[VCT NA Masters] SEN TenZ: “The team is taking advantage of a bad situation.”

When Sentinels announced that Jay ‘sinatraa’ Won would be suspended a few days before the VALORANT Champions Tour AFTER Masters tournament, fans feared the group the worst. But then the organization revealed that Tyson “TenZ” Ngo will be performing a day before their first match.

VALORANT fans have been excited since TenZ has been a popular VALORANT streamer for some time now, breaking all sorts of North American records in Riot’s tactical shooter. And now that Sentinels Luminosity has gone down 2-0 without much time to look, it looks like there are only big improvements ahead for the talented group.

TenZ spoke to InvenGlobal about participating in a big tournament with little practice, what it took to beat Luminosity, and how long he thinks he will be on the roster in future.

How did it feel to sign up so suddenly before a big tournament at the Sentinels’ main roster?

The Sentinels issued three days ago. We did not know for sure if I could still play. Sentinels had to get the stuff from C9 to borrow me. We finished it just like yesterday.

I did want to play. Playing pro is really fun for me. If I could not play, it would not have been the end of the world. I could have just watched the tournament and just chilled, but it was an opportunity I did not want to pass up.

How long did you know you were going to play with Sentinels in VCT? Did you have time to practice?

No, we did not practice at all.

Yes, ShahZam basically said that you are practicing for a few hours this morning and that’s it!

We arrived during check-in time. An hour before the game I went to a server and they explained things to me. But I was pretty confident. I know the rest of the group is fine. For me, I can personally switch on very easily. I can AWP, gun, lark – everything outside to call. I see myself as a very easy piece to fit into a team.

It looks like you’re usually on the same page throughout the game. How was the team’s communication and synergy?

They really play loose. The commission jumps really smooth back and forth. No problems with communication. It’s pretty simple.

What is something you feel you have brought to the list that has helped you achieve success?

My head-click ability.

Sentinels has been eliminated by Luminosity in the past. What was the game plan of the team in this game?

I know Shahz watched a bunch of demonstrations of teams before the game. He explained to us their tendencies and what they do. We were able to locate their patterns. They peek a lot, for example. What I did was around 1v1 whoever was trying to challenge or find a corner.

You were ahead of the second card, but Luminosity slowly caught up. What led you to start losing steam?

Split is a pretty hard card. It is more fundamentally dependent and you can draw fakes very easily. It was hard to know what they were doing in full unless we got through and got information. But mostly they jumped at random or threw one fake and returned to the site. Since we inserted my pass, we did not have the chance to handle it.

Icebox is about aggressive plays. Do you feel it was played according to 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 get a win so soon after joining Sentinels?

It feels good. I do not know what else to say, because I really enjoy it. I just had a lot of fun.

You started playing with VALORANT early on and broke a lot of NA records early on. What made you decide to switch from CSGO so soon?

For me, I saw that Valve does not listen to the community. They do not listen to benefits. It’s like a brick wall. I certainly did not see the scene – especially with everything that goes online – as something that was sustainable. When VALORANT first came out, everyone started at the same level and I just started grinding at the beginning.

You streamed VALORANT for a while. Do you prefer to play competitive?

I like pro a lot, but I also like streaming. I do not really know which one I want to choose. Maybe for now I would like to play pro more. But my stream makes me enjoy the game a lot because I can chill just as nicely.

Without speculating on the results of recent investigations, do you expect to stay with Sentinels for the long term? Or is it a temporary replacement arrangement?

I believe this is a temporary arrangement only for Masters.

Did the situation with synatraa seem to distract the team? What did the team look like after being suspended from sinatra?

They definitely got the best out of a bad situation. No one was really worried about what had happened. We just have to play our game and do only the best we can.