The fight for the first spot in the upper bracket final at VALORANT Champions 2022 began today and LOUD will fill that spot. If LOUD win their next match, they will make it to the grand final, which would mark the second time the Brazilian team has played in an international VCT grand final.
During the upper bracket semifinal today at VALORANT Champions 2022, Korean team DRX gave LOUD a run for their money in the first map of the match, which ended in a tense 13-11 score in favor of LOUD. On Haven, LOUD showed their dominance and were able to easily secure the win with a quick 13-6 victory.
If OpTic win their match against XSET, the upper bracket final will be a rematch of both the upper bracket final and grand final from Stage One Masters Reykjavík 2022. At that event, LOUD stayed in the upper bracket for the entire tournament, beating OpTic in the upper bracket final only to lose to them 3-0 in the grand final.
For DRX, which is a roster that transitioned from Vision Strikers earlier this year, they've placed top-six in every single international tournament they've attended so far except VALORANT Champions 2021, where they placed top-12 as Vision Strikers.
If DRX get eliminated in the lower bracket, they will place top-six again, denying them any progression in the international circuit ahead of franchising in 2023. NUTURN Gaming, who competed in the first international VCT event in Reykjavík last year, are the only Korean team that has gotten farther than DRX.
LOUD will move on to the upper bracket final against whichever NA team wins their semifinal, and DRX will compete against EU's Fnatic, who recently lost to XSET. XSET and DRX will compete tomorrow along with FunPlus Phoenix and whoever loses the NA match. LOUD will have a few days to prepare for the upper bracket final, which takes place on Sept. 16.