Valorant Champions 2023 Playoffs Stage highlights (Day 9): LOUD stun Fnatic, Paper Rex breeze past FUT Esports

The Valorant Champions 2023 Playoffs Stage officially started on August 16, 2023, with the best teams from EMEA, Pacific, and Americas going toe-to-toe. The Playoffs bracket features two rosters from the aforementioned regions, along with the Chinese rosters of EDward Gaming and Bilibili Gaming. These eight teams will be looking to contend for the chance to become crowned as the best in the world.

The Playoffs Stage features a double-elimination bracket, giving all teams a second wind to bounce back and create a dream run. Given below is a quick recap of the matches that happened during the opening day of the bracket stage.

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Valorant Champions 2023 Playoffs highlights, Day 9 - August 16

Results

• Fnatic vs LOUD (0-2): Ascent (11-13); Lotus (6-13)
• Paper Rex vs FUT Esports (2-0): Ascent (13-10); Pearl (13-4)

The first day of the Playoffs Bracket and the ninth day overall at Valorant Champions 2023 saw Fnatic face off against LOUD in a highly anticipated rematch from the VCT LOCK//IN Grand Finals. Fnatic were the heavy favorites heading into this matchup.

However, LOUD came out firing on all cylinders on their map pick, Ascent, where they are historically known as the best team in the world. The Brazilian roster had phenomenal strategies and ideas to shut down Fnatic's methodical and oppressive playstyle thanks to Saadhak's brilliant calling. Paired with some great individual brilliance from the likes of aspas and cauanzin, LOUD were able to scrape past Fnatic to kick off the series on a strong note.

The second map was much less of a contest as LOUD dominated on the EMEA titans' home turf of Lotus. The Brazilian lineup looked head and shoulders above Fnatic. The latter simply did not have an effective plan to shutdown LOUD's excellent gameplay, with the most notable being their incredible knack of exploiting every utility that Fnatic missed. LOUD closed out on Lotus in style to secure the series 2-0 and send Fnatic to the Lower Bracket of Valorant Champions 2023.

The second matchup of the day featured Paper Rex and FUT Esports. The first map was once again Ascent, which was the latter's pick. The Turkish squad put up a resilient fight, but something's monstrous performance on Reyna during the Defend phase helped Paper Rex edge out the victory on their opponent's map pick.

Pearl was Paper Rex's map choice and they showcased their reasoning for choosing the map, allowing FUT to get only a single round on their defense half. The duo of Jinggg and something put up relentless aggression that FUT were simply not able to answer back. Paper Rex won Pearl with a 13-4 scoreline to advance to the next match in the Upper Bracket of Valorant Champions 2023, where they will face LOUD.