The most clouted game in Valorant happened once again early this morning with Sentinels facing off against 100 Thieves in an elimination match from the VCT Americas kickoff tournament.
Sentinels took the win in a close game that gave fans more hope in Sentinels making it to play offs after their next game.
The match came about after both teams lost their opening games. Sentinels lost 2-0 to LOUD with 100 Thieves losing 2-1 to the revamped Leviatan. They both came into this matchup needing to win and put everything on the line.
GG’s we win against 100T 2-1, feels like we always have a good showing against 100T. Team played a lot better in this match compared to the last, communication and plan making felt night and day so it might have been the nerves getting to us. Hope fans had fun watching! 😌
After their confusing performance against LOUD, fans were wondering where all the skill and domination went from their pre season games. However this game quietened the doubters with Sentinels playing as they should.
TenZ, also played his patterned version of Yoru on Bind which they ended up losing 13-5 despite TenZ topping the leaderboard for SEN. He then moved back onto his omen which has become his main agent this season which rumours of an Astra being played but nothing shown yet.
100 Theives now have NO chance to make it to masters Madrid and have to wait over a month for their next official VCT game after losing both of their opening games in the group of death.
Sentinels will go on to face the loser of LOUD vs Levtiatan for a place in the playoffs to make it to Madrid in March.
Group C kicked off last night with the final game of the first game of the group stages, G2 Esports vs KRÜ Esports to see who will face off in the upper bracket against the current world champions, Evil Geniuses.
After all the first games in each groups finalised, it was time for group C to take the stage with the 0-9 team from last year facing off against the Ascension winners. With both teams having made transfers in the off season, it was set out to be a very different game than what it would have been last season.
G2, formally The Guard, lost their star duelist player, Tex, to Leviatan but they replaced him with the duelist of Cloud9, leaf. KRU set out last year to make a brand new roster after going 0-9 in the regular season making three changes but keeping hold of their star duelist player, Keznit.
The game started with a 13-9 win on icebox for KRU with a KAY/0 Viper comp rather than a Sova Viper comp which G2 ran. The rest of the games were comfortably won by G2 taking Sunset 13-9 and then taking the decider map Ascent 13-11.
Keznit dropped 31 kills on Ascent but it wasnt enough for the LATAM side to start off their season differently to last year.
That's a wrap on #VCTAmericas Kickoff day 3 and here are the standings!
G2 go on to face off against Evil Geniuses in the Upper bracket on the 24th of February with KRU set to face off against the loser of that game to qualify for the play-offs in Kick-Off.
After all of the hype around this new squad, they once again failed to deliver the goods and live up to the hype that they bring towards the squad by losing 2-0 to a new LOUD side.
LOUD lost their star player aspas to his new side Leviatan in the off-season and replaced him with well known Brazilian talent, qck, who delivered a star studded performance on the Raze and the Pheonix despite playing smokes all last season on FURIA.
It was a nail biter of a series but @LOUDgg bring home their first win of #VCTAmericas Kickoff!
Sentinels dropped 2 maps with their new roster being their first loss with the current roster without pANcada and with Zellsis which caused commotion from fans with questions on this, despite losing this game, they still have the possibility for the future to bring back pANcada into the squad and have his raw talent and aim back into the side.
LOUD move on through to the upper bracket to face off against the winner of LEV vs 100T and Sentinels will move onto the lower bracket to face off against the loser of the game which is expected to be yet another 100T vs Sentinels face off that has become famous across the VCT in Americas.
The lower bracket gives Sentinels a cushion of some sort to still make it to play offs through kick-off and try and become one of the two teams to make it to Masters Madrid.
It’s no secret that NRG are favourites to make it to Masters Madrid out of the Americas League in spot 1 or spot 2 and due to their performance last year, they managed to avoid the group of death.
However, they did end up in group A alongside Cloud9, FURIA and MIBR who, in their respective ways, are mega teams as well.
The matchup between NRG and FURIA will be the first match of VCT in 2024 globally with the most popular league, The Americas, kicking off with the roster everyone is most hyped about.
