After a disappointing early loss to Gen.G, LOUD bounced back against China’s second seed. A relatively quick 2-0 sent them into the decider round of the Swiss stage, one win away from playoffs.
LOUD completely dominated their map pick, converting Sunset 13-5 in a game that wasn’t even as close as the final score suggested. FunPlus Phoenix finally put up a fight on Breeze, led by a standout 25 kill performance from Autumn, but in the end, LOUD’s depth was too much to handle. A 13-11 score sent FPX packing.
Both teams brought Phoenix comps to Sunset, with quick picking Phoenix as his primary agent this year it seems. FPX compounded their uniqueness by adding in a Harbor and Chamber. Although their comp was very strong in the Chinese VCT, it has seen no success on the international stage at Madrid.
A pair of clutches against weaker buys kept FPX from getting demolished immediately, but LOUD cleanly accelerated past them. LOUD applied a lot of aggressive defensive pressure around the map which gave them a huge advantage against this fairly new roster.
LOUD held an 8-4 lead at the half and easily converted a 13-5 victory on their attack. Without a true sentinel, FPX were completely unable to stop LOUD from taking whatever map control they wanted.
In addition to calling a nearly flawless game, saadhak, the IGL of LOUD, closed Sunset with the most kills and fewest deaths in the server.
LOUD will go to face Edward Gaming, the other Chinese VCT side to appear at Masters Madrid. They will play an elimination game to see which team makes it to the playoffs alongside Sentinels and GenG to crown the Champion of the world at Masters Madrid.
Power Pitches 