THE SEN UPDATE - CHAMPIONS EDITION
What’s up, Sentinels? Welcome back to the SEN UPDATE.
We got a really big team, and they won some really nice rings. Let’s showcase them in what we are dubbing as the CHAMPIONS EDITION. If you missed July’s edition, click here!
For this month, we’re going into detail about the one year anniversary of the Fortnite World Cup, winning our first Valorant Ignition Series trophy, Halo MCC Pro Series dominance, and talking about how Sentinels Valorant was formed in a one-on-one interview with ShahZaM! Ready up, let’s dive in.
BUGHA: Honoring The World Champ
Excellence is defined as the quality of being outstanding or extremely good. A trait that so many desire, but only few can claim. A standard that many hold themselves to, but fall short along their path to greatness.
And on July 28, 2019, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf had all of his hard work pay off. He became the 2019 Fortnite World Cup Champion.
To commemorate the one year anniversary of this special achievement, the Sentinels released a special documentary dedicated to the past, present and future of Bugha’s career.
The documentary was a weeks long process that was made possible due to the work of an outstanding team effort. The Sentinels would like to thank all of our special guests who interviewed for the project, and we hope you enjoy the journey detailing the story of our champion.
SENTINELS: Ignition Series Champions
In the largest North American Valorant esports tournament to date, it was the Sentinels who emerged victorious.
With a broadcast of over 80,000 viewers during the PAX Arena Invitational, a 3-1 grand finals victory over Cloud9 cemented Sentinels as one of the powerhouses of North America.
Starting off with a flawless group stage performance, the Sentinels moved into the quarterfinals of bracket play red hot, eliminating Gen.G by a 2-1 scoreline. In the semifinals, fellow NA heavyweight TSM was no match for the Sentinels, who swept the rival aside by a 2-0 margin.
In the grand finals a tightly contested, 13-11 final on Ascent during Game 1 helped propel the Sentinels to an early lead. Despite Cloud9 drawing even on Haven in the subsequent map the Sentinels held strong, winning the final two games on Bind (13-11) and Split (13-7) to secure the championship. A number of clutches by Hunter “SicK” Mims as Sage proved to be a massive difference maker. SicK’s 76 kills across the four-game series led the Sentinels, with all five members contributing in a variety of close rounds that worked to the team’s benefit.
The next Valorant Ignition Series event is the FaZe Clan Invitational set for Aug. 6-9. Be sure to stay tuned to our social media platforms for up to date information regarding a streaming schedule.
HALO: Sweeps MCC Pro Series
Sentinels Halo just stays winning.
The final tournament of the MCC Pro Series for Halo 2 Anniversary was topped once again by the Sentinels, who won all four of the online tournaments in dominating fashion.
Played on July 18, Sentinels Halo blew by the competition with a 3-1 grand finals victory over Inconceivable. It concludes a stretch run that saw the team win every single series they played across all four online events with a combined 24-0 match record.
The next MCC Pro Series will be played on Halo 3 with full details to be released soon.
FEATURE: The Formation of Sentinels Valorant
When Project A (the working title of what would become Valorant) was announced to the world in late 2019, Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan had it in the back of his mind that the switch over to a new title may be in the cards.
As a professional Counter-Strike player who was a free agent at the time, ShahZaM kept practicing in CS:GO throughout the end of 2019 and into 2020 to keep his abilities sharp and keep his options open. If the title, which had little concrete information known about it at the time, was what everyone was expecting from the acclaimed developer, Riot Games, ShahZaM “wouldn’t hesitate” to make a drastic change.
When he was invited to a closed alpha held by Riot for content creators in early March, ShahZaM saw the potential in the title as he was introduced into the world of Valorant.
“It felt like CS, but it was also a breath of fresh air,” ShahZaM said about playing for the first time.
When it came time for the title’s beta release, ShahZaM began to play pick up games against fellow aspiring Valorant professionals to understand how the game would be played competitively. A tournament hosted early on during the beta period by esports organization NRG sealed the deal – the switch would be made.
