LOUD silences EDward Gaming with sweep in Shanghai

The kings of Sao Paulo aren't slowing down, not even against the crowd buff. LOUD defeated EDward Gaming 2-0, sweeping the third seed from China and continuing the home region's struggles at Champions Shanghai.

EDG picked Lotus to start the series, with LOUD following up with Summit. Sunset was the deciding map if the series went to map three.

Lotus began with an ideal start for EDG, taking the pistol to pump up the active crowd in Shanghai. Losing the bonus still kept the team ahead, but one player from LOUD turned up to shut down EDG. The Neon from tkzin earned not one but two aces, clutching multiple rounds on defense and ending the first half with a 22/5/1 stat line. LOUD entered the half up 9-3.

ZmjjKK defended well on Chamber with a comfortable pistol win, which CHICHOO followed up on the antieco. EDG losing the bonus round put LOUD up 10-5 and pulled a Chinese team to its best map result yet at Shanghai, but LOUD closed Lotus out 13-8.

CHICHOO gets caught in his ult, LOUD win Lotus.

The most surprising thing for Summit was the composition from EDG to try and counter the Sage and Chamber from LOUD. New pickup stew moved to Breach, ZmjjKK hopped on Waylay, and nobody picked Tejo. LOUD took the first pistol off two nice shots from tkzin, but ZmjjKK entered, nailed the entry kill, and stopped the bonus conversion. The Breach started to gain value when EDG had the rifles, as the map reached a 4-4 tie.

While EDG's A site hits never fought through the spam from LOUD, the B site hits looked much better. The half ended with a third tkzin ace, and LOUD up 8-4. LOUD earned the second pistol to jump ahead to double digits, and even converted the bonus to fully silence the Shanghai crowd. The Breach went from alright on the attack to pointless on the defense side, as LOUD secured Summit 13-5 and the series 2-0.

From the Press Room

EDG Autumn on choice of Lotus: “Lotus was not a problem as a team. I might have to give some personal advice to players later, but our overall map was fine. We struggled with Summit, and we'll look for an answer for the next time.”

EDG Autumn on the Summit comp: “We practiced Summit quite a bit, but we felt that we could counter LOUD well if we used things like Tejo's Stealth Drone. I felt that we prepared the comp for LOUD, but after the LOUD timeout, the LOUD players seemed to identify that it was a counter comp and adjusted. As a result, we couldn't find an answer for LOUD, and that's why we lost.”

EDG ZmjjKK on facing LOUD: “LOUD played really aggressively and reacted well as a team, but I feel like we didn't react well to what they were doing, especially on that first half of Lotus.”

LOUD tkzin on his debut international game against EDG in China: “Very happy that I'm here, able to compete here with my friends that I love. The crowd against us was an amazing opportunity and motivation, and the experience in China has been very good.”

Up next

Champions Shanghai will continue tomorrow with Group A action, with the return Group C and Group D games on Tuesday.

Champions Shanghai will continue with the following matches:

• 100 Thieves vs. T1 (Group A Opening)
• JD Gaming vs. FUT Esports (Group A Opening)
• G2 Esports vs. Paper Rex (Group C Winners)
• Karmine Corp vs. NRG (Group D Winners)