LoL: LOUD and paiN triumph on the LTA South's fiery final day of competition

The inaugural LTA South split has come to a dramatic finish. Today marked the regular season's final day of competition, as four teams fought for the last two remaining spots. The winners secured their place in the Americas playoffs stage, a cross-conference bracket joined by the top four teams from the LTA North. There, each team has a chance to crown themselves the very first LTA Champion.

LOUD fought their way to the top. In a close, back-and-forth 2-1 series against RED Canids, the fan favorite Brazilian mainstay reigned victorious.

Game one saw a close 48-minute banger that ultimately ended in victory for RED, despite heroics from Leonardo "Robo" Souza's Cho'Gath in stealing the Baron with his devour. After multiple tense Elder Dragon fights, RED's "high tempo" style took first game home, with their carry duo of Daniel Xavier "Grevthar" Ferreira and Diego "Brance" Amaral, on Mel and Ezreal respectively, dishing out huge damage.

The second game was defined by decisive early-game aggression from Robo's Renekton, which got LOUD out to a large early lead. The team's playmaking snowball kept rolling, with RED unable to fight back until their last stand, an Atakhan fight where they managed to secure it. Undaunted, LOUD continued pushing forward, and led by Thiago "Tinowns" Sartori' unstoppable Sylas, they destroyed the Nexus in a clean 28 minutes, tying the series 1-1.

The final game's slow early game was rife with tension, as neither team wanted to give up ground. Brance started to build up a massive lead with Caitlyn but was shut down at 5/1 by a lethal Gragas ultimate from Robo that disrupted his thus-far perfect positioning. This swung the game in LOUD's favor, allowing them to secure the Atakhan, Baron, Dragon Soul, and finally close it out. Tinowns played a fantastic Aurora game, but this match's true standout was Moon "Route" Geom-su on Xayah, 7/0/5, flawlessly executing fight after fight..

With the Bo3 match going to LOUD, the team is set to advance to the Americas stage, with a chance to win it all, while a defeated RED Canids must go home empty-handed.

FURIA came out strong in game one, building a gold lead through coordinated team play across the map. Guilherme "Guigo" Araújo Ruiz's Gwen and Pedro "Tatu" Seixas's Xin Zhao were both huge threats for paiN, who soon fell behind in every lane. Smooth sailing awaited for FURIA, picking up all four dragons and nearly every other objective with ease. At 30 minutes, FURIA ended the game in a complete stomp, with paiN managing to get only three kills to Furia's 16, and failed to take down a single turret.

Game two began with a slower-paced, steadier game, as FURIA again got an early gold lead, while paiN shifted their focus to dragon-stacking, securing the Soul. PaiN’s cleaned-up play allowed them to get the Atakhan and push forward, and a triple kill by Matheus "dyNquedo" Rossini Miranda’s Mel around the Baron skyrocketed them into a huge lead, closing it out soon after.

PaiN stepped up their play in game three. Tatu's Wukong found strong engages for FURIA in the early game, including a four-man Flash-Cyclone. But it was Choi "Wizer" Eui-seok’s carry top Rumble that ultimately took control of the game, supported by Marcos "CarioK" Santos de Oliveira Junior’s clutch shielding and Crowd Control on Ivern, with an incredible 94% kill participation (16 assists out of 17 team kills). With their evolving gameplay and 2-1 series victory, paiN Gaming qualified for the Americas Stage.

In the final game of the day, paiN and LOUD faced off in a Bo1 to determine the third and fourth seed for the Americas Stage. This game was a showcase of just how much drive LOUD’s players have, getting off to an explosive start with endless pressure from Na "Wiz" Yoo-joon’s Skarner. PaiN fought back valiantly, dragging the game into a tense 47-minute battle before LOUD finally closed it out with the Elder Dragon buff.

With today’s results, LOUD and paiN Gaming will join Isurus Estral and Leviatan as the four representatives of the LTA South competing in the LTA Americas Stage. There, in competition against each other and their rivals from NA, each team has a chance not only to win the championship, but to then qualify for a spot at the First Stand, Riot’s new international tournament.