24' vs 25' SEN

#1

eric_5008

Not comparing the skill level bc different team, different meta so not a fair comparison. However, I will compare gameplay. The 24' sen roster had two "bad" aimers in zellsis and sacy but yet they still placed well at champs and that was thanks to team play and moving as a pack. The roster seems to lack alot of protocols and try to rely on individualisms, this series against DRX felt like a pure aim diff. The 24' roster was inflexible however, the roles were clear and now with this roster, it feels like a cluster.

You have zellsis off of breach when most people considered his util some of the best ITW? No hate but n4rrate is a "selfish" player in the sense that he's not a sacy and will never be (backline support), why not try to run him on duelist more? I trust zekken to more consistent off duelist than n4rrate.

This team just doesn't feel like it has an identity, some games great and other games terrible

#2

king_bob

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facts facts facts. SEN has a severe “what do we wanna do” kinda issue, N4RRATE situation could be dealt with a lot better but SEN doesn’t wanna let someone of his role play like how he did in KC, it’s gg wp

#15

eric_5008

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It makes sense from sen POV bc its "silly" gameplay right? You never want your initiator to have FD however, he's best when hes the aggressor and now that he's not, it seems like he is losing every duel.

#3

Realfacts

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Agreed. Last year sen was so much better with synergy and all.

#25

serot

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I don't think it's just that. SEN was also very ahead in the early 2024 meta in that they pretty much mastered the post-plant counter set retake strat. Early 2024 was super heavy on the postplant spam offsite meta so they capitalized on it. In 2025 they are still running this set retake style, but people understand this style of play now and don't really use as much util on their executes to counter this. On lotus, DRX had omen flash, breach stun, etc ready for the SEN flood retake and it paid off so many rounds on C. Playing hard anchor is more important than ever now, and it is even more viable with agents like vyse.

Just my two cents as an armchair vct analyst

#4

valorant_player

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they are trash without my king TenZ

#12

Suiiiiiii

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Bro he ain’t coming back for now. Lets move on

#5

4so4so4so

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other than madrid they played like that as well

#6

geduelist

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They were 4th in champs

#7

Uncleben

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They were 4th in champs but they went out early in playoffs stage 2 and didn’t even make playoffs stage 1, they were pretty inconsistent last year too

#8

sergueiessenine

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miracle

#11

4so4so4so

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for the bulk of the season they were shaky asf lol. Never felt confident they would win a match,streaky af, even at champs

#17

eric_5008

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Even when streaky they pulled off wins, with this roster, idk if its mental or something, but if they start a game bad it just feels like its over without a fight.

#18

4so4so4so

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I agree, but I felt the exact same way last year.

#21

eric_5008

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Obviously I'm saying this right after a loss, so take it with a grain of salt. 24' sen always felt like they could change gears, bad half? they could string it together and make it competitive. Granted I could be remember wrong and just missing the old roster LUL

#19

Ldrago

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If you look at the bracket, Sentinels got an easy one. Their first opponent was DRX; after that, they lost to EDG. Then they went on to fight FNC. FNC should have closed out Sunset when it was 9–3 or 8–4, but they choked. After that, Sentinels fought TH and got eliminated. Honestly, Sentinels were just lucky.

#20

jawn

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revisionist history goes crazy

#22

elysxxm

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Yeah but look at their group stage

In order they went against
Geng
Fpx
Geng
Drx
Edg
Fnatic
Heretics

That is not an easy road they went against the two grand finalist and the defending masters winners, plus fnatic should’ve won their game but didn’t. Meaning that fnatic were better than Sen for majority of the game no? That was not an easy run no matter how you put it

#23

eric_5008

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I don't think that is a fair statement bc they werent' odds on favorites to beat DRX or FNC. Even against EDG on lotus, 6-6 at half going into your atk half, that could've been a 2-0 but they "choked". Against TH on icebox, 7-5 at half going into atk half, it also could've been 2-0. Getting close to beating the two finalist, I can't say is lucky

#9

Prasinos

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https://youtube.com/shorts/Q-F5Dwj5zU0?si=IrETP32nF0qOpAV4

Lacking someone to call it mid round like Sacy is COOKING Aspas in here.
First wrong play and Sacy would be like:

https://imgur.com/a/4AK7O4o

#10

PRLV

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honestly SEN seemed to go for big names and thought they could mold them into the players kaplan wanted, rather than going for players that fit the sacy profile. Shouldve gotten a more supportive veteran initiator than the modern flashy kind like Narrate

#16

jawn

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there is no player that can fit the sacy profile

#13

glittering_yard

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comparing the Kickoff tournament of Tenz and Sacy in 24 against Bang and N4rrate in 25, SEN 24 is hard clearing, I know its a different meta but they are still lacking the x factor of experienced players like Sacy and Tenz:

TenZ Kickoff 24: 1.10 rating (432 rounds played), Kickoff Champion
Bang Kickoff 25: 1.00 rating (370 rounds played, 2nd place

Sacy Kickoff 24: 1.04 rating (432 rounds played), Kickoff Champion
N4rrate Kickoff 25: 1.00 rating (370 rounds played), 2nd place

SEN 24 also won the their first opening game of Masters Madrid which eventually led to their international win, while SEN 25 just got obliterated by a team with rookies playing their first international.

Idk why some people thought that - TenZ + Bang was a 1 to 1 replacement and that - Sacy + N4rrate was an upgrade

#24

eric_5008

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Its an upgrade in terms of firepower but not synergy, bc the duo of tenz/zekken with sacy/zellsis was unmatched vibes

#14

Suiiiiiii

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Maybe they can try for double duelist comps

#26

A1pha1

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Changing roles is an overreaction. You will never have a good solution because if they go back to the off-season roles with n4rrate on senti and zellsis as flex they would lack firepower and trading on the pack as you saw in the off season 3-pack didnt know what to do if zekken died first when n4rrate is lurking. With the current roles, it makes much more sense because their pack has so much trading potential but zellsis has to hold his own when he is lurking. I think Sen straight up lost 4-5 rounds on haven just from Zellsis's mistakes. I hope he can get his form back because we know how good he can be in high pressure games, today was just not the day

#27

MachiDesu

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Switching back to senti Def isn't the move, however I'm curious to know what would help activate him more. He's such an x-factor where I think he can change a map in sens favor by himself similar to tenz imo