There are 12 partner teams on the American VCT scene, among which Sentinels remains the most popular. It has millions of followers on social media and various platforms, and when people start talking about the American scene, the name Sentinels is the first to come to mind. In addition to being the most popular, the group has also been named one of the strongest not only in its region but also in the world. However, since the beginning of 2025, the team's level has significantly decreased, and today we will analyze the reasons for this and determine whether the Sentinels era is really over.

Past performance of the team

The organization created the Valorant division back in 2020, when the game itself was released. Since its creation, the team has shown incredibly good results not only in its region but also on the international stage. Below we have collected the best results of the team from 2020 to 2024.

In total, over the 4 years of the team's existence, it has brought $1,025,500 to the organization, which is one of the highest figures among all teams on the professional scene. In addition to these results, Sentinels has its own records. The team became the winner of the first international event VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters - Reykjavík, as well as the only team to win two Masters tournaments, Reykjavík in 2021 and Madrid in 2024.

Farewell to two key players

Although 2024 turned out to be a very successful year for the team, and everything seemed to be going well, at the end of the year, the team's fans learned some shocking news. It became known that two core players, namely Tyson “TenZ” Ngo and Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi, were leaving the team. The former becomes a Sentinels content maker for Valorant, and the latter simply ends his career.

Both players were part of the team's core and key contributors, and here's why. TenZ joined Sentinels in 2021, initially as a replacement from Cloud9, and later he was fully bought out. Since then, the Canadian player has become the face of Sentinels Valorant, and the main media personality. His broadcasts gathered tens of thousands of viewers, which emphasized his contribution to the development of the organization as a media personality. At the same time, TenZ continued to show an excellent level of play and many fans considered him one of the best players in the world.

It's very hard to say, but I'd like to announce that I'm retiring from playing professional poker at Valorant. Thank you to all the fans who supported me and Sentinels in general. I am not saying goodbye to the organization, but will continue to create content for the audience.

Sacy, in turn, joined the team a little later, at the end of 2022. Prior to that, he was a member of the Brazilian tops LOUD, with whom he won Valorant Champions 2022. After that, he continued to show a high level of play as a member of Sentinels, and together with TenZ, he was the backbone of the team.

I decided to finish my professional career with Valorant. Even though I enjoyed it, I believe this will be the right decision for me and my family. Thank you all for your support.

Who replaced the legendary duo

After saying goodbye to the players, the team immediately found a replacement. Sean “bang” Bezerra and Marshall “N4RRATE” Massie became the new members of Sentinels.

This is not to say that the new members complain about the lack of experience, as bang played for 100 Thieves from 2022 to 2024, and N4RRATE spent the last year at Karmine Corp. Despite this, the players are inferior to their predecessors in terms of experience and personal skill, which is evident from the team's results at the following events.

Sentinels performance after a series of replacements

The changes described above took place in October 2024, and immediately after that, Sentinels started playing at off-season events. The first of them was their own SEN City Classic 2024, where the organizers took 2nd place out of 4 teams and earned $7,500. The second event was larger, namely the SOOP VALORANT League 2024, which was attended by 8 teams. Already at this event, the updated Sentinels team failed and took 5th-6th place, losing in one match to the Made in Thailand team in the tiebreaker.

Then, thanks to the 2nd place at the Kickoff qualifiers, the team qualified for the first major tournament in 2025, Masters Bangkok, and failed completely. In the first match, Sentinels lost to the Pacific Rim favorites DRX, with a score of 0:2. In this match, the club lost the first Lotus map with a crushing score of 3:13, and if you look at the post-match table, the defeat was definitely not because of the two new players. Because they finished the match at the top of the table.

The second reason why we think the level of the team has decreased is the change of captain. Until the end of 2024, it was Sacy who played the role of an in-game leader. He was a high-class player with a lot of experience and a world title. After his departure from Sentinels, johnqt became the new captain, and most likely he lacks experience. Until the end of 2023, he played on the tier-2 stage, and only spent a year with Sentinels. This time is not enough to fully master all the skills of captaincy and earn the necessary authority. Therefore, we can assume that the change of captain is another reason for the weakening of Sentinels.

Thus, one of the strongest teams in the past, Sentinels, finished in the last 7-8th place at Masters Bangkok, earning the team $10,000.

Is the Sentinels era really over?

To answer this question subjectively, we would say yes. In our opinion, TenZ and Sacy were the key players in Sentinels, and they were the ones who made the team's combat capability possible. In addition, the media component, fan support, and faith in the players played a huge role. With the departure of their most famous player, Sentinels began to lose their title, and TenZ's huge fanbase is likely to be less interested in the team's fate and results. In turn, the three old players are not strong enough to continue winning without TenZ and Sacy, and the two newcomers, although they show good results, are not enough.

The second reason why we think the team's level has dropped is the change of captain. Until the end of 2024, it was Sacy who played the role of an in-game leader. He was a high-class player with a lot of experience and a world title. After his departure from Sentinels, johnqt became the new captain, and most likely he lacks experience in this role. Until the end of 2023, he played on the tier-2 stage, and only spent a year with Sentinels. This is not enough time to fully master all the skills of captaincy and earn the necessary authority. Therefore, we can assume that the change of captain is another reason for the weakening of Sentinels.

In our opinion, the Sentinels are still one of the strongest teams in their region. However, they have definitely lost their former glory on the international stage and are unlikely to show good results this season.