Welcome back to EGamersWorld.
It's still hot in Los Angeles. And it's not just global warming: the group stage of VALORANT Champions 2023 is heating up.
The world's most prestigious championship continues to show us top matches with the best teams in the world. One of such matches is the battle between NaVi and LOUD in Group D.
The International match is interesting not only because of the presence of American and European grands, but also because of its tournament significance. It is both a match for life and a match for the play-offs.
The winner of the match will go to the main stage, while the loser will leave the championship with nothing. We will try to find out which of the teams will be stronger in this battle and will continue to defend the honour of their region at the most prestigious tournament in the history of VALORANT.
Let's go.
Form LOUD
Let's open the match analysis with an analysis of LOUD's form. In this match the Brazilians play the first number one.
Bookmakers are confident in the success of LOUD. The odds for their victory are at around 1.5.
Despite the unsuccessful Long Corner at Champions 2023, LOUD remain in the lead in the match for life. It's not surprising, as they are the reigning world champions and it's hard to imagine them crashing out in the group stage.
LOUD have been at the top of their game during the 2022 season. They played five championships in the past year, of which they won 3.
The list of triumphs includes VCT 2022: Brazil Stage 1 Challengers, VCT 2022: Brazil Stage 2 Challengers, but most importantly last year's VALORANT Champions 2022.
LOUD have maintained their ability this season. They started it with a top-2 finish at LOCK//IN Sao Paulo, and followed it up with a win at their home, the VCT 2023: Americas League.
Before Champions 2023, LOUD attended another international event. That was VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo, where the 2022 World Champions failed to reach the top. Their journey at the Tokyo Masters was interrupted by EDward Gaming, knocking LOUD out of the event at the Top 8 stage.
- LOUD lineup: aspas, Less, saadhak, cauanzin, tuyz .
The "newcomers" of the lineup are cauanzin and tuyz. The Brazilian duo replaced pANcada and Sacy in November last year and since then have been representing The International heresy LOUD on the international and domestic scene.
In the first match of VALORANT Champions 2023, the reigning world champions faced South Korea's first team DRX. The tense match ended in favour of the latter with a score of 2-1.
Then LOUD had to play for survival against Liquid. The Brazilians outclassed their European counterparts and closed the series 2-0, defeating Liquid 13-2 and 13-8.
LOUD's Mapple
LOUD's most popular maps are Split and Ascent. Both maps have been played 11 times, where the former has a 64% winrate and the latter 73.
In addition, they love Pearl. There in 9 matches LOUD has 56% winrate.
The worst is at Lotus, where the Brazilians managed to win 3 matches in 3 matches.
Not playing Breeze.
Natus Vincere's form
We continue the match analysis with the analysis of Natus Vincere's form. In this match "born to win" play the second number.
Bookmakers are not ready to bet against the reigning world champions, so NaVi is an outsider. The odds for their victory in this match are at 2.3.
There is nothing to be surprised about. NaVi failed in the regular season, but at Champions 2023, they got back on track. That's why they're not far behind.
The season for NaVi has been a tumultuous and challenging one. It started with a very solid top 4 at VCT 2023: LOCK//IN Sao Paulo, but continued with a more sluggish top 4 in the home league - VCT 2023: EMEA League.
Nevertheless, NaVi became a participant of the first Major of the season - VCT 2023: Masters Tokyo. And failed, taking the last place in their group.
- NaVi roster: ANGE1, cNed, SUYGETSU, Shao, Zyppan.
The roster of "Born to Win" was formed in November 2022 and has not been changed since then. However, a long playing time does not always guarantee high performance and NaVi is proof of that.
Just remember the Last Chance Qualifier, where NaVi almost gave up on Champions 2023, but still managed to pull themselves together and take the top 2, thus jumping into the last carriage of the departing train.
And that's why the result of NaVi's debut match was so surprising. The Yellow-Blacks managed to run over one of the best teams in their region - Team Liquid. And with the score 2-0: Fracture (13-11) and Bind (17-15).
In the match for the play-offs NaVi gave a fight to the Chinese from DRX. The game was tense, but in the end "born to win" failed to secure their passage to the play-offs, Ledgeiv with the score 1-2.
Natus Vincere Mappool
The most played map of Natus Vincere is Ascent. There the "born to win" have 17 matches and 71% wins.
Another one of the most successful maps is Pearl. It has 91% wins in 11 matches.
In the top 3 is Fracture. Here the Yellow-Blacks have 64% of wins in 11 matches.
The worst maps are Icebox and Breeze. The first one has 33% wins in 9 matches, and the second one has 33% wins in 6 matches.
History of head-to-head meetings between NaVi and LOUD
NaVi and LOUD have not played each other in official matches before VALORANT Champions 2023. The Decider match at Champions 2023 will be the debut face-to-face encounter for the teams.
Predicted result of NaVi vs LOUD at Champions 2023
NaVi showed a good game during the group stage of VALORANT Champions 2023, but in my opinion, their song has been sung. I'm sure "born to win" will be able to fight, but they won't be enough to win.
LOUD, after the slap in the face of losing their match against DRX, are on a roll. 13-2 against EMEA champions Liquid is a direct confirmation of that.
Bottom line: LOUD win.
