leagues around the world, the Americas region already knows its first qualifier for the Grand Finals, and it is none other than LOUD, the reigning VALORANT Champions 2022 champions. The Brazilians won 2-1 against Evil Geniuses in the Upper Bracket final to seal their place in the final.

NRG pulled off an extraordinary surprise in the Lower Bracket by eliminating Cloud9, one of the favorites in these VCT Americas League playoffs, after a spectacular reverse sweep. Now, LOUD awaits the winner between NRG and Evil Geniuses to dispute the tournament’s grand final. As a result, LOUD, NRG, and EG are the three teams that will represent NA in the upcoming Masters Tokyo.

Read on to find out what happened in each of yesterday’s games in the VCT Americas League playoffs.

LOUD suffer but get a great 2-1 win over EG

While it is true that everything pointed to LOUD taking the victory over EG, no one expected the Brazilians to suffer as they did. However, they managed to recover from the adversity and took the victory 2-1.

The series was played in Fracture (EG), Ascent (LOUD), and Bind (decider).

Fracture

It all started in Fracture, the map pick of Evil Geniuses, where we observed an exceptional level of play by Felipe “Less” de Loyola and LOUD, who managed to take the victory with a score of 13-9.

In the first half, we observed a somewhat balanced game, as the defense of Evil Geniuses could make the retakes to win five of the twelve rounds played. However, at the change of sides, LOUD completely stopped EG’s attacks for a comfortable victory.

Ascent

In Ascent, LOUD’s map pick, fans, and even players were sure that victory would fall on the side of the Brazilians. However, the North American side held on and proved that their presence in the Upper Bracket final was no coincidence and took the victory by 13-11.

LOUD started the first half very strong and were quickly ahead on the scoreboard with a big 6-2 lead. However, they allowed EG to win three more rounds to end the first half with a close score of 7-5.

Then, at the change of sides, EG deployed an extremely aggressive offense that was impossible for the Brazilians to stop. Although LOUD was at one point in the game just two rounds away from winning, EG were determined to avoid it and took the 13-11 victory to even the series 1-1.

Bind

Finally, LOUD avenged their disappointing defeat in their map pick on Bind, the decisive map. Evil Geniuses was virtually absent on this third map, as LOUD gave them a veritable 13-3 thrashing to seal their ticket to the tournament’s grand finale.

NRG apply a reverse sweep to eliminate Cloud9

Cloud9’s run in a spectacular season has ended in the worst possible way. After coming in as one of the heavy favorites in these playoffs, Cloud9 fell to NRG by a score of 1-2 after winning the first map of the series.

The series was played in Pearl (NRG), Lotus (C9), and Haven (decider).

Pearl

While it is true that Cloud9 won the first map, Pearl, with a score of 13-10. The development of the match showed some flaws in the team that NRG undoubtedly capitalized on in the rest of the series.

Cloud9 had a lot of difficulty getting through NRG’s defense in the first half; of that, there is no doubt. However, they managed to win five rounds to end the first half with a close score of 5-7.

In the second half, things changed, and Cloud9 had a spectacular defensive approach and managed to take the win 13-10.

Lotus

In Lotus, map pick of Cloud, NRG started very strong again, but this time on their attacking side, as they managed to get a way to bring down the blue wall that Cloud9 was implementing so far. As a result, NRG took a 7-5 partial victory in the first half.

We had an interesting give and take at the change of sides, but NRG managed to win six rounds to take the victory by 13-9.

Haven

With the series 1-1 and both teams playing for their lives in the tournament, we witnessed an exact match in Haven, which had to be defined in Overtime. However, the NRG boys managed to take the victory by 14-12.

The match was evenly matched from start to finish; in the first half, both teams managed to win very important rounds to finish with a score of 6-6. At the change of sides, we had practically the same development as in the first half, with both teams working hard to win round after round, and, as a result, the score was evened 12-12 thanks to the last two rounds won by Cloud9.

However, NRG took the win in the first two Overtime rounds to clinch their reverse sweep and qualify for the Lower Bracket finals.

Header: VCT Americas