The VCT Champions 2023 grand finals will be Americas versus Pacific.
The all-American match-up between LOUD and Evil Geniuses did not disappoint as the best-of-five lower bracket finals went the distance with EG putting a stop to LOUD's comeback. They now get the opportunity to get their revenge against Paper Rex in the grand finals, whom they faced earlier in the tournament.
This will also be the second time that both teams have faced one another in a best-of-five series as EG got the better of PRX in the lower bracket finals of Masters Tokyo. Now, it will be for the VCT Champions trophy and a cool one million USD in prize money.
As for LOUD, their chance to be the first back-to-back VCT world champions will have to be put on hold as they could not complete the reverse sweep. The series started on EG's pick of Ascent as the first map and it was back-and-forth the entire 24 rounds as neither team could gather any real momentum to keep a streak going.
The closest to it was EG who took three rounds in a row in the first half. But while both teams lacked consistency to see out a smooth win, they more than made up for it with plenty of insane plays. This included three triple kills from Felipe "Less" Basso while Matias "Saadhak" Delipetro contributed with two 3Ks and everyone else had one apiece.
However, EG came out clutch in the first map as Corbin "C0M" Lee won his one-versus-two clutch in the 7th round to give his team a 4-3 lead. There was also Ethan "Ethan" Arnold, who won his one-versus-one in the 16th round that put his team up 10-6. He also won a one-versus-three in the 22nd round to put his team on map-point.
While LOUD did manage to pull things back and sent it to overtime, EG made sure that it wouldn't last long and took two swift rounds to call the first game in their favour. The second map was on LOUD's pick of Lotus but it did not seem that way given how well EG started. This was all thanks to Max "Demon1" Mazanov who got himself a 4K in the pistol round. EG would take the subsequent round before LOUD responded with two rounds of their own.
After going 2-2 in the first four rounds, it was a completely dominant performance from EG, who went on to win the next nine in a row. That also included the pistol round in the second half before LOUD got another two rounds on the board to make it 11-4. Sadly, there was no way for the Brazilian org to bounce back from a shaky first-half as EG captured the last two rounds to go 2-0 in the lower bracket finals.
And with their backs against the wall, LOUD finally began to show signs of life, starting with the third map of Pearl chosen by EG. LOUD finally rallied to get a six-round win streak going before EG could even respond. This included two triple kill rounds for Erick "aspas" Santos. However, Kelden "Boostio" Pupello delivered the perfect response in the eighth round, getting a crucial ace to give EG only their second of three rounds in the first half.
The boys in blue started the second half in much better shape, getting three in a row to shorten the gap to 6-9 in their favour. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep LOUD at bay as the South Americans went on to win the next four out of six rounds to force a game four on Split. And much like the third map, it was all LOUD in the first half.
They would go on to win nine of the first 12 rounds, which included back-to-back quad kills in the second and third rounds for aspas. Sadly, he couldn't get an ace in the second round with C0M being able to clutch up to win EG one of its three first-half rounds. Aspas would also get two triple kills in the sixth and 10th round, which further solidified LOUD's first-half dominance on Split.
The second half wasn't any better for EG, who could only muster four wins, which was the same amount LOUD needed. After winning the pistol round once more, it was Arthur "tuyz" Vieira's turn to step up and he did just that by winning three one-versus-one clutches in the 16th, 17th, and 20th rounds to push LOUD to a fifth and final map.
Bind was the last map in play and with neither team having a great record on it, things were going to look interesting to see who will head to the grand finals. But to the delight of the hometown fans, it was EG who started the fifth map in spectacular fashion by taking five rounds in a row. This was followed up by more clutch performances from both C0M and Boostio with the former winning back-to-back one-versus-ones in the first two rounds.
EG's IGL also got in on the action with a clinical one-versus-two clutch in just the third round, which also won his team the thrifty. He would also get a triple kill in the eighth round. EG would go on to win seven of the 12 rounds in the first half with LOUD only taking five. However, Less made sure that they were still in it after his own one-versus-two clutch in the final round of the first half.
While LOUD would get the pistol round to kickstart the second half and to cut the deficit to just one point, EG would showcase some great defensive prowess by winning three defuse rounds with one of it being a thrifty to put themselves up at 10-6. Both teams would trade off the next four rounds with two wins apiece, which was enough for EG to get onto map-point. And when it fell to a final one-versus-one, Ethan stepped up with a clutch win to give EG a grand finals berth.
That win now puts them in the top two for the second time this year at a global VCT event. Be sure to catch the grand finals of VCT Champions 2023 later today at 3.00 am GMT+8 on the official VALORANT Esports Twitch channel.
