PaiN Gaming vs LOUD is the most likely CBLOL 2022 Final

The playoffs of the CBLOL 2022 Split 2 have been underway for two weeks, and both rounds turned up some truly unexpected results. The top two teams of the season have been demoted to the lower seed, and the semi-finals were played by Pain Gaming and LOUD.

The winner (Pain) got a direct ticket to the final, while the loser gets another shot against a yet unknown opponent. Trying to pick a winner was hard, especially because the LoL odds on either team were exactly the same.

In a tight series, PaiN edged ahead 3-2 in Silver Scrapes, and booked a spot in the Final. We fully expect both teams to meet for Round 2 in the Finals.

Pain Gaming earns CBLOL Finals in banger series

Pain Gaming wound up the group stage as third seed with 12 wins and six losses. In the CBLOL’s ten year history they’ve won the split thrice, and finished as runners-up four times. Being a champion team isn’t new to them.

They’ve played through tough situations before, possess nerves of steel and guts of iron that have carried them through the years to evolve into one of the best LoL teams in the country. They slotted into the winner’s bracket in the playoffs and were pitted against the top seed Furia Esports who’ve been practically unbeatable this split. But PNG don’t attach much importance to the reputation of invincibility, and rightly so. Their record against Furia in the group stage was 1-1, one of only three teams that managed to beat them all split.

The first round of the playoffs saw the two battle it out in a best-of-five, and Furia sailed to victory in the first game. But PNG weren’t having any of it. They bared their teeth and equaled the score in the second round, CarioK and Trigo dealing the maximum damage. Trigo was on a roll, dealing as many as five kills and grabbing over 15k in gold. The next game was a lot bloodier, and saw 42 kills in total in a marathon that lasted over 42 minutes. Wizer and dyNquedo grabbed a whopping 14 kills between them. PNG sealed their spot in the semi-finals in the next match, grabbing 16 kills as well as eight towers and an Inhibitor to force Furia back. Coming back to win 3-1 after losing the first game is the stuff of legends.

In the LOUD series, PaiN opted for Poppy in 3 out of 5 games and lost two of those. The Jax pick was actually crucial for both teams to take a game, in the end. LOUD opted for Sejuani in all five games to varied success. Even after a five game series, this duel can go either way if we see it again in the finals.

LOUD needs to diversify their picks

Since LOUD’s entry into the CBLOL last year, they’ve shown plenty of promise but so far, it hasn’t translated into trophies. They’ve shown great spirit, but haven’t managed to seed any higher than fourth. With the way they’ve been playing, it’s clear that they plan on rectifying that. THey finished fourth at the conclusion of the round robin, with 12 wins and unbeaten

Great teams take time to build, and LOUD will certainly get there. Their victory against reigning champions RED Canids in the upper bracket playoffs was vindication of their arrival among the top guns. The score line was a replica of the other upper bracket fixture between Pain gaming and Furia. RED surged ahead in the first game with 26 kills, and though Robo and Brance managed seven kills between them, LOUD ended the game with just eight.

But LOUD weren’t about to crumble under the pressure of being one game down. They trounced RED in the next match, the superb pair of Robo and Brance snagging 18 kills between them as their opponents folded in under 27 minutes. LOUD captured nine towers and four dragons, in contrast RED could manage only one and zero of each respectively. RED fought back in the next game, but LOUD secured an advantage with a higher number of kills, 17, and more than ten towers. LOUD had marched well ahead with a 2-1 lead, and RED needed to win the equalizer to stay alive. But now it was Croc and tinowns’ turn to get in on the action, and their combined tally of 14 kills was the same as RED’s tally in the entire game.

We already short recapped their series versus PaiN above. Going into a potential rematch, they definitely need to cheese some strats and drop the Sejuani pick.

I fully expect LOUD to win against either,

PNG are hungry and opportunistic, as champions ought to be, and will be eager to clear LOUD from their path en route to their fourth CBLOL title, and a coveted place in the Worlds 2022 play-ins. Though this contest promises to be tight, some LoL predictions give PNG the edge in a potential final. LOUD on the other hand, are the exciting up-and-comers of the CBLOL. They are at a slight disadvantage, but writing them off would be foolish.