With their win today against EDward Gaming, LOUD not only remain in the running for another international trophy at Masters Madrid but they also maintain one of the hardest active records to hold on to in competitive VALORANT.
Since the Champions 2022 event where LOUD lifted the world championship trophy, the Brazilian team have qualified for the playoffs of every international VCT event. That may only be a total of three events before Masters Madrid, but now more than ever, it’s become harder and harder to consistently make deep runs at international VALORANT tournaments.
Before the start of Masters Madrid, both DRX and Fnatic held longer active records for consecutive international playoffs reached, with DRX at five and Fnatic at four. But both teams shockingly failed to qualify for the first Masters event of the 2024 season, bringing the two longest streaks to an end. There’s only a faintly familiar playoff presence in Madrid from the first two teams that qualified; Gen.G are in their first international playoffs at their first qualified international event, and Sentinels are back in the playoffs after more than two years away.
LOUD’s run is even more impressive when you consider the number of prolific roster changes they’ve endured. Former world champions pANcada and Sacy left for Sentinels at the end of the 2022 season, and then LOUD lost their MVP duelist aspas this past offseason. Not only has the in-game leader Saadhak become the face of the franchise, but he’s received league-wide praise for his ability to continuously put together and lead new-look teams.
Had EDward Gaming overcome LOUD in the final match of the Masters Madrid group stage, they not only would have ended LOUD’s playoff streak but would have claimed the highest active streak for themselves, having reached the playoffs at both Masters Tokyo and Champions 2023 before Madrid.
LOUD and the rest of the Madrid playoff field could still be joined by another playoff newcomer as Karmine Corp are one win against Paper Rex away from reaching their first playoffs at their first qualified international event.
