When the Sentinels announced that Jay “sinatraa” Won had been suspended just days before the VALORANT Champions Tour NA Masters, fans feared the worst for the team. But then the organization revealed that Tyson “TenZ” Ngo will step up a day before their first match.
VALORANT fans were already excited, seeing that TenZ had been a popular VALORANT streamer for some time, breaking all sorts of North American records in Riot’s tactical shooter. And now that the Sentinels have taken Luminosity 2-0 without too much time for scrimming, there seems to be only major improvements for the talented team.
TenZ spoke with InvenGlobal about the competition in a major tournament with few practices, what it took to beat the Brightness and how long it thinks it will be on the list further.
How did it feel to be on the main Sentinel list so suddenly before an important tournament?
Sentinels contacted three days ago. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to play yet. Sentinels had to get C9’s approval to lend me. I basically finished it like yesterday.
I wanted to play. Playing professionally is a lot of fun for me. If I couldn’t play, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. I could have watched the tournament and got a little cold, but it was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss.
How long did you know you would play Sentinels in VCT? Did you have time to practice?
No, I didn’t practice at all.
Yes, ShahZam basically said you practiced for a few hours this morning and that’s it!
We went up at check-in. An hour before the game, I went into a server and they explained things to me. But I was pretty confident. I know the rest of the team is good. For me, personally, I can get in a very easy way. I can AWP, rifle, asshole – everything except the call. I see myself as a very easy piece to fit into a team.
You guys usually seemed to be on the same page throughout the game. How was the communication and synergy of the team?
He plays very poorly. Communications bounced back and forth very easily. There are no communication problems. It’s pretty simple.
What do you feel you brought to the list that helped you succeed?
My ability to click on the head.
Sentinels have been eliminated by Luminosity in the past. What was the team’s game plan in this match?
I know Shahz watched a bunch of team demonstrations before the game. He explains their tendencies and what they do. We managed to take over their models. For example, I take a lot of looks. What I was doing was, 1v1, the one trying to provoke or find an angle.
You were in the lead on the second map, but the Brightness caught on slowly. What made you start losing steam?
Split is a pretty tough map. It is more fundamentally addictive and you can shoot fakes very easily. It was hard to know what they were doing in full, unless we pushed and got information. But, for the most part, they appeared at random or threw a fake and headed back to the site. Since we just got introduced, we didn’t bother to deal with it.
Icebox is about aggressive games. Do you think he played the Sentinels style game?
Yes, of course. Icebox feels like a giant map. We can play aggressively and get rid of it.
How did you feel when you won so soon after signing up for the Sentinels?
It feels good. I don’t know what else to say because I like to earn a lot. I just had a lot of fun.
You started playing VALORANT early and broke a lot of NA records in time. What made you switch to CSGO so soon?
For me, I saw that Valve was not listening to the community. Don’t listen to professionals. It’s like a brick wall. I certainly didn’t see the scene – especially with everything going on online – as something that was sustainable. When VALORANT first came out, everyone started at the same level and I started eating at the beginning.
Broadcast VALORANT for a while. Do you prefer to play competitively?
I really like playing professionally, but I also like streaming. I don’t really know which one I would choose the other. Maybe for now I would say that I prefer to play professionally. But my flow makes me enjoy the game a lot, because I can only cool down.
Without speculating on the results of recent investigations, do you expect to stay with the Sentinels in the long run? Or is this a temporary replacement arrangement?
I think this is a temporary arrangement for masters only.
Did the sinatra situation seem to distract the team at all? What did the team look like after Sinatra was suspended?
They certainly took full advantage of a bad situation. No one was really down about what happened. We just have to play our game and do everything we can.