LOUD finished the
VCT Americas 2026 Stage 2 Group Stage as one of the competition’s top teams. With a young roster and two new players, the organization improved throughout the weeks and entered the final round fighting
100 Thieves for the top seed in the Omega group, securing a direct spot in the playoffs... but eventually lost.
In an exclusive interview with
Sheep Esports following Sunday’s, August 9th, defeat to 100 Thieves, Roberto “
erde” Lobos discussed the LOUD
VALORANT team’s development throughout the group stage and explained how the roster improved, particularly in terms of communication and micro play. The IGL also discussed the responsibility of leading the second-youngest roster in the world and how he dealt with personal issues that affected his performance during the competition.
How do you evaluate LOUD’s group stage and the team's development throughout this period?
Roberto “erde” Lobos: "It was a good group stage. You can see that we’re pushing the limits and breaking through LOUD's barrier more and more. Overall, we played well. We’ll be better going into the playoffs.
What do you consider to be LOUD’s biggest improvement from the beginning of the group stage to reaching the point of fighting for the top seed?
erde: We’ve always had the same macro overall. With the new people we have now, we started to have better micro and improve our teamwork in-game. A lot of communication, but also micro. We were lacking a bit of that before. The macro has always remained more or less the same, but overall, we improved our micro a lot with this new team.
LOUD brought different compositions from the meta throughout the group stage. How involved are you as the IGL in those decisions?
erde: When we have such big changes, we talk with both coaches. They talk to me, we discuss it and exchange ideas. We see if everyone is comfortable with the compositions. We decided that this was the best option for us and that it could work. And we’ve been doing well with these compositions. Today, for example, we didn’t play well with the Sage composition on Summit. But at the same time, overall, we had been doing well. Of course, there are still things to fix today. I think it’s simply about talking things through until we reach a point we’re all comfortable with.
You are a very young player and have taken on the responsibility of leading the second-youngest team in the world. What is it like to take on that leadership role?
erde: I’ve always had a natural tendency to do that. I believe I still have a lot to improve on. It’s not because I’m very young, but rather because I lack experience. Life gives you opportunities because you can make the most of them. For some reason, something always happens and I end up in a situation where I’m the IGL. So I think it’s just part of my personality.
During the group stage, you mentioned that you were dealing with personal issues that also affected your performance. What was the process like to deal with those issues while continuing to fulfill your role as IGL?
erde: It was very difficult. I had to have a lot of resilience throughout that process. Now, thank God, I’m doing well. But resilience was really key throughout that process. It was very difficult. Even though I was going through that, I would never let myself get to the point of letting my team lose. And if I feel like I’m letting myself fall, I’ve always told my coaches: “If you feel like I’m becoming a problem, that I’m not being the person who helps the team, kick me. Kick me right away". I’ve always talked about that with them, I’ve been very open about it, and I’ll never let myself get to that point. I’ll never stop doing my job, the job that was assigned to me. The word for that is resilience.
erde during LOUD’s loss to 100 Thieves. Credit: Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games
At the beginning of the group stage, you highlighted the mental side as one of LOUD’s strengths. After so many situations where the team had to fight back, do you still consider that one of the team’s biggest strengths?
erde: Yes. For example, look at today’s game: we started both halves down by a lot. We came back to CT and started winning rounds. It looked like we were going to turn it around. That says a lot about our mentality. One thing we have is that, mentally, nobody gets too down when we start losing. Obviously, everyone gets frustrated, but everyone can reset very easily. That’s one of our team’s qualities.
You were already qualified for the playoffs when you faced 100T for the top seed. What changes in the preparation for a match like that?
erde: We treated everything the same way. Whether we were already qualified or not, whether it was seed 1 or 2, we always treated the tournament the same way. Now it’s about working. We have around two and a half weeks to prepare for the playoffs. It’s the first playoff for tkzin (Enzo Zimiani) and DaviH (David Cruz). I believe that doesn’t have any effect on them, just like it doesn’t for luk xo (Lucca Travaioli) and Darker (Sebastián Castro). It’s going to be a different objective, but with the same intensity of work.
After finishing the group stage without the top seed, how do you see LOUD now, and does it change the way you perceive yourselves?
erde: I haven’t talked to the team yet, so I don’t have anyone else’s perspective. But, of course, I can speak for myself. The loss made me really pissed off. It really made me very pissed off. I’m not a very emotional person, and I don’t show much of what happens to me, but it made me really angry. I don’t know if it changes my identity, but it makes me very angry that we managed to lose to these guys [100T] for the third time. It’s kind of a sin for me. I don’t know, I go into the game and, for some reason, I can’t shoot against them. I mean, I can, but it’s not the same as what I usually do. I still haven’t found an answer. I will, of course, but right now I feel frustrated. I just need to reset, fix the mistakes I made, and then talk to the team to understand their perspective."