ShahZaM, who spent the better part of last decade embedded in Counter-Strike, enjoyed multiple top finishes in the ELeague, ESL Pro League and FACEIT Major events across a span of six years and would now be looking for a new home as a Valorant pro.
“It’s definitely a big switch,” ShahZaM said. “Obviously, there are some skill sets that translate over (to Valorant from Counter-Strike) with it being another tactical shooter. But, there’s other skill sets that I realized that I never really had to use.”
A heavier dialogue in team communication, for example, is a major change in the way ShahZaM has had to develop as a Valorant player. Not only is the location of an enemy important, but nuances such as how much utility and abilities have been used and which agent the opposition is playing are crucial nuggets of information for teammates to know.
“The characters just create a whole different dynamic...The abilities create a whole different dynamic,” he said.
Organizationally, the Sentinels had their sights set on a professional Valorant team from the release of Project A. Charlie Lipsie, the Director of Esports at Sentinels, began scouting players during the beta period of the game as teams began forming.
“Our goals and expectations were to have one of the region’s top teams,” Lipsie said. “I think the team's growth in such a short time has been really amazing.”
So how does a team composed of five people, from three separate competitive titles, form in a matter of weeks and go on to win the largest spectated tournament to date less than a few months later?
What is now known as Sentinels Valorant began with a core duo of ShahZaM and Hunter “SicK” Mims, who teamed together for years in Counter-Strike. From there, Jared “zombs” Gitlin was asked to join the team. ShahZaM saw his talents shine from other titles and teamed with him early on in tournaments during the game’s beta access period, unbeknownst to them both at the time that they would go on to be teammates.
Zombs, firstly a former Overwatch player who then turned into an Apex Legends pro for Sentinels, introduced Jay “Sinatraa” Won to the circuit of pick up games in Valorant that high-level players were participating in.
“I remember not knowing much about Sinatraa at the time, but all I knew is that he was absolutely destroying me,” ShahZaM said. “This guy was running in and just killing everyone and I was like, ‘Okay, this guy is going to be insane.’” From there, the agreement between all four players was made – just play some games together and see if it all fits.
Well, it did. And the core four were signed to Sentinels a short time after.
The team’s fifth member, Michael “dapr” Gulino also began playing with the team, but was uncertain of switching given his success in Counter-Strike. But with an open invitation from ShahZaM to join the team sealed and delivered, Sentinels Valorant became what we all know it as today.
Making the switch from one competitive title to another requires dedication to putting a ton of hours into practice. Ranked games and scrimmages that last for four to five hours a day make up the 10 to 12 hours of playing daily for ShahZaM and his team.
Another thing that he feels has set the squad above others early on? Trust. With an aggressive playstyle stemming from Sinatraa’s run-and-gun tactics, the Sentinels have a flair in their gameplan. Positive communication to go over what went right in a victory, or wrong in defeat, stems from a bond and a respect that has been created by the quintet over the past few months.
“There’s always the question of: ‘Are you really good friends with your teammates, or are you just coworkers?’” ShahZaM said. “I think that in order to have a successful team, you have to be friends with your teammates. There’s just a lot of trust involved.
“Sinatraa and SicK probably never even thought that they would play together considering they came from completely different games and different (professional) scenes. To have the trust that translates in game is really important so that you don’t end up overcompensating (for others). You really stick to what you’ve gone over because you trust your teammate.”
Moving forward, both the Sentinels and Valorant esports will continue to grow. The last Riot-backed Ignition Series tournament taken home by the team was viewed at peak by over 80,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch. As the game continues to expand, adding new agents and more maps, strategies and team agent compositions will be sure to change. With the title being so new, ShahZaM remains adamant that no team in the North American region is truly at the top right now as the number one team.
But to this point in time, the Sentinels can claim a statement tournament victory that no others truly can. It is a result of hard work, teammate trust and the willingness to take a leap of faith into a game that is hoping to claim a spot at the top of the esports ecosystem as a preeminent title.
“We can’t just sit back and relax now that we’ve won one.” ShahZaM said. “We’re going to work our hardest to prove that we are the best.”
