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LOUD swept G2 Esports 2-0, reaching the winner’s bracket finals of the VALORANT Champions Tour 2022 Stage 1 Masters on Sunday.

The second upper bracket match of the day focused on the best of Brazil versus the best of Europe. Both these teams made their marks within their regions, with similar stories. LOUD recently rose to form in Brazil, and with recent international wins, built themselves as a team to fear. As for G2 Esports, their experience in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region is well noted. Yet, they’ve also recently caught fire and blazed their way to Stage 1 Masters. While originally in second place, the unavailability of FunPlus Phoenix moved them up to first. But, heading into this series, LOUD had the momentum of reaching new highs for Brazil internationally.

“All of our hard work is finally paying off,” said Matias “Saadhak” Delipetro. “We’re always trying to improve, and we’ll see what’ll come next.”

Ascent starts the series off

On the first pistol round, LOUD did what they struggled to do in their previous wins – get the first round. Erick “aspas” Santos in particular had a fast start, getting crucial kills in the first two rounds.

LOUD kept up their aggression to build their lead, with Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi taking the reins off of aspas to lead the lobby. Just as G2 looked to get their first round on the board, a great 2k from Felipe “Less” Basso near mid stopped them in their tracks.

It wasn’t until a flawless round that G2 got their first round win, down 6-1. No matter what G2 would be heading into halftime either tied or losing.

Sacy continued to play rounds as smart as possible, not only getting picks, but specifically focusing on the ones with rifles before the ones with the shotguns. That led to LOUD hitting halftime up 9-3.

The second pistol was another trademark example of LOUD’s aggression, getting an early pick onto Johan “Meddo” Renbjörk Lundborg. Sacy managed to get half the defuse in a 1v1, hops off to get a knife kill, but can’t stick the defuse.

G2 got an important round back for a potential comeback. After a flawless in the second round, G2 started to do just that, but LOUD hit double digits off of some great awareness from aspas.

Hitting map point, it was just a matter of time with the lead LOUD held. After a Less 2k, LOUD remained undefeated on Ascent, winning the map 13-5.

Breeze brings G2 back in it

On Breeze, G2’s map pick, they took an important first round. Even with LOUD taking a map, G2 showed their knowledge of it by taking an early lead.

But, after a plant on A site, Saadhak got a 4k to get a round back on LOUD’s side. As aspas got another 3k, LOUD took the lead back at 4-3.

LOUD kept building the lead, throwing G2 off with constant adaptations, like random lurks or tempo changes. Both Saadhak and aspas continued their form from Ascent, leading the team in kills. Despite how close the stats were between the teams, LOUD managed to hit halftime up 8-4.

Even in the second half, LOUD just continued to lead. They won their first two rounds in the second half, reaching double digits quickly. The teams started to trade map wins, but that favors the team with the lead, which was LOUD. They got up to 11 round wins, a great position to close out the map.

For G2, the start of a potential comeback consisted of a Žygimantas “nukkye” Chmieliauskas Jett ultimate getting full value. G2 started to bring the map back into contention, winning round after round to turn a big deficit into a small one. Only down two rounds at 11-9, LOUD managed a big thrifty win off a 2k from Sacy.

Just when the G2 Esports comeback seemed possible, LOUD got to match point. But, a clutch post-plant didn’t give LOUD enough time to defuse, putting G2 in double digits as well, 12-10. A similar scenario happened the round after, with Aaro “hoody” Peltokangas clutching out a 1v2. G2 only needed one more map to take the map into overtime, but Less said no.

LOUD beat G2 Esports 2-0, guaranteeing a podium finish at 2022 Stage 1 Masters. Not only that, but LOUD are now the most successful Brazilian VALORANT team in international competitions. LOUD will face OpTic Gaming in the winner’s bracket finals. G2 Esports fall to the lower bracket, facing Paper Rex to stay in the competition.