When Sentinels announced that Jay “sinatraa” Won was suspended just days before the VALORANT Champions Tour NA Masters tournament, fans feared the worst for the squad. But then the organization revealed that Tyson “TenZ” Ngo would be performing the day before their first game.
VALORANT fans were already thrilled, as TenZ has been a popular VALORANT streamer for a while, breaking all kinds of North American records in Riot’s tactical shooter. And now that Sentinels has beaten Luminosity 2-0 without much time to score, it seems that there are only major improvements in store for the talented squad.
TenZ spoke to InvenGlobal about entering a major tournament with little practice, what it took to beat Luminosity and how long he thinks he will be on the roster in the future.
How did it feel to be on the Sentinels’ main list so suddenly before a major tournament?
The Sentinels contacted three days ago. We weren’t sure if I could play yet. Sentinels had to get permission from C9 to lend me. In fact, we finished it just like yesterday.
I wanted to play. Playing pro is a lot of fun for me. If I couldn’t play it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. I could have just watched the tournament and it was just a bit of a chill, but it was an opportunity I didn’t want to pass up.
How long did you know you would be playing with Sentinels in VCT? Have you had time to practice?
No, we have not practiced at all.
Yes, ShahZam actually said you practiced for a few hours this morning and that’s it!
We arrived at check-in. An hour before the game, they went to a server and they were explaining things to me. But I was pretty sure. I know the rest of the squad is good. For me personally, I can fit into it very easily. I can call AWP, gun, lerk – anything but. I see myself as a really easy piece to fit into a team.
You seemed to be on the same page most of the time for the entire match. How was the team’s communication and synergy?
They really play loose. The communication bounces back and forth very smoothly. No problems with communication. It’s pretty easy.
What is something you think you brought to roster that helped you succeed?
My head-clicking ability.
Sentinels have been eliminated by Luminosity in the past. What was the team’s game plan for this match?
I know Shahz watched some team demos prior to the game. He explained to us their tendencies and what they do. We were able to pick up their patterns. For example, they watch a lot. What I did was, 1v1 the one trying to challenge or find an angle.
You were ahead of the second map, but Luminosity was slowly catching up. What made you start to lose steam?
Split is quite a difficult card. It is more fundamentally dependent and you can make fakes very easily. It was hard to know what they were doing in full unless we went ahead and got information. But for the most part, they were randomly popping or throwing a fake and going back to the site. Since we just got into it, we didn’t have the scrims to deal with that.
Icebox is all about aggressive play. Do you feel that played in Sentinels’ style of play?
Yes definitely. Icebox feels like a giant target card. We can play aggressively and get away with it.
How did it feel to have a win so quickly after joining Sentinels?
It feels good. I don’t know what else to say because I like to win a lot. I just had a lot of fun.
You started playing VALORANT early and broke many NA records early on. Why did you decide to switch from CSGO so quickly?
For me, I saw that Valve was not listening to the community. They don’t listen to pros. It’s kind of a brick wall. I certainly didn’t see the scene – especially now that everything went online – as something that was sustainable. When VALORANT first came out, everyone started at the same level and I started grinding at the beginning.
You’ve been streaming VALORANT for a while. Do you prefer to play competitively?
I really enjoy playing pro, but I also like to stream. I don’t really know which one I would choose over the other. Maybe for now I would say that I enjoy playing pro more. But because of my stream, I enjoy the game a lot because I can just chill a bit.
Without speculating on the results of recent research, do you expect to stay with Sentinels for the long term? Or is this a temporary replacement scheme?
I believe this is a temporary arrangement, only for Masters.
Did the situation with sinatraa seem like the team at all? What did the team look like after Sinatraa was suspended?
They certainly made the most of a bad situation. Nobody was really down about what had happened. We just have to play our game and just do our best.