Worlds 2023: Is the LOUD campaign disappointing after all?

LOUD was eliminated from Worlds 2023 last Saturday (14) after a mistake by Gigabyte Marines. In this sense, the Brazilian team left the tournament winning only one of the three series they played, in their debut against the same GAM.

This was perhaps the most bitter defeat for Brazil in all editions of the Worlds. We went from a scenario in which the classification was as credible as possible to One of the most disappointing performances I’ve ever seen.

Beginning that filled the eyes

I think that even the least confident in Brazil out there was eager to see this LOUD play. It’s a team that made history by winning the CBLOL three times in a row and going to an international championship for the third time.

It was normal to think it would be different. Furthermore, the team also had a bootcamp lasting almost a month until Worlds 2023 started, with good performances at soloQ and also training with teams from stronger regions.

In South Korea, the climate could not be different. We arrived for the first day of Worlds 2023 and a huge number of Brazilians invaded the audience, the atmosphere couldn’t be better. Hope… and the game begins.

Ecstasy.

The victory against the Marines

In a way, the eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It seemed like a different aura, a mature team that knew what it wanted to do, as well as incredible individual performances from some players.

The first match rekindled that flame of hope of seeing Brazil finally doing well abroad, complete with Pentakill de Route. There, the feeling changed from “WILL IT BE?” to “yes, we will be in the Swiss Phase of Worlds 2023”.

In the second game, a little more tension. But, another ingredient to increase hope even further: a turnaround based on resilience and good decisions together. 2×0 and all I could think was: It’s this team. Now go.

Feet on the ground

The confrontation with PSG Talon would be very difficult, we all knew that. It’s a tough team, with two top players (Maple and JunJia) and a very solid rest. It didn’t happen again, we didn’t even go in to play, but the hope was still there.

I confess that, given the way we lost to Talon, I was worried. I started to think that the old story of “starting winning and then losing” would repeat itself.

But, we tried to look at the glass as half full, which in this case was that Team BDS had escaped. Considered the strongest in the Entry Phase, the team had been surprised by Team Whales, and would not finish first in the other group, which would mean that LOUD would not be able to meet them in MD5.

At this moment, I and thousands of Brazilians still took it for granted that we would at least reach this MD5. Now, we had to beat the two teams from Vietnam (GAM and Whales), having already beaten GAM once, who as champions were technically the strongest team in the region. It was possible. Is very.

Bucket of cold water

The day of the game arrived and our confidence was still through the roof, right? It was our best chance in a long time and it hadn’t even been three days since we had beaten our opponents. The energy was a mix of hope and “we already won once, we just need to win again”.

I forgot to mention, but I’m (or was, depending on when you’re reading) in Korea to cover Worlds 2023, so I had the opportunity to watch the game live. However, I remember that I barely managed to stay in the Arena because I was so nervous, having watched a good part of the match in the press room.

First match

LOUD started the first game well, knowing how to nullify Nocturne to gain an advantage and go well into the mid game. Suddenly the team has a blackout and everything goes down the drain. A sequence of poor decisions along with individual mistakes took the game out of our hands and put the Vietnamese ahead of the series. 1-0 GAM.

Here it is impossible not to mention that the first feeling that comes to everyone’s mind is “it’s over, that’s it”. We have been eliminated so many times in the same way that this thought is almost automatic, and it was as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on me.

Second match

The second game needs no comment, because it is impossible to imagine that we actually played a game that way, and that it was winnable, by the way.

Individual errors, errors in executing dives, strategy errors, ERROR EVEN IN THE ITEM RECIPE. It is a game that will forever be remembered as one of Brazil’s worst on international stages. 2-0 GAM.

The word is disappointment

Since 2017, when Team One only depended on beating the Turkish representative to advance to the Group Stage, we haven’t had such a smooth and possible path. Furthermore, this opportunity arrived for our most prepared team.

I remember that the community and players always discussed why our region wasn’t advancing, and it was always mentioned that teams changed their line-up and lost synergy, players only had one international experience during the year, among other reasons. There was no such thing here anymore. It’s a three-time champion team followed by the CBLOL that went to the last three tournaments and only changed one player from the first to the second championship.

Not even reaching MD5 is disappointing, frustrating, and the way it was is even worse. Bitter defeats and brushes with some disastrous performances. If not even the best team in history could do it, who could?

It’s difficult to have hope in the future of Brazilian LoL

Today, I feel that, unfortunately, we will not be able to achieve this long-awaited access to the main phase of Worlds or even MSI anytime soon. Not because we’re not capable, but because we’re not ourselves out there.

It’s sad that the cycle of this very successful team ended like this, with a regret about a championship that could have achieved more and they showed that they had that, but the flame simply went out. Brazil today is a supporting player and does not seem to be prepared to appear as a protagonist.

Follow complete coverage of Worlds 2023 with game calendar, schedules, table, statistics, format, teams and other information here on More Esports!