After acquiring Demon1 and Ethan from Evil Geniuses, NRG formed a super team to try and gain the success that they were so close to achieving last season. With the addition of Marved from Sentinels, they look to be, on paper, the best team in the world.
However, fans aren’t quite convinced for good reasons since other teams in the league have played off season tournaments to showcase the skill and talent that they have. Most notably, Sentinels winning AfreecaTV against teams like Team Liquid, EDG, DRX and Paper Rex in December 2023.
NRG have yet to show anything even from scrims on how good they are and fans are going off of paper on how dominant NRG can be. The first VCT match of the year will be the first time anyone has seen this roster perform and criticism is coming from fans for Ethan’s first time IGL situation.
Any Aimlabs/Kovaak nerds wanna help me out. Looking to either find a coach specific to aim /movement improvement or just someone who knows their stuff.
With NRG housing 5 powerhouses, the common conception of the match is going to be a 2-0 victory to the NA squad. However, don’t be too closed off to an upset with NRG going down to losers bracket since it is all unknown for this team. Going off of paper won’t always end with the correct result.
Sentinels star Zellsis has been receiving backlash over taking a spot in the starting roster for Sentinels and putting World Champion pANcada to the bench for the foreseeable future.
Despite never publicly announcing it, the current perception is that Zellsis has been moved from the bench to the starting roster as their flex player as pANcada, most known from his MVP performance at Champions 2022 on smokes.
Zellsis has received backlash from Brazilian fans and just Valorant fans in general for this with some fans saying how his this ‘vibe merchant’ taken the place of a world champion. However, it seems that Zellsis is playing more of a flex role and TenZ, who is well known for his Jett, has moved to the primary smokes role announcing in recent interviews and streams that he will be running Omen and possibly Astra this year.
NO I DIDN'T SNAKE PANCADA. YES I AM STARTING. YES I AM BETTER THAN ALL OF YOU. NO I DON'T HATE PANCADA. YES I AM A VIBE MERCHANT. YES I LOVE BRAZIL. YES I WILL BEAT YOUR FAVORITE TEAM.
In a somewhat ‘impression farming’ tweet, he states that he is starting for Sentinels in the upcoming Kick-Off tournament over pANcada which was then backed up by the Brazilian saying he currently has visa issues and is in Brazil whilst the rest of the team is in America scrimming and practicing for the tournament kicking off in just 5 days.
april fools guys pancada just has visa issues lol… easy impression farm https://t.co/b6ezo263aI
He then seemed to retract the statement by saying the tweet above, however fans have known for a while that Zellsis will be starting on the flex role and TenZ will be starting on the Smokes.
Despite this, fans of Sentinels will know by now that TenZ isn’t shy to admit he gets ill/ sick a lot. And with him running Smokes this year, pANcada will be more likely to get back into the starting team if he becomes ill because he is a world class smoker player with his Champions title under his belt.
Their first game is against LOUD on Saturday at 10pm UK time with the expected lineup to be –
Duelist – Zekken
Initiator – Sacy
Sentinel – JohnQT (IGL)
Flex – Zellsis
Controller – TenZ
They will fight for a spot in the play offs to gain a place at Masters Madrid later this year.
With the kickoff to the 2024 VCT season only a week away there are notable changes to teams across the Americas league with the MVP of last year moving teams and the leading kills for last year not even in the VCT!
Today we will list 5 players who fans will definitely need to keep an eye on with their possible roles changes and team changes across the 11 teams in the kick off tournament for the Americas League.
5. Max ‘Demon1’ Mazanov
Image courtesy of thespike.gg
The MVP of VCT Champions 2023, Demon1 has a new spring of life playing for NRG this year. He has moved on from Evil Geniuses but stayed together with Ethan to join Marved, Crashies and Victor to form a super team for the 2024 season with a roster fans are saying is the best in the world.
Most notably known for his clean and smooth aim, the player will most likely be playing jett in the upcoming season however as displayed, he is very versatile and can play either brimstone or Astra if the comp asks for it.
4. Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo
Image courtesy of afreecaTV_gl on X
Some people might be surprised to see TenZ on this list since his performances as of 2023 have not been anything to scream and shout about. However he has left his jett/raze picks in the past and with new IGL JohnQT, he has moved to the flex role where he plays characters like Omen, Harbour and KAY/0.
