LOUD defeated OpTic Gaming 3-1 in Sunday’s grand final to win the Valorant Champions 2022 crown in Istanbul.
The Brazilian organization netted a $300,000 first prize along with the title. OpTic settled for $150,000 in second.
LOUD began Sunday’s best-of-five match with a narrow 15-13 victory on Ascent. OpTic responded with a 13-6 triumph on Bind. LOUD again needed overtime to win Breeze 16-14 and move back in front. The Brazilian group clinched the title with a 13-5 victory on Haven.
Erick “aspas” Santos paced LOUD with 71 kills, and teammate and fellow Brazilian Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi had 70 kills, a plus-19 kills-to-deaths differential and 44 assists, both match highs.
Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker of the U.S. guided OpTic with 78 kills and a plus-10 K-D.
The grand final was the third time the two teams faced off in this tournament. They first played a Group B winners’ match in which OpTic eked out a 2-1 win over LOUD to clinch first place in the group. LOUD never lost a match after that, securing second place in Group B to advance to the playoffs before cruising through the upper bracket.
LOUD beat OpTic 2-0 in Friday’s upper-bracket final. OpTic stayed alive by outlasting DRX 3-2 Saturday in the lower-bracket final.
Valorant Champions 2022 prize pool:
1. LOUD — $300,000
2. OpTic Gaming — $150,000
3. DRX — $110,000
4. FunPlus Phoenix — $80,000
5-6. XSET, Fnatic — $60,000
7-8. Leviatan, Team Liquid — $40,000
9-12. Paper Rex, ZETA DIVISION, KRU Esports, 100 Thieves — $25,000
13-16. EDward Gaming, BOOM Esports, XERXIA, FURIA Esports — $15,000
–Field Level Media