The first match of the VALORANT<\/em> Champions 2023 playoffs was a rematch of the grand finals from LOCK\/\/IN, with Fnatic remaining the heavy favorites over LOUD. But after winning back-to-back international tournaments, the crown proved too heavy for Fnatic, as LOUD capitalized.<\/p>
LOUD defeated Fnatic 2-0, delivering the EMEA super-team their first loss at an international tournament and second loss across all competitions in 2023. Despite the cohesion rumors surrounding LOUD, their two star players Erick “aspas” Santos and Felipe “Less” Basso returned to championship form in their toughest match of the year.<\/p>
Not only was this win significant due to the dominance of Fnatic heading into Champions, but it was also redemption for LOUD after their shocking winless exit at VCT Masters Tokyo. There was some faith that LOUD was one of the few teams that could manage this upset, but mostly because of their LOCK\/\/IN performance.<\/p>
Everyone remembers those finals in S\u00e3o Paulo and the 11-3 choke on Icebox that LOUD fans still think about to this day. But, looking at that series from a larger perspective, LOUD was one of the few teams over the entirety of 2023 who took Fnatic to the brink.<\/p>
Despite their form recently not being at that LOCK\/\/IN level, they had to bring it back to get this crucial win, and that is what they got.<\/p>
LOUD outplayed Fnatic on both Ascent and Lotus, something that almost no other team can say in 2023. While the focus was on shutting down Fnatic\u2019s star duelist Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev, they couldn\u2019t have done it without aspas returning to the white-hot form he hit in 2022 and Americas this year. He couldn\u2019t beat Derke in first kills, as he finished with 6 to Derke\u2019s 14, but the Brazilian superstar ended with 38 kills, leading the lobby, while Derke finished with an even 29 kills and 29 deaths. Where Derke was getting the first kill more, he was also dying first a lot more, giving his team a disadvantage almost as many times as an advantage.<\/p>
https:\/\/youtube.com\/clip\/UgkxuUFzefsmAklp37i6PRNcKkmRFVJr8eON <\/div><\/figure>
Unable to push to destroy it, the Fnatic team has to run away to near their spawn, while the spike is defused easily by LOUD because of the plant location. If it wasn\u2019t for that spike plant spot, Fnatic might\u2019ve been able to contest the defuse, but Less recognized that mistake and pressed one button to win a three-vs-three post-plant against the best team in the world, on top of getting two kills after it ended to secure the defuse.<\/p>
In a post-match interview, Less talked about something that hasn\u2019t been the case for LOUD this year that mattered for this match: the lack of pressure, and how that will help as they move through the upper bracket.<\/p>
\u201cActually, being honest, I\u2019m happy to be in that underdog role,\u201d Less said on stage post-match, \u201cas it takes the pressure off of us. Our team is very strong and I\u2019m happy with the result.\u201d<\/p>
Nobody doubted how strong of a team LOUD could be. Even in their recent form, they still are the defending champions, and Fnatic got hit with that taste of reality in a match that almost nobody expected them to lose. In the post-match interview, Fnatic coach Jacob “mini” Harris talked about their expectations to win, but also was of the strong opinion that this wasn\u2019t as bad of a loss as the score showed.<\/p>
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like they were outclassing us, I don\u2019t think,\u201d mini said to the media. \u201cIt was just the little mistakes that we made today.\u201d<\/p>
Now, the EMEA team will have to grind through the lower bracket starting on Aug. 18 to keep their three-peat hopes alive.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peak LOUD is back, and to be feared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2191,"featured_media":935639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gamurs_wordpress_blocks_hide_tags":true,"_is_affiliated":false,"dotesports_deal_href":"","dotesports_featured_video":"","_notify_users":2,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-08-17T01:01:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"70b05199-e03c-44e4-99b4-6f0b9244d105","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-08-17T01:01:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AcLBRmeA8ROSZtG8LkkTRBQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44104],"tags":[],"invoiceable_action":[],"internal-label":[46550],"article_type":[44125],"coauthors":[{"id":2191,"display_name":"Michael Czar","user_login":"michaelczar","user_nicename":"michaelczar"}],"class_list":["post-935636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-valorant","internal-label-esports","article_type-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe return of prime aspas, Less get LOUD their LOCK\/\/IN revenge over Fnatic at Champions 2023<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Peak LOUD is back, and to be feared.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/valorant\/news\/the-return-of-prime-aspas-less-get-loud-their-lock-in-revenge-over-fnatic-at-champions-2023\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The return of prime aspas, Less get LOUD their LOCK\/\/IN revenge over Fnatic at Champions 2023\" \/>\n<meta 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Covering esports news for just over five years. Focusing on Overwatch, VALORANT, Call of Duty, Teamfight Tactics, and some general gaming content. Washington Post-published game reviewer. Follow me on Twitter at @xtraweivy.