Once called the GOAT of VALORANT, he had a poor season last year riddled with injuries, health issues and personal issues evolving around his fiancée, Kyedae.
Despite all the issues he was faced with he seems more determined than ever to make it to the top of Valorant once again and prove to everyone that he wasn’t just a one year wonder.
He did show this during their off season tournament where he showcased his skills on the controller rather than the duelist out performing players such as MaKo, Forsaken and MindFreak.
3. Erick ‘aspas’ Santos
Image courtesy of Leviatangg on X
Being named the MVP of the VCT Americas league last season on LOUD, Aspas is highly praised by the valorant community as being one of if not the best player in the world.
Despite this high appraisal, he is on a new team this year, Leviatan, who have also created a super team in VCT with bringing in 2 world champions in Aspas and c0m. It is unknown how this roster plays as a team of five but on paper they are assumed to be one of the best teams in the world.
If Aspas can carry on his form from the last 3 years, he will be able to bring success and trophies to the South American organisation alongside a huge cult following that he has amassed for his flicky aim and crazy operator shots.
2. Jimmy Marved Nguyen
Image courtesy of Riot Games
After his 2022 Masters win, Marved announced that he was stepping back from competitive play and decided to sit out for the start of the franchising since his team, Optic gaming, wasn’t chosen for the partnership.
It only took 3 months for him to return however, despite announcing he was stepping back. He signed for sentinels as their 6th man after Hunter ‘SicK’ Mims was forced to step back from his spot on the team. He then got a place on the starting lineup after Dephh retired from professional play and moved onto a coaching role in M80 as the Counter Strike 2 coach.
Despite not winning last year, his hunger for competition and victory is sky high as he joins his former OpTic team mates on the new NRG roster touted for greatness.
1. Zachary ‘Zekken’ Patrone
Image courtesy of AfreecaTV_gl on X
The number one player who should be on everyone’s watchlist this season is Zekken from Sentinels.
He is one of the most underrated talents that NA has to offer. With last season being a rough one for sentinels, Zekken was primarily on the flex role playing agents like Sova, Omen, Killjoy and Raze throughout the year.
Sentinels seemed to have figured out that Zekken is a player you want to be the main star of the team despite having TenZ on the team. This year he has seemed to move onto the primary duelist role playing jett and raze whilst his team sets him up for success.
Players such as Curry, FNS and S0m have given such high praise to zekken with Curry most notably saying he is the best talent that NA has to offer after Demon1 who has just won the best title VALORANT has to offer.
Being only 18 years old, his aim is crispy and his game sense is still improving. With the help of 3 world champions in TenZ, Sacy and pANcada, we believe that Zekken can leave his mark on the world by winning his team a spot in Masters Madrid by getting top two in the kick off tournament.
VCT Kick-Off 2024
The season is set to kick off on the 16th of February with the new superteam NRG, looking to leave their mark on the league facing off against FURIA.
The games will be streamed on VALORANTS official YouTube and Twitch accounts whilst also being co-streamed by huge personalities such as Tarik, FNS, s0m and Subroza.
The first match is set to be played at 22:00 London time on the 16th.
The VCT Americas kickoff format has been announced and due to last years rankings, a group of death has been determined with the favourites to win the entire tournament, Leviatan, the most in form team in the league, Sentinels, and the fallen kings, LOUD and 100T.
With the grouping being based off of last year results, some teams have made dramatic changes to their rosters. Especially Evil Geniuses who despite winning Champions in LA, they sold nearly their entire roster and currently are not the favourites to even make it past the group stage against either G2 Esports or KRU Esports.
Sentinels were looking heavy favourites to come in and win it all however with this group stage, it is up in the air as to whether or not they can live up to the standard they have set and can win the group stage.
Schedule of all the Kickoff opening matches. Which match are you looking forward to the most? pic.twitter.com/CQRRfqCG2X
The Americas are the first region to kick off the start of the 2024 VCT season with the so-called SuperTeam in NRG facing off against FURIA on the 16th of February at 22:00 London time.
