Sentinels Changing Things Up For Super Week

Sentinels will be having a sub in their roster this after making a coaching change that Sentinels fans hope change the tides for a struggling team.

The Valorant Champions Tour: Americas League has been at play for the past few weeks, and so far, Sentinels is not meeting the high expectations that the North American fans had placed on the fan-favorite squad. Sentinels are currently tied for the 6th worst record in the Americas League right now, sitting at 1-2. Due to the recent results, Sentinels is deciding to go ahead with a coaching change while injury will keep out one of their star players. 

Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen in for Tyson “TenZ” Ngo

Tyson “TenZ’ Ngo is a fan-favorite player who came to Valorant after having spent time as a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. TenZ has been with Sentinels since the beginning of the Valorant Champion Tour. As a squad made up of fans’ favorite players, the team had high expectations placed on them early. 

The team early on would be able to live up to the hype, having a ton of domestic success before winning the VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters in Reykjavik. Since then, the results have been lackluster. They had an uninspired end to 2021 before having a dreadful 2022. Their 2023 started with a Round 1 exit at the LOCK//IN Tournament. 

Lately, TenZ has not been having the best results, currently sitting just under an even kill-death ratio with a .92. His off performances, though, are most likely stemming from a finger injury that will sideline TenZ from this week’s matches. Taking his place is Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen.

Marved is another player with Counter-Strike experience. He joined Sentinels after competing with OpTic Gaming, where he won VCT 2022: Stage 1 Masters in Reykjavik before getting 2nd place at the Valorant Champions 2022 tournament in Istanbul. Sentinels has a more than capable backup. The question is will they be able to come together and find success this week? 

Donald “SyykoNT” Muir replaced by Adam “kaplan” Kaplan.

Sentinel’s poor start has gotten fans and management worried about this season’s performance and trajectory. With that, Donald “SyykoNT Muir has been let go by Sentinels, who have opted to promote their Strategic Coach, Adam “kaplan” Kaplan, to the head coaching role full-time. This move opens an Assistant Coach position which will be filled by Drew “DrewSpark” Spark-Whitworth. 

Kaplan is a player turned coach who competed in 2020 with teams Spacestation Gaming and Code7. He then decided to move away from competing as a player to a coaching position taking the Head Coaching position at Ghost Gaming in February of 2021. The team failed to have any real positive results in 2021. Getting the occasional Top 4 at a Nerd Street Gamers tournament. 

In 2022 Ghost Gaming saw more success winning the occasional tournament here and there but also making it in the Top 4 of the VCT 2022: NA Stage 2 Challengers, Open Qualifier 2. This qualified them for the VCT 2022: North American Stage 2 Challengers, where they managed to shock the world and finish 4-1 which got them 2nd in their group ahead of teams like 100 Thieves, NRG, and TSM.

Unfortunately, two quick 2-0 losses in the bracket stage saw their tournament dreams die as quickly as they came. All the contracts of the coaching staff and players ended on September 2, 2022, after which Kaplan would find his way to Sentinels as an assistant coach. Now with the eyes of the Valorant world on him, he will attempt to turn around the sinking ship that is Sentinels.