LOUD's early exit from VCT Masters Tokyo, merely a couple months away from VALORANT Champions 2023 and just after they claimed the VCT Americas trophy, perhaps isn't as stunning when you consider that every team that has finished second at an international event has experienced a major setback soon after.
On the one hand, LOUD had an unfortunate draw, having to play not one but two teams destined to make magical runs at Masters Tokyo, the rising Chinese roster of EDward Gaming and the shockingly unstoppable Evil Geniuses. On the other, it is equally shocking to see the LOUD roster that looked so dominant in VCT LOCK//IN and the Americas season fall flat in Tokyo, losing two series without picking up a single map.
At VCT LOCK//IN, LOUD finished in second place, falling just short of pulling off the yet-to-be-done full reverse sweep of a five-map series against Fnatic in the grand finals. But the lurking second place curse has waited for an international event to strike LOUD yet again.
There have been seven international VALORANT tournaments as part of the VCT ecosystem, and all seven second-place teams have been cursed soon after. Fnatic were the first, finishing second at Masters Reykjavík 2021, but failing to even qualify for the next tournament in Masters Berlin.
Similar results have happened to Envy, Paper Rex, and even LOUD themselves. It's not just in-game results either: Gambit came second at Champions 2021, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine forced the players to play under a neutral banner, and the roster eventually split. Despite finishing second at Champions 2022, OpTic did not acquire partnership status for the VCT 2023 season.
If there's any consolation for LOUD, it's that a couple of the teams, including themselves, have rallied immediately after their cursed result. The Team Envy roster came second at Masters Berlin, then missed playoffs at Champions 2021, but came back under the OpTic banner at the very next event in Masters Reykjavik 2022 and won. It was in Iceland where LOUD finished second, only to miss playoffs at Copenhagen, but they themselves rallied at Champions 2022 to win the world championship.
The second-place curse is still going strong, so for whoever makes the grand finals this time, not losing may very well be more important than winning.