The games will be streamed on their YouTube and Twitch channels however, most fans are awaiting the co-stream from streamers such as Tarik, s0m and FNS who have been eagerly awaiting the start of the VCT season.
Coming into the tournament, ideas of who will win are up for debate since most of the rosters are brand new and haven’t seen action. However going off of what has been seen, Sentinels should be favourites to win it all with TenZ playing flex and Zekken as the primary duelist, they are looking very strong despite dropping pANcada to the bench.
With matches starting in less than a month, the format for the kick off tournament in APAC has been announced with Paper Rex getting the advanced spot with their success in last years VCT.
After coming second in Champions and third in Masters Tokyo, they guarantee themselves a spot into playoffs if they can beat the winner of GenG or RRQ.
The first game of the tournament will include the debut of Champions 2022 MVP, yay, who currently plays for BLEED esports who will face off against T1. This game will be his debut for the team in official tournament as he came down with illness when the team travelled to face off against NaVi and others in the off-season.
Image courtesy of Riot Games.
With the 10 teams chosen for franchising by Riot Games, BLEED joins them after winning franchising last year and earning themselves a spot in the league to face off against some of the worlds best players in PRX something, DRX MaKo and now T1 Xcurrate.
With the APAC kick-off tournament being the only one announced, fans are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Americas kick off tournament with Sentinels looking incredible and NRG announcing their super team to the world.
Which team will come out on top this year? Will it be the newly promoted BLEED with the addition of yay, will it be the uncrowned Champions FNATIC or will Sentinels regain their title as the best with JohnQT taking them to new heights?
NRG, after a long wait, announce their VCT Roster for the upcoming VCT season.
They have parted ways with s0m, FNS and ardiis, who have all respectively moved on from NRG with only ardiis comfirmed to be competing in the new season for NAVI in EMEA.
Welcome @ardiis as the newest addition to the NAVI Valorant Roster for our 2024 VCT Season!
In replacement, they have signed Marved from Sentinels, and the champions winning duo, Demon1 and Ethan from Evil Geniuses.
This rounds out their roster as:
Victor
Crashies
Marved
Demon1
Ethan (IGL)
Chet (Coach)
With an overall disappointing end to their 2023 VCT season, they will be looking to come for it all this year with a roster of only international LAN winners in 2x Champions and 3x Masters winners.
There were questions on who will be IGLing the squad as there is no dead-set IGL with rumours of Marved taking up the role as he did for Sentinels for a brief time in 2023, but Ethan took to twitter to announce he will be IGLing the squad hopefully towards an international title this year.
For this upcoming season, it seems that it will be Heroes vs Villians between Sentinels and NRG with Sentinels looking to regain their ‘veteran GOAT‘ TenZ and NRG looking to steal it away from everyone with their new ‘King Of Hell‘ Demon1.
Sentinels defeat Paper Rex 3-0 in commanding performance from the NA side with the entire roster showing extreme talent.
The game streamed on AfreecaTV at 08:00am this morning, ended much faster than fans expected from these two powerhouse teams with a 3-0 scoreline.
The 6-man roster of Paper Rex fell short on the final day of the ATV Valorant League with Monyet having an exceptionally hard time against Sentinels.
The series was comfortable for Sentinels with the anti-strats against Paper Rex’s crazy playstyle coming into great use from the coach and the IGL JohnQT. The three maps, Split, Sunset and Breeze, were settled with Paper Rex not gaining more than 10 rounds in any of the maps.
Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo had a standout performance on Breeze where he hit a ridiculous shot onto Monyet, who ended the game 3/16, which seemed to sum up the day for Sentinels as they all seemed to be in flow state with clean shots coming from all of the team including 6th man Zellsis who dropped 48 kills across the 3 maps.
stats courtesy of vlr.gg
This marks the first international trophy for the Sentinels organisation in Valorant since their Masters win in 2021 with the only player still remaining on the roster being TenZ who is still putting up numbers against big teams like Paper Rex, DRX and Liquid.
There is no more planned tournaments for this Sentinels roster until the start of the 2024 VCT Season where they will be hoping to compete for Masters, Champions and to win VCT Americas, which was won last year by LOUD.
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