THE SEN UPDATE - JULY 2020
Welcome back to the SEN UPDATE, Sentinels.
Last month, we launched this newsletter to keep you up to date on any tournament action, roster additions and championship moments you may have missed over the last month. If you missed June’s edition, click here!
This month we are talking about Halo's back-to-back (to back) tournament victories, Valorant’s first major tournament, and Apex Legends grinding through the Summer Circuit. We also caught up with SpaceLyon for a chat on positivity and tips to use while streaming!
Ready up, let’s dive in.
SEN Halo Wins Three Straight In The MCC Pro Series
It’s been smooth sailing for the Halo squad – winners of the past three MCC Pro Series events including June tournaments held on June 13 and June 27.
The team of aPG, LethuL, SnakeBite, Royal 1, and Royal 2 have yet to drop a single series across the three events, running a flawless tournament on the 27th that saw the team go 18-0 in map count.
Both tournaments saw all four players excel on the stat sheet, ranking inside the top-10 in most kills per game and lowest deaths per match according to HCS statistics.
The finale for the MCC Pro Series is scheduled for July 18. Fans can watch by tuning in to the official Halo Twitch channel at twitch.tv/Halo.
Valorant Shines During T1 x NSG Showdown
In the first major Valorant tournament for the Sentinels, a combination of dominating group play and closely contested bracket play matches ultimately landed the team a top-6 finish during the T1 x NSG Showdown.
Beginning the tournament as one of four squads in Group D, the team of Sinatraa, ShahZaM, SicK, zombs and dapr ran through round robin stage with a flawless 3-0 record and secured a spot into the eight-team playoffs.
In the first playoff match up against Immortals, the team jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series with a 13-10 victory on Bind. Unfortunately, an overtime finish on Ascent in favor of the opposition brought the series even at 1-1. The deciding match on Haven nearly went the full distance, with Immortals winning 13-10 and 2-1 overall.
Now dropped to the losers bracket, the Sentinels were able to send Gen.G home packing with a 13-6 victory in a best-of-one series on Haven before being eliminated by FaZe Clan, 13-7, on Bind.
The T1-hosted event is sure to be just the first of many tournaments for the squad to compete in. On July 10-12, the team will be participating in the Pulse Invitational with $10,000 on the line to the first place team.
Apex Finishes First Summer Circuit Event, Qualifies for GLL Masters Summer
The entire season of summer is packed with competitive Apex Legends action as the trio of Senoxe, peesh, and crust have continued to shine and represent the Sentinels banner.
In the first ALGS Summer Circuit Super Regional event on June 20-21, the trio grinded through multiple qualification rounds to the grand finals where they placed 10th overall. As a result of finishing in the top-10, the team secured an automatic qualification into the next grand finals which is set for July 12.
Fans can tune into the ALGS Grand Finals on the official Apex Legends Twitch channel on July 12.
Also beginning is the GLL Masters Summer, which will have four days of league play throughout July before a $100,000 finals event on Aug. 1-2. The competition is split up into two divisions, Alpha and Bravo, with more qualification points into the August finals given to teams that stay in the Alpha division. More details on the league can be found by clicking here.
Spectating details for the August finals are TBD.
FEATURE: How SpaceLyon Succeeds at Streaming + Helpful Tips and Advice for Beginners
When Thang “SpaceLyon” Phan began streaming part time in 2017 it was for a simple purpose – to capture and save his best highlights in League of Legends.
By downloading the popular streaming software OBS and logging onto Twitch, SpaceLyon would soon after find a new career that took him from spending his days working at a restaurant to amassing over 310,000 Twitch followers as a daily variety streamer since going full time on the platform in 2018.
“I feel truly blessed that I’m here and that I can play video games for a living,” SpaceLyon said. “That’s like the dream job for so many people and I hope that I can do it for a very long time. I always knew that I was going to do something in the gaming atmosphere, and I put in the work and just got a little lucky.”
The luck involved were shoutouts from two of the biggest faces in the gaming and entertainment community. In early 2018, YouTube star “MrBeast” donated $30,000 to the streamer with a YouTube video titled “I Donated $30,000 To A Random Twitch Streamer (world record)” uploaded Jan. 27, 2018. The video has over 28 million views.
