Thong “balax” Chern Kwi is searching for a new Valorant team after helping LOUD win Champions Shanghai as an analyst. In his announcement, he said he is open to any region and willing to work as an assistant coach, coach, or analyst at any level. balax also confirmed to VLR that his LOUD contract expired after Champions Shanghai, so he was no longer on the roster the day after the event ended.
“After helping and learning from 3 teams and systems this year I am confident I can help any team in 2027,” he said.
His departure closes out a short but busy run with LOUD that ended with the biggest result of the year for the Brazilian organization. LOUD lifted the Champions Shanghai trophy after beating Team Vitality in the grand final, capping a title run that included a long playoff push and a trophy lift in front of the Shanghai crowd. GAMER2GO reported on that victory in its coverage of LOUD’s path to the Champions Shanghai grand final.
How balax moved through 2026
balax’s 2026 season stretched across several teams, roles, and regions before ending with LOUD’s title run. He started the year on FrosT’s staff at Global Esports as a coach, but left midway through Pacific Stage 1. From there, he moved to Bilibili Gaming as an analyst ahead of China Stage 2.
Before the LOUD stint, balax also spent time with Xi Lai Gaming as an analyst. According to the source material, he assisted Xi Lai Gaming through the China Stage 2 playoffs and Champions Paris before taking the LOUD role ahead of Champions Shanghai. That sequence meant he worked in both the Pacific and China regions before landing in Brazil for the final stage of the season.
His coaching career began earlier in 2026, when he became head coach of Singapore-based Soi Thai Esports. The material does not give a date for that appointment, but it places Soi Thai Esports at the start of his move into coaching before he shifted back into analyst work with other teams.
The pattern across the year was straightforward: balax moved from head coach to coach, then into analyst roles as he changed teams. He described the season as one in which he learned from three teams and systems, and his search now covers every major support slot in a Valorant staff. The open-ended nature of that search is the main change for LOUD after its championship win, since the staff member who helped prepare the team for Shanghai is now free to look elsewhere.
What LOUD said about his role
balax’s exact workload on LOUD is not laid out in a formal staff breakdown, but assistant coach Bati gave a clear picture of the analyst’s job during the press conference after the trophy lift. He said balax initially handled opponent-focused work before the staff adjusted how they divided duties.
“Honestly, in the beginning, he was doing a little bit of anti,” he said.
Bati said the staff later swapped tasks because balax was still learning LOUD’s own style and it was harder to apply his preparation work at first. Once that changed, he focused on anti-stratting LOUD’s own games as well. Bati described him as someone who ended up studying the team’s tendencies on a game-by-game basis.
“And then he did anti of ourselves, so he was anti-ing every single game that we played and understanding what kind of tendencies we had.”
That detail helps explain why balax’s role mattered during the team’s title run. His work was not about public-facing leadership or in-game calling, but about studying opponents and then helping the staff understand how LOUD itself was playing. The championship run in Shanghai suggests that prep carried over into the team’s matchdays, even if his part of the job stayed behind the scenes.
balax’s contract situation also makes the timing of his exit plain. Because his deal expired after Champions Shanghai, he was never part of LOUD beyond the tournament window. The announcement effectively turns the title run into the final chapter of his time with the team, at least for now, while he looks for his next staff position.
What comes next for the analyst
balax did not limit himself to one path in his announcement. He said he would consider assistant coach, coach, or analyst openings, and he is willing to work in any region. That makes him eligible for a wide range of staff jobs, from opponent scouting to broader coaching duties. The source material does not name any teams linked to him yet, but it does make clear that he is available immediately after the Champions Shanghai run.
For LOUD, the move leaves the championship roster without one of the support staff members who helped guide the team through the event. The organization’s winning lineup on the player side remained intact in the report, while the staff picture changed with balax’s exit. The contract expiration means the split is not framed as a transfer or loan ending; it is a free-agency search after the team’s peak result of the season.
That context matters because balax’s 2026 was built around short stints and rapid changes. Global Esports, Bilibili Gaming, Xi Lai Gaming, Soi Thai Esports, and LOUD all appear in the same year’s path, with each stop adding to the experience he says he can bring to a future team. His final stop produced a world title, and his next one will likely depend on which staff role opens first in the months before 2027.
GAMER2GO previously covered related offseason movement in Valorant, including UdoTan and xavi8k entering free agency after Global Esports’ exit from Valorant and Xi Lai Gaming letting Rarga explore 2027 options while his contract remains in place. balax’s situation is different from both of those cases, but it sits in the same broader stretch of roster and staff movement across the region.
His own timeline is what makes this departure notable: he spent the year moving from coaching to analyst work, helped multiple teams, and ended with a trophy. Now he is making the jump from a championship run back into the market, with no region locked in and no staff title ruled out.
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