Sentinels shake up crew roles and shake off haters in VCT Americas opener towards 100T

After a brief and disappointing VCT 2023 debut at LOCK//IN, Sentinels confirmed as much as the primary match of the Americas season with some large modifications to their roster compositions.

Sentinels began the collection on Fracture with a major change , shifting long-time initiator Sacy to the controller position on Brimstone, pANcada to Killjoy, and dephh to Breach. Whereas Sentinels discovered some success on protection with this composition, they appeared misplaced early on assault, with no utility to counter aggressive crunches from 100 Thieves. However 100T took their foot off the gasoline, giving Sentinels the time and area to plan executes with Zekken and TenZ main the best way on Raze and Jett.

With map one tied at 11-11, the previous LOUD duo clutched two straight two-vs-two post-plant situations to push Sentinels over the end line on Fracture, 13-11.

Associated: VCT Americas 2023: VALORANT scores, schedule, format, and standings

Break up began virtually identically as Fracture, with Sentinels taking a slender lead heading into halftime after their defensive facet, and Sacy once more stepping away from the initiator position to select up Sage. Once more, similar to on Fracture, the map went all the way down to the wire and went to an 11-11 tie. This time, Zekken delivered first with three kills and an help on a B execute, however 100T shut down a mid-to-B play to power extra time. 100T claimed the map in two rounds of extra time to ship the collection to Ascent.

In contrast to the primary two maps although, Sentinels struggled on their defensive facet within the first half regardless of lastly successful a pistol spherical, due partly to a surprisingly tough recreation from zekken on Sova. He ended the half with one kill whereas Sentinels solely claimed 4 rounds on protection. Zekken instantly obtained three within the pistol spherical to leap begin Sentinels’ momentum on assault, however throughout full purchase rounds Sentinels struggled to get on web site safely, discovering themselves at an obstacle in most post-plants. Nonetheless, the crew strung collectively three essential rounds to power extra time.

Sentinels lastly took the lead for the primary time all map on Ascent after the primary OT spherical, then adopted TenZ into the B web site on assault to clinch the map and the collection 2-1.

These agent and position modifications inside the Sentinels camp are historic when it comes to their significance. The final time Sacy performed a non-initiator was earlier than he joined LOUD, again in August 2021 when was with Staff Vikings, and he didn’t play a single initiator in all three maps. PANcada had by no means performed Killjoy earlier than in the present day, and performed her twice.

Sentinels can have one other large check towards NRG subsequent week, whereas 100T takes on Evil Geniuses.

Author: Ronnie Neal