Formerly a competitive Fortnite player and competitive streamer, SpaceLyon was hosted by Tyler “Ninja” Blevins in 2018 to over 10,000 viewers. Capitalizing on the situation, he went on to win seven straight matches while retaining much of Ninja’s audience, setting himself up for long-term success.
But the luck in question pales in comparison to the hard work and individual personality that shines on SpaceLyon’s stream daily. Enter the Lyon’s den at any time and you’ll see a community of people that are caring and a streamer that radiates positive energy. The positivity doesn’t end on stream, as across social media platforms SpaceLyon’s messaging includes reminders to be kind to one another.
“You just have to make everyone feel welcome, you know? (The stream is) A safe, positive place that people can go in and stop by and say what’s up and feel a part of something. That’s really what it’s all about,” he said.
Building a community also takes time – the number one investment for a beginning streamer. Now in his third year of full-time streaming, SpaceLyon has some tips for those who are looking into becoming successful on Twitch.
Network, network, network: One of the tips to growing a successful stream is by networking. Playing games with others with a larger audience can lend your personality to a new set of eyes in the hopes that they will give you a follow. Networking, he said, is one of the main ways that led him to joining and becoming a Sentinel.
SpaceLyon’s take: “Networking is a major key to streaming success. You’ve got to put your name out there and nobody is going to know who you are if you don’t network with other streamers. Then they will share their community with yours and you keep doing that over and over again.”
Content? Just do it: Any content that a streamer feels passionate about is good content. Throw out any ideas you have across platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. One of them is bound to stick.
SpaceLyon’s advice: “In my head I always think, ‘I need the best video, I need the best content.’ But if I could give advice to new content creators, just do it. Whatever you think is good, put it out there. You might blow up off one video. I’ve known many people that have blown up off of one clip or one video on YouTube…they just take off. Keep posting content.”
Consistency means everything: On any given weekday you can find SpaceLyon streaming a variety of games from approximately 12-6 p.m. EST. It is ingrained in his daily schedule that balances time between the usual errands, his stream, and family time with his girlfriend and his dog, Charlie. By being able to find him at the same place and time every day, his audience is accustomed to making his stream a part of their daily routine as well.
SpaceLyon’s take: “A consistent schedule (while streaming) is literally everything. You set a schedule for yourself and you do that every day for the next year, two years, three years, however long you do it for, just keep it consistent. Same with YouTube, upload videos a week or one video a week or even three and people will keep coming back. It’s super important.
“If you take a day or two off (of streaming) your numbers take a hit. They (audience) finds somebody else to watch that’s better, or funnier, or more entertaining. Keep it consistent so that doesn’t happen.”
Don’t go all out right away and keep things modest: When picking the proper gear to stream with, don’t go for the biggest ticket items right off the bat. Instead, SpaceLyon recommends focusing on setting the basics up for your content and making the big purchases once the foundation of your audience is set.
SpaceLyon’s advice: “You don’t need to buy that $1,000 camera or that $500 microphone with the audio mixer and everything – that comes after (you see success). Get your base equipment and just work on yourself.
“Stream like there’s 1,000 people watching all the time. If you look at your viewers and just compare yourself to others, you’re just not going to be happy. It’s just a tough job afterwards.”
Starting out, the grind doesn’t stop: When SpaceLyon began streaming Fortnite as a competitive player, there were many of 12-plus hour days. Now a bit more family focused, SpaceLyon balances his time for off-stream activities more but starting out will always be a grind.
SpaceLyon’s take: “Put in the time and work really hard and the success will follow, which is getting signed to an organization and having representation. Don’t expect to go into streaming making a lot (of money right away). You don’t see success right away and the time that people put in to get there. All people see when they go on Twitch is people playing video games think, ‘I can do that.’ But that’s not usually the case.”
The big breaks, the positivity and the grind has led SpaceLyon to becoming a well-known figure in the streaming community. Be sure to follow the SEN Lyon on Twitter, Instagram, and Twitch to stay up to date with his latest updates!