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/xtraweivy"],"url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/author\/michaelczar"}]}},"raw_content":"The first match of the VALORANT Champions 2023 playoffs was a rematch of the grand finals from LOCK\/\/IN, with Fnatic remaining the heavy favorites over LOUD. But after winning back-to-back international tournaments, the crown proved too heavy for Fnatic, as LOUD capitalized. LOUD defeated Fnatic 2-0, delivering the EMEA super-team their first loss at an international tournament and second loss across all competitions in 2023. Despite the cohesion rumors surrounding LOUD, their two star players Erick \"aspas\" Santos and Felipe \"Less\" Basso returned to championship form in their toughest match of the year. Not only was this win significant due to the dominance of Fnatic heading into Champions, but it was also redemption for LOUD after their shocking winless exit at VCT Masters Tokyo. There was some faith that LOUD was one of the few teams that could manage this upset, but mostly because of their LOCK\/\/IN performance. Everyone remembers those finals in S\u00e3o Paulo and the 11-3 choke on Icebox that LOUD fans still think about to this day. But, looking at that series from a larger perspective, LOUD was one of the few teams over the entirety of 2023 who took Fnatic to the brink. Despite their form recently not being at that LOCK\/\/IN level, they had to bring it back to get this crucial win, and that is what they got. LOUD outplayed Fnatic on both Ascent and Lotus, something that almost no other team can say in 2023. While the focus was on shutting down Fnatic\u2019s star duelist Nikita \"Derke\" Sirmitev, they couldn\u2019t have done it without aspas returning to the white-hot form he hit in 2022 and Americas this year. He couldn\u2019t beat Derke in first kills, as he finished with 6 to Derke\u2019s 14, but the Brazilian superstar ended with 38 kills, leading the lobby, while Derke finished with an even 29 kills and 29 deaths. Where Derke was getting the first kill more, he was also dying first a lot more, giving his team a disadvantage almost as many times as an advantage. Related: First major VALORANT offseason event could move up the roster change timeline While aspas was fragging out, his teammate Less was doing the same while near-singlehandedly using utility and smart lurks to win crucial rounds, especially on Lotus.\u00a0 There are so many Less moments to highlight, but the best example has to be round 18. Up 11-6, Fnatic gets access to C site and plants deep inside to try and win a three-vs-three scenario. However, they aren\u2019t able to push Waterfall or backsite much due to smokes. Less then puts his Killjoy ultimate at Waterfall, locking down the entire site and even a good section of C main.\u00a0 Unable to push to destroy it, the Fnatic team has to run away to near their spawn, while the spike is defused easily by LOUD because of the plant location. If it wasn\u2019t for that spike plant spot, Fnatic might\u2019ve been able to contest the defuse, but Less recognized that mistake and pressed one button to win a three-vs-three post-plant against the best team in the world, on top of getting two kills after it ended to secure the defuse. In a post-match interview, Less talked about something that hasn\u2019t been the case for LOUD this year that mattered for this match: the lack of pressure, and how that will help as they move through the upper bracket. \u201cActually, being honest, I\u2019m happy to be in that underdog role,\u201d Less said on stage post-match, \u201cas it takes the pressure off of us. Our team is very strong and I\u2019m happy with the result.\u201d Nobody doubted how strong of a team LOUD could be. Even in their recent form, they still are the defending champions, and Fnatic got hit with that taste of reality in a match that almost nobody expected them to lose. In the post-match interview, Fnatic coach Jacob \"mini\" Harris talked about their expectations to win, but also was of the strong opinion that this wasn\u2019t as bad of a loss as the score showed. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like they were outclassing us, I don\u2019t think,\u201d mini said to the media. \u201cIt was just the little mistakes that we made today.\u201d Now, the EMEA team will have to grind through the lower bracket starting on Aug. 18 to keep their three-peat hopes alive.","apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/loudfnaticchampions2023.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=935636"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":935652,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935636\/revisions\/935652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/935639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935636"},{"taxonomy":"invoiceable_action","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/invoiceable_action?post=935636"},{"taxonomy":"internal-label","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-label?post=935636"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=935636"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=935636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
