Thong "balax" Chern Kwi will be helping LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #1 lukxo Lucca Travaioli DaviH David Cruz Darker Sebastián Castro Cicuamia erde Roberto Lobos tkzin Enzo Zimiani loan as an analyst through the Brazilian org's Champions Shanghai campaign. balax confirmed to VLR that he will be working remotely.

"They are such an amazing team with lots of potential," balax said in his announcement. "Really appreciate Romanilly for trusting me in helping them. I. Can't. Wait."

LOUD will be the third team balax has worked with in 2026. He started the year on Global Esports Global Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #3 PatMen Patrick Mendoza UdoTan Go Kyung-won (고경원) Kr1stal Savva Fedorov xavi8k Xavier Juan Autumn Kale Dunne , but left after the Pacific Stage 1 group stage. A few weeks later, he joined Bilibili Gaming Bilibili Gaming China Rank #8 whzy Wang Haozhe (王昊哲) rushia Wang Xiaojie (王晓杰) nephh Marcus Tan yilai Gu Yiming (顾依铭) Knight Liu Yuxiang (刘宇翔) bud Yang Renyu (杨韧余) FT Yan Shuaibo (闫帅博) as an analyst, helping the team reach a third-place finish at Stage 2, which wasn't enough to qualify for Shanghai.

Before this year, balax also spent a short time with Xi Lai Gaming Xi Lai Gaming China Rank #3 WsLeo Huang Pinwei (黄品维) Sharks Qiu Ge (邱戈) Lysoar Liang Youhao (梁优好) happywei Deng Minwei (邓闵维) , assisting the team through the China Stage 2 playoffs and Champions Paris as an analyst. He started his coaching career in Valorant earlier that year with Soi Thai Esports Soi Thai Esports Inactive ESMONDE Esmonde Farm Rui Siang Moosey Yeow Zhen Feng kayle Ahmad Aqil benaf Benedict Tan as the team's head coach.

balax will be working with a LOUD team that has gotten hot at just the right time. The team went winless Kickoff, and while Stage 1 was better, it still resulted in a 7th-8th finish. Over a four-month period, the team switched out three players in its starting lineup, picking up an IGL in erde , an Initiator player in DaviH , and a Duelist player in KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #1 Less Felipe de Loyola Basso heat Olavo Marcelo loanee tkzin . In its completed form, the rebuilt LOUD saw near-instant success. A 3-2 record through the Stage 2 group stage was enough to qualify for the playoffs, where the team defeated FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #5 basic Luis Henrique Ferlin Tessaro Shyy Fabian Usnayo artzin Arthur Araujo , MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #2 zekken Zachary Patrone Mazino Roberto Rivas Verno Andrew Maust aspas Erick Santos , G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #4 jawgemo Alexander Mor BABYBAY Andrej Francisty trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio leaf Nathan Orf , and got revenge on NRG NRG North America Rank #2 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold in the Lower Final to qualify for Shanghai as Americas' second seed.

LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #1 lukxo Lucca Travaioli DaviH David Cruz Darker Sebastián Castro Cicuamia erde Roberto Lobos tkzin Enzo Zimiani loan 's full roster for Champions 2026 is:

  • Roberto "erde" Lobos
  • Lucca "lukxo" Travaioli
  • David "DaviH" Cruz
  • Sebastián "Darker" Castro Cicuamia
  • Enzo "tkzin" Zimiani (Loan)
  • Carlos "Wenty" Lira Portela (Manager)
  • Gonzalo "Romanilly" Manzano (Head coach)
  • Miguel "Bati" Batista (Assistant coach)
  • Lucas "bajerski" Bajerski Pereira (Performance coach)
  • Thong "balax" Chern Kwi (Analyst)