LOUD defeat OpTic Gaming to become the 2022 VALORANT Champions

In the grand finals of VALORANT Champions 2022, Brazilian superteam LOUD beat OpTic Gaming 3-1 and are 2022’s champions. After a close map one and a confident map from OpTic on Bind, LOUD closed the other two maps to win the series convincingly. As the fifth matchup between these two teams internationally, this final one put LOUD ahead in the Brazil/NA rivalry.

BRAZIL STANDS ON TOP! 🇧🇷 @LOUDgg ARE THE 2022 WORLD CHAMPIONS OF VALORANT! #VALORANTChampions pic.twitter.com/a8lMMlny35

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) September 18, 2022

OpTic talk about the loss

The series began on Ascent, where a 7-5 lead at halftime for OpTic ended up stretching into overtime. After hitting map point up 12-8, LOUD won four rounds in a row to even get the map to that point. In the end, LOUD took it 15-13, with some clutch plays off of some OpTic mistakes. After OpTic took the first map from LOUD this entire tournament with a 13-6 win on Bind, the series looked tight. Alas, heading into Breeze, overtime issues came to play once again. Two back-and-forth halves took the teams to overtime again, but OpTic only ever held one lead. The final round in that overtime was chaotic, but some clear issues on OpTic’s end led to another map loss.

“We could’ve adjusted in OT better, especially since we got the first pick most of the time,” OpTic in-game leader Pujan “FNS” Mehta said. “There were bad trades and bad utility from us, and you can’t be sloppy against LOUD, they’ll punish you.”

Especially after that second overtime loss and facing series point for LOUD, OpTic struggled on Haven. Heading into Haven, OpTic still had the most convincing map win of the series on Bind. That changes on a dime, as a 7-5 lead for LOUD turned into an undefeated second half and a confident 13-5 finish. As much as FNS knew he and his team could’ve played better, their admiration of LOUD’s growth was there.

“They’ve improved greatly since the time we first faced them,” FNS said. “They weren’t as experienced as we were at the start of the year, and they’ve grown to have that ability to close out games. As much as we feel that we lost the game ourselves today, they played impressively.”

LOUD put Brazil on top

As for LOUD, their run in Istanbul was a confident one, from start to finish. Heading into the grand finals, they hadn’t lost a map. OpTic took that perfect run away from them with that aforementioned win on Bind, but that didn’t stop them from winning it all. This matchup was one they were expecting and worrying about, knowing how good OpTic is from their previous matches.

“OpTic adapt so fast and always knows what we lack on any map,” LOUD in-game leader Matias “Saadhak” Delipetro said. “It’s really hard to play against them, and we faced them six times. We have an even record against them, 3-3, and that alone shows how good they are.”

From facing them back in Stage 1 Masters in the finals and losing, the team knew they were close. As a relatively new team at the time with regional credibility, they proved to the world that they could perform internationally as well. Yet, something was missing in that final loss to OpTic, and LOUD improved it to get to this Champions 2022 title.

“When we lost in the Stage 1 Masters finals, we knew we were missing something,” Saadhak said. “So, we improved, especially mentally. When we finally won, that led to those tears we shed on stage, thinking about what we’d done to get here.”

Alongside Sacy on stage, these two champions were spotted tearing up with this championship; a landmark for Brazilian VALORANT. While the future looks bright for Brazil, these players only had one thing on their minds for their future.

“ALCOHOL,” Saadhak said. “We’re gonna drink it up, forget about the game, be around good music and go home. It was so tiring, training so much for this event.”