Team preview before Worlds 2023: Now or never. LOUD has a unique chance to return to the elite

The next team we’ll look at is Brazil’s recent number one – LOUD. Can the Brazilian champion break the curse and advance to the elite?

The Brazilian phenomenon of recent years – LOUD – is also travelling to the Worlds with much bigger ambitions. The new Brazilian titan, also known from Valorant, defended his home CBLOL title and confirmed that he has no competition in Brazil this year. Temperament and cohesion, a dangerous combination that can separate success from total collapse.

Brazil has been catching its second wind in the last two years. It is as if a phoenix has risen from the ashes over the traditional bastion of esport. The former successes of Brazilian teams like Kabum E-Sports or INTZ, which rewrote the world championship tables back then, are long gone.

Brazil has sunk deeply to the bottom since the phenomenal 2014-2016 triennium. As the CBLOL champion came in with huge expectations, it went back home with a big beating. Talk of a curse began, a vicious circle from which an otherwise proud region, at one time the strongest among the weakest, could not break free.

The eventual hope for the region came from the LOUD organisation, which caused an earthquake on the Brazilian scene. A new approach, a new vision, less exaggerated temperament, more compactness and courage. A journey that showed LOUD that it could do more than just take another beating from global competition.

Will the Brazilian “fénix” come alive now?

LOUD now holds the big trump card that could return Brazil to the elite after seven years. Like R7, they have two hot candidates in the group to make it to the elite 16 – PSG Talon and GAM Esports. But it will be important for the Brazilian number one to maintain the set course.

In particular, the first duel with PSG Talon can be considered one of the highlights of the play-in phase. It is this series that can tell a lot about the current distribution of forces between the regions and, most importantly, mental readiness. Although the Brazilian rulers look very compact and determined, they can still be brought down by the traditional South American temperament.

Leading the way for LOUD will be Tinowns, a CBLOL veteran who remembers the biggest Brazilian shock of 2014. Back then, total underdog Kabum E-Sports defied all odds and rolled the European champions from Alliance at the least opportune moment.

Brazilian fans and some international experts are fanning the big chance and labeling LOUD as the dark horse of the play-in phase. If LOUD manages to slip through the ranks of the absolute world’s top players, the esports world would come to a standstill in Brazil for a while. And that traditional esports bastion needs such success. Valoranto has already done it, will it do it here?

Source: Leaguepedia