LOUD opened its journey in LOCK//IN with a 2×0 win on Gen.G and Esports.gg followed along with the post-game conference.
The first matches of VCT LOCK//IN São Paulo went down last Tuesday, with two teams playing in front of its home crowd. The 2022 Champions winners, LOUD made its debut and sent Gen.G packing with a 2x0 win.
In the press conference post-game, Matias "Saadhak" Delipetro talked about playing in front of the fans. He also commented on the adaptation process with the new hires Arthur "tuyz" Vieira and Cauan "cauanzin" Pereira.
Even though the Argentinian In-Game Leader played in Brazilian teams for the last three years and conquered the world in 2022, this was his first time in front of the country's crowd on a big stage. The feeling was like no other, according to him.
"It was very crazy. even if we kill one enemy, the whole crowd goes crazy. We felt very good competing inside our home, with our fans. When we played in Turkey, we felt the crowd noise more in the finals, for example. here, in the first game, it was a unique sensation," Saadhak said.
Saadhak is guiding a new generation on LOUD
At age 25, Saadhak is by far the oldest player in the new LOUD lineup. In 2022, he, alongside Gustavo "Sacy" Rossi had to guide younger players in the squad. This included players such as Erick "aspas" Santos and Felipe "Less" Basso. Now, the Argentinian remains with four under 20 years old players. But he finds no trouble in that.
Saadhak said, "(They have) Brilliant future! they are four very talented players, and most importantly, they are very humble also. They recognize when they make a mistake, and recognize when something is not working and it has to change. They can learn very quickly. For me, it's being very easy, with such a team, is very chill, I’m happy with them."
He continued, saying that it isn't challenging to deal with such young players. According to him, is necessary to help them control the amount of energy that they have. But, despite that, the only trouble for him, is another one.
"When the four started talking about Minecraft, I’ve got a little confused, you know. But, such younger players bring a lot of energy. Sometimes, too much energy. So me, fRod, and stk try to make this energy well placed. It makes it a little easier," said Saadhak.
Old Saadhak, but a new LOUD
Despite debuting with a nice victory over Gen.G, Saadhak remained humble. According to him, even though he was in a line-up that conquered everything in 2022, this is a new team, a new LOUD, so they don't consider themselves the defending champions.
"I think that people have a wrong perception of our team because we are a new team. The squad that won the champions, is the old LOUD. with the new team, we need to pass through new tests. I don't think that we are defending a title. I think that we are proving ourselves on the stage once more. I know that we maintained three, but changing two players in an FPS changes a lot of things. New team, we have to prove ourselves."
Even while keeping the fan's expectations low, Saadhak gave his team praise and considered the debut a good first step. He also took the opportunity to praise his organization.
"This is our key test, our first event together. We’re discovering ourselves in the stage, the things that work, the things that don’t. At the same time, LOUD got our back on the psychological and emotional side," he said.
"This makes all this learning, all this transition way easier. We have a whole team behind us."
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Be sure to head to our VCT LOCK//IN event page for all the event details.