LOUD Preview – LoL Worlds 2023
| Tags: League of Legends
| Author Bence Loksa
LOUD Preview gives some insight of the winners of the CBLOL made a splash at last year’s Worlds, can they find their way into our hearts – and more importantly the Swiss Stage again?
October 10th marks the beginning of the 2023 League of Legends World Championship! The new format starts with the Play-Ins, where the winner of the Worlds Qualifying Series – LEC 4th seed, Team BDS – and the smaller regions participate to decide which two teams can join the Swiss Stage, where the best of the best play. LOUD is a name that comes up in esports more and more as time passes, be it Riot Games tactical FPS, VALORANT or League of Legends, where the team made a splash thanks to their previous ADC, Diego “Brance” Amaral who pulled the “Bot Gap” on Fnatic. But does LOUD have a real chance at making it out of the Play-Ins?
LOUD Preview
LOUD Team History
The Brazilian CBLOL can only send one representative for the League of Legends World Championship and the MSI, and LOUD worked hard this year to represent them yet again. The organization joined the league before the start of the 2021 season, and while they didn’t perform poorly, they finished 6th, so they couldn’t make it to Worlds in their first year. The first half of 2022 didn’t go too well for the team, but after a roster revision, they managed to win the Split 2 Playoffs, beating paiN Gaming in the finals. In last year’s Worlds, they almost managed to make it to the Qualification round of the Play-Ins but DFM stopped them in their tracks in the Elimination Round.
LOUD made some changes to their roster yet again, letting their iconic player Brance go to pick up Moon “Route” Geom-su, who played for teams such as the Jin Air Green Wings and Liiv SANDBOX. With their new Marksman, LOUD dominated the CBLOL, winning both the Split 1 and Split 2 Playoffs. They also played at this year’s Mid-Season Invitational, where they knocked DetonatioN FocusMe out of the Play-Ins taking revenge for last year’s Worlds but couldn’t get past PSG Talon. Now they have a new chance to shine on the international scene, and they could be one of the dark horses of this year.
LOUD Roster
- Leonardo “Robo” Souza
- Park “Croc” Jong-hoon
- Thiago “tinowns” Sartori
- Moon “Route” Geom-su
- Denilson “Ceos” Oliveira Goncalves
LOUD Playstyle
LOUD is a pretty balanced team, with each of the members capable of carrying the team on their back. Worlds 2023 is their 3rd consecutive international appearance and with the same team (bar Brance who left to play for Fluxo), they are a squad that can rely on each other to punch up in the Play-Ins.
LOUD’s weakest point of any match is their early game, as they die far too much for their own good. This puts them down at the second lowest KD@14 at Worlds, with only T1 behind them – who is not the last because they die frequently, but because they don’t get many kills. Even though LOUD is a bit messy in the first 14 minutes, they can still create leads thanks to their focus on the first Herald, which they translate in to Turret Platings well. The only team that does a better job in this area is G2 Esports, the most aggressive team of the LEC.
Robo is the most polarizing player in terms of stats: the legendary toplaner dies the most out of any toplaner attending the international event, but he gets heaps of gold thanks to his mechanical and macro skills. They make a good pair with Croc, who also dies a lot, but manages to create leads and pressure more often than not.
LOUD consists of incredibly aggressive players who chase kills, with Route being the main culprit, as he has 4 solo kills before 15 minutes on average, and together with Ceos are the most bloodthirsty botlane of the CBLOL. In contrast, tinowns has a surprisingly low early game participation: the Brazilian midlaner tend to bide his time away from his team, but that doesn’t mean he’s not trying to create leads.
LOUD comes online later in the game, usually around the 20-minute mark, when either Robo, tinowns or Route gets to a strong point either through farming or getting kills in the case of the toplaner and ADC. After they first 20 minutes, the Brazilian representatives usually play around Baron, trying to force favourable fights or just get the objective. However, after 25 minutes, they leave Nashor to pressure midlane or try and make their way into the opponent’s jungle.
LOUD also has a very strong pick in Poppy, who is a potential triple flex for this team. Robo and Croc already exchanged the Keeper of the Hammer in the CBLOL, but Ceos also has a chance to shine thanks to the botlane meta turning to picks such as Nilah and Kalista.
LOUD Conclusions
Overall, LOUD seems like an interesting team that could surprise a lot of squads in the Play-In. They have one big issue that stronger teams could punish, but if the CBLOL champions can get to the late game, they are capable of overrunning their opponents, finishing matches quite quickly. Their first opponent will be GAM Esports, the 1st seed of the VCS – can they overcome this obstacle, or will they have to try and get to the Swiss Stage through the Lower Bracket?