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Valorant Champions 2023 is nearing its final few matches. Only four teams remain in the competition as of this writing. They are Evil Geniuses, Paper Rex, LOUD, and Fnatic. On Day 13 of the event, two matches took place. The first one between LOUD and EDward Gaming was a close call. However, LOUD emerged victorious in the best-of-three (Bo3) series by 2-1 and eliminated EDward Gaming from the competition.
The second match was also close as Fnatic and DRX went against each other. Both teams won on each other's map picks, but eventually, it was Fnatic that took the Bo3 series by 2-1 and eliminated DRX from Valorant Champions 2023.
After the first match, Sportskeeda Esports got the opportunity to talk to LOUD's coach, fRoD and ask him about the team discussions during his final timeout of Haven that pushed them to victory. He responded by saying:
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"We had good reads, they just took certain risks"
LOUD's coach fRoD talks about the discussion done during the intense decider map, Haven against EDward Gaming in Valorant Champions 2023
LOUD and EDward Gaming have faced each other before during Masters Tokyo. EDG was able to get away with a clean 2-0 win as they created one of the biggest upsets in VCT history and pushed the boundaries of Chinese Valorant even further.
That said, in Valorant Champions 2023, things went down differently. LOUD looked a lot more prepared this time around. Both teams won on their own map picks, and it came down to the decider map, Haven. LOUD was able to keep a comfortable lead, but things started getting dicey as EDG started to slowly win one round after another. The map got very close to a point where the teams were one round away from Overtime. However, LOUD was able to avoid it and close the series with a 2-1 win.
During the post-match conference, Sportskeeda Esports approached LOUD's coach, fRoD, to enquire about the strategic conversations had during his final timeout of regulation, which helped push his team to victory. Here's what he had to say:
"EDG is a very good team. We've actually scrimmed them a few times, especially on Haven. So we have a good read on how they like to play certain situations. I think even the rounds before were very close. We had good reads, they just took certain risks that really paid off for them. So for us it was kind of just slow the game down a little bit. It isn't that we were trying to end soon, it's just sometimes we have certain ults we play a little bit quicker and and you know jump into site."
He further added:
"But in these situations, it was kind of go back to what was working for us which was to kind of slow the pace down, let them make some moves for some rotations and execute together. It was more of just sticking to what we knew was working against them."
With this win over EDward Gaming, LOUD will now proceed further into the lower bracket. Their next confrontation will be a rematch against Fnatic, who they previously defeated in the Upper Bracket of the Playoffs in Valorant Champions 2023.
Both these teams are considered amongst the best, and it will be exciting to see which one gets to continue their run in this Champions event. Fnatic vs. LOUD will take place on August 24 at 3 pm PDT/ 12 am CEST (next day)/ 3:30 am IST (next day).
