Leviatán versus LOUD next season is going to be exciting.
The off-season transfer market has been an exciting one and Leviatán has quite possibly accomplished the signing of the year after they acquired Erick "aspas" Santos from their fellow VCT Americas rival, LOUD. News of aspas not re-signing with LOUD first broke a few weeks back in September and according to Blix.gg, he had reached a verbal agreement to join Leviatán.
And the news has now been confirmed with aspas being the latest signing for the Argentinian- and Chilean-ran team as he will be the first Brazilian to represent the organisation. In a separate article by Sportskeeda about aspas' rumoured departure, he had apparently gone to LOUD for a raise and a renewed contract, which the Brazilian org would soon reject.
With aspas now officially part of the Leviatán roster, this will create a whole new dynamic for the team that failed to make it to both Masters Tokyo and VCT Champions. Leviatán could only finish as high as fifth during the Americas League and lost out to KRÜ Esports in the last-chance qualifiers. Aspas has always been seen as a player who is capable of carrying his team through the toughest of situations.
His performances with LOUD over this season were nothing short of spectacular. LOUD started 2023 as the defending VCT champions but lost to Fnatic in the grand finals of LOCK//IN to kick-start the year. They would soon find their feet to secure the Americas League trophy as aspas took home two MVP awards - one for being the best Duelist in the league and another for being the MVP.
Unfortunately, it was LOUD's international performances that did not paint aspas or his teammates in the best light. As they were the number one seed from VCT Americas, LOUD started Masters Tokyo in the playoffs with a loss to Evil Geniuses that was followed by yet another defeat, this time by EDward Gaming. They would redeem themselves during VCT Champions with aspas playing a pivotal role in helping LOUD secure a top-three finish.
From statistics pulled from VLR.gg, aspas was a top-three performer at Champions with an average rating of 1.20 as well as an average combat score (ACS) of 243.8. He was only second to EG's Max "Demon1" Mazanov. Aspas also ranked higher than his then-teammates like Felipe "Less" Basso and Cauan "cauanzin" Pereira.
While Leviatán will still need to finalise their roster with one or two more signings, bringing aspas into the mix will see the organisation's stock rise in the coming weeks, given the Brazilian's status as a star player.
Leviatán Roster:
Francisco “KiNgg” Aravena
Agustin “Nozwerr” Ibarra
Erick “aspas” Santos
