VALORANT LOCK//IN finalists go winless in shock VCT Masters Tokyo exit

After making it all the way to the LOCK//IN grand final in the maiden VALORANT Champions Tour 2023 season, LOUD has stumbled and fallen out of VCT Masters Tokyo without a single win.

Entering the competition as the first seed from Americas, thus skipping the group stage altogether, LOUD lost against fellow NA representatives Evil Geniuses on June 15 before going down to EDward Gaming on June 18.

In the end, LOUD exited Tokyo both mapless and winless in the tournament—far from the expectations many had for the squad. In previous tournaments, such as Champions 2022 and at LOCK//IN in São Paulo, LOUD has led the league in map flexibility, player talent, and strategy. Still, Masters Tokyo was a rare moment where they just didn’t look good enough.

Their playoffs opener was against EG, a team that they comfortably handled in regional play, but in Tokyo LOUD didn’t stand a chance. Thanks to outstanding Sova play from Corbin “C0M” Lee and a beastly series from Alexander “jawgemo” Mor, EG outplayed LOUD in both aim and strategy. 

Sent to the lower bracket early, LOUD faced a team nobody expected to be in the playoffs: Sole Chinese representative EDG. However, the series against EDG began just as poorly as their upper-bracket match.

Related: Star duelist leads EDG, China to its first VCT playoffs appearance at Masters Tokyo

LOUD’s map veto left fans scratching their heads, with Lotus well known as a much stronger map statistically for EDG than LOUD, but the Brazilian team chose it anyway. Their plan backfired horrifically—Lotus went the way of EDG 13-6, leaving LOUD on the ropes.

It all came down to Fracture, where LOUD finally managed to pull a somewhat decent half together, ahead 7-5 lead heading into halftime. Despite LOUD’s forcebuy wins early in the second half, EDG fought back to tie the series at 10-10. This was proving to be the first close map LOUD had in Japan, but they needed a little more to get over the line, and at 11-10, a play out of Wang “nobody” Senxu shattered all hopes of a LOUD win. 

EDG’s Skye player copped the full brunt of a Breach ultimate out of LOUD, but somehow despite the stun debuff, nobody tore LOUD to shreds killing three to send the Brazilian squad packing.

There were plenty of points of criticism for LOUD, from consistently running Erick “aspas” Santos on Neon instead of his traditional Jett, to looking tactically weak with set plays compared to their two opponents. Either way, America’s top seed is heading back home winless.

EDG will continue in the lower bracket, facing their next opponent on June 20, while we’ll be seeing LOUD again at VALORANT Champions 2023.