It’s been upwards of 900 days since Sentinels played a major Valorant LAN event. Well, that changed last week when Sentinels qualified for Madrid as the champions from their NA group. The org has been going through a lot of ups and downs throughout the past 2-3 years. Finally, the monkey is no longer on their back, and this was the breakthrough they wanted for years. Let’s take a look at what lies ahead for Sentinels and the path they took to reach here.
SENTINELS HAVE DONE IT
WE ARE YOUR KICKOFF CHAMPIONS pic.twitter.com/ptr5Ymf1lv
— Sentinels (@Sentinels) March 4, 2024
Sentinels: The Debut Valorant Champions
Sentinels made a huge noise when they signed Tenz to replace Sinatraa in the starting days of Valorant. Tenz had initially announced that he was no longer competing and was focusing on streaming. Sentinels apparently spent big bucks to get him out of his Cloud9 contract. This move was what sparked Sentinels into becoming the org with the biggest international fanbase.
Sentinels debuted in their first Valorant LAN tournament like no other team has ever done. They won Valorant’s first international event without losing a single map. The team consisted of SickCs, Shahzam, Zombs, Dapr, and the main man Tenz himself. Apart from Bugha winning the Fortnite World Cup, this was the next biggest achievement for Sentinels as an org. Even to this date, Sentinels’ matches are the most viewed matches in Valorant history. There have been grand final matches that recorded way lesser viewership than the average viewers on a Sentinels match.
Sentinels: 930 Days of Valorant Ups and Downs
Sentinels struggled with reaching any major events after their initial peak. Over the years, everyone except for Tenz was replaced with players from other tier 1 professional Valorant teams. As of now, the roster consists of Tenz, Zelsis, Sacy, Zekken, and their new IGL JohnQt. Zelsis was initially signed as a 6th man but filled in for Pancada, who was facing visa issues. This roster took on some big names this past month and qualified for Madrid Masters as champions.
During Sentinels’ competitive dry run in Valorant, they managed to sign Tarik as a content creator for the org. This has helped keep the Sentinels fanbase happy as Tarik is the biggest Valorant streamer at the moment. Tarik manages to pull in more viewers than the official broadcasters themselves. Sentinels signing Tarik shows how much the org is committed to Valorant. In all honesty, Sentinels look like they are 100% committed to Valorant, unlike many orgs that have completely left Valorant esports.
Sentinels Beats the Odds for Madrid.
The road to Madrid Masters was tough for Sentinels. They had to beat the best teams of the Americas region, including the likes of NRG and Loud. NRG were the favorites to be crowned regional Valorant champions, but Sentinels put in the sweaty hours to defeat them in a best-of-three series.
Loud managed to beat Sentinels in the initial stages of the tournament. Sentinels reached the finals, climbing their way through the losers’ bracket and putting on a show for the finals. They managed to beat Loud 3-2 on the decider map, and Tenz put on a Valorant master class. Tenz was the talking point throughout this tournament as he took on a new controller role. Tenz played Omen on every map in the final, and this caught everyone off guard. Will Sentinels go all the way and become champions in Madrid? We’ll have to wait until the end of this month to know.
