Sentinels’ Valorant team is in for a massive rebuild, according to former 100 Thieves coach Hector ‘FrosT’ Rosario.
There will be major changes across the Valorant scene after Riot Games announced on September 21 the names of the 30 organizations with which it has partnered for the international leagues in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.
Sentinels are one of the ten organizations that have made it into the Americas league, which will be based in Los Angeles. They will be joined by four other organizations from North America (Cloud9, 100 Thieves, Evil Geniuses and NRG), three from Brazil (LOUD, FURIA and MIBR), and two from Latin America (KRU Esports and Leviatán).
With big names like OpTic Gaming, The Guard and XSET failing to make the cut, there is a plethora of talent available in the market. As Riot’s partners embark on an arms race to build the best teams for 2023, no one on Sentinels is safe, according to FrosT.
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“Sentinels are going to release their roster,” he said on the VALORANTING show. “They’re probably going to buy OpTic or be in some bidding war, I imagine, with EG for OpTic. Or Sentinels are going to completely rebuild.
“Sentinels are done. The old Sentinels is gone. The players are not really on Sentinels anymore. That roster will never come back for a multitude of reasons.
“All these rosters are going to change because now the scene is consolidated.”
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FrosT, the founder of defunct organization Flipsid3 Tactics, was officially brought in by 100 Thieves as head coach in January 2021 after working with the team for several months.
In March 2021, he was suspended for the duration of the VCT 2021 tour for “unprofessional behavior towards a Tournament Official”, which also resulted in a $5,000 fine for 100 Thieves. Before the end of the year, he was released by the North American organization.
A disappointing year
One of the best teams in the world in 2021, Sentinels hit crisis levels in 2022 as they struggled domestically and failed to qualify for international events
They enjoyed a resurgence in form ahead of the last-chance qualifier for Valorant Champions after signing Jordan ‘Zellsis’ Montemurro (on loan from Version1) and Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek. Still, they could not qualify for the event in Istanbul, crashing out of the qualifier in 5th-6th place after losing to eventual winners 100 Thieves.
Sentinels currently have three players on their active roster, Shahzeb ‘ShahZam’ Khan, Michael ‘dapr’ Gulino, and Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo. Hunter ‘SicK’ Mims has been on an extended leave of absence since June, while Eric ‘Kanpeki’ Xu and Jared ‘zombs’ Gitlin are on the bench.
On September 21, Zellsis announced that he is open to offers after Version1 failed to make it into the partnership league. shroud has said multiple times that he is interested in continuing to play Valorant professionally, adding that he has barely scratched the surface of his potential in the game.