LOUD VALORANT reportedly choose a former rival to replace aspas

Brazilian VALORANT powerhouse LOUD has reportedly landed its fifth with former FURIA player Gabriel “qck” Lima set to fill the shoes of departed star Erick “aspas” Santos this week as the pieces begin to fall into place after a wild start to the Americas off-season.

LOUD has come to a verbal agreement with former FURIA player qck according to an Oct. 7 report from Brazilian site The Enemy. While qck has plenty of experience on Jett, his recent history on FURIA has put him in the flex role, and he’ll have to return to his roots to fill the shoes of one of the best Jett players in the world. If it doesn’t come to that, we may see a reworked LOUD roster with players slotting into new roles, with qck once again flexing up where needed.

This comes only a day after The Enemy revealed LOUD’s former head coach Daniel “fRoD” Montaner wouldn’t be returning to the team for 2024. While the change at head coach is leaving a big vacancy, the news today is filling in a spot instead of leaving one. As for their newest fifth, qck is a VALORANT veteran, spending the last two years competing for close Brazilian rivals FURIA.

Back in 2021, FURIA was one of the regional teams to beat in South America, but as 2022 came around LOUD surpassed the squad following their performances in the VCT and at Champions 2022 in Istanbul, Turkiye.

LOUD continued their rampage in 2023 at LOCK//IN São Paulo, ultimately going down in the final to Fnatic. FURIA kept its talented roster at the time, but couldn’t reach the highs of 2021. They joined VCT franchising in 2023, wrapping up their 2023 with a fifth-place finish in the VCT.

LOUD’s 2023 off-season mirrors that of 2022 in a way, with two of its championship players Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi and Bryan “pANcada” Luna departing to Sentinels. The team ended up signing Cauan “cauanzin” Pereira and Arthur “tuyz” Vieira, two other players who showed potential. Together, they proved LOUD was still capable of remaining near the top both regionally and internationally.

Now, with aspas gone and reportedly off to Leviatán, the LOUD core will need to slot in qck. He’ll have some time to settle in with his new teammates, but he will have to perform up to the expectations of LOUD, one of the best teams in VCT Americas, starting in February 2024.