In a rematch from the group of death,
Sentinels
Sentinels
North America
Rank #3
N4RRATE
Marshall Massey
bang
Sean Bezerra
Zellsis
Jordan Montemurro
zekken
Zachary Patrone
johnqt
Mohamed Amine Ouarid
got their revenge on
LOUD
LOUD
Brazil
Rank #1
dgzin
Douglas Silva
v1nny
Vínicius Gonçalves
pANcada
Bryan Luna
tuyz
Arthur Andrade
cauanzin
Cauan Pereira
to take the first tournament of the year in the Americas.
Two blowout map wins from SEN got them out to a massive early lead in the series, but LOUD battled back to set up an attempt at a reverse sweep. In the end, SEN finally stopped slipping and put the Brazilians away in dominant fashion on Lotus.
LOUD continued to perma-ban Breeze, and despite
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses
North America
Rank #21
Derrek
Derrek Ha
NaturE
Nicholas Garrison
supamen
Phat Le
icy
Jacob Lange
yay
Jaccob Whiteaker
showcasing counterplay to LOUD's flash rush Ascent composition, SEN still chose to take it off the board. LOUD returned the favor by picking into SEN's best map, Sunset.
SEN had their way on their attack, getting the spike planted in every round. LOUD's lack of a sentinel or information agent led to them pushing and peeking aggressively on defense. When that aggression got them an early advantage, they were able to coordinate some successful retakes, but SEN easily converted a 5-1 lead into eight rounds at the half.
SEN coordinated well across the series.The plethora of blinding abilities at LOUD's disposal allowed them to easily take map control or sites on their own attack, but SEN threw together extremely drilled utility combos to retake on the A site. Unable to turn the tides, LOUD fell 13-9.
The duo of Sacy and TenZ combined for 21 more kills than deaths. saadhak 's Sova was often disconnected from his team, and he finished at the bottom of the scoreboard with an 0-4 opening duel record.
Although SEN lost Split to LOUD the last time they played, an array of dominant wins during the tournament gave them the confidence to pick it again. That confidence was not misplaced, and SEN repeated their 13-3 scoreline that qualified them to Madrid over
NRG Esports
NRG Esports
North America
Rank #4
FiNESSE
Pujan Mehta
s0m
Sam Oh
Verno
Andrew Maust
mada
Adam Pampuch
Ethan
Ethan Arnold
.
The B site anchors from SEN got lonely as LOUD hit the A site for the first eight rounds to little avail. The site executes were disjointed, particularly from tuyz who often only supplied his teammates a single smoke for the hit while he lurked from the other side of the map.
Down by two maps, LOUD went to Icebox to keep themselves in the series. They ran into a couple of pop flash traps from TenZ towards B, but for the first time in the series, they started to string together rounds. The Harbor Cove got them safe spike plants leading to an 8-4 halftime lead.
Superb utility.On the other half, SEN's Gekko Wingman was far less effective at securing safe spike plants. However, LOUD were unable to stave off the site executes that SEN set up in the midround. Despite losing the pistol, a second round Stinger force-buy allowed SEN to storm back to take an 11-10 lead. With their backs against the wall, LOUD pulled off a miraculous eco win to tie the game, and they took the map 13-11.
SEN looked shaky after throwing away their comeback on Icebox. LOUD brought another Phoenix flash rush composition to Bind, and they ran over SEN on their attack. SEN managed just two first bloods and three rounds defending against the onslaught.
Good luck.After losing the pistol round, SEN once again went to their Stinger force-buy to try another comeback. Four rounds in a row gave them some hope, but LOUD still converted the map 13-8 after pulling off some strong retakes.
In a series full of streaky maps, Lotus was no exception. LOUD's Phoenix composition again showed defensive weaknesses. SEN picked off aggressive players and blitzed the extremities of the map for six rounds in a row to start their attack.
SEN extended their lead to 11-2 with the help of a second pistol win, and then it was LOUD's turn to try their hand at the Stinger force-buