No strain for Sentinels at VCT LOCK//IN, says Valorant coach

  ❘   Revealed: 2023-02-21T21:30:38

  ❘   Up to date: 2023-02-21T22:03:48

Sentinels coach Don ‘SyykoNT’ Muir has assured that his group has no strain on its shoulders heading into VCT LOCK//IN.

Sentinels face a tough take a look at within the first spherical of VCT LOCK//IN, having been pitted towards Fnatic, the group’s grand last opponent throughout their title-winning marketing campaign at VCT 2021 Stage 2 Masters – Reykjavík.

With Cloud9, Evil Geniuses and NRG already out following the conclusion of the Alpha Bracket, Sentinels and 100 Thieves are the one North American groups remaining within the event. Nonetheless, SyykoNT rejected the notion that his group is dealing with elevated strain due to that.

“I don’t suppose any of us are feeling strain right here,” he advised reporters at a press convention. “We’re simply targeted on qualifying for [VCT Masters] Tokyo and successful Valorant Champions. This is only one step alongside that course of.

“We’re making an attempt to get as a lot expertise as doable, scrimming and competing towards worldwide groups whereas we’re right here to organize for the league once we get dwelling.”

A a lot improved Sentinels group

For lots of the groups attending VCT LOCK//IN, the occasion in São Paulo marks their debut on LAN. However that’s not the case with the Sentinels roster, which attended the Ludwig x Tarik Invitational in Los Angeles final month.

Lance Skundrich/Riot Video games

The brand new Sentinels roster will tackle Fnatic on February 24

With barely any observe, Sentinels completed third within the four-team event. In keeping with SyykoNT, the group have grown in leaps since then and will give a significantly better account of themselves.

“On the Ludwig x Tarik Invitational, we had about 4 or 5 days of observe,” he defined. “Clearly, we’re utterly totally different now. We’ve had a full month now to get everyone located in LA. We’ve actually fleshed out our protocols and our communication, punched via the language barrier with our Brazilian gamers, and began creating our strategic depth.

“I feel we’ve completed a fantastic job thus far. I’m excited to indicate what we’ve been engaged on in these upcoming matches.”

SyykoNT added that he’s anticipating a tricky match-up towards Fnatic, who added Leo ‘Leo’ Jannesson and Timofey ‘Chronicle’ Khromov within the low season, noting that he hopes to attract from the expertise of beating Fnatic within the quarter-finals of Valorant Champions 2022 whereas teaching XSET.

“They’re a fairly well-rounded group,” SyykoNT stated of Fnatic. “They took Fifth-Sixth at Valorant Champions, like XSET did. We completed alongside one another, although we beat them within the head-to-head.

“I’ve a variety of respect for these boys, a variety of respect for Boaster as a caller. For us, it’s much less about weaknesses and extra about figuring out tendencies and reactions. We all know how these guys wish to play, we perceive how Boaster likes to play, and we hope to lean on a few of these issues within the match.

“They’re trying fairly sharp. It’s going to be a great match-up, probably the most effective first-round matchup of the event. It will likely be one hell of a match however we’re feeling very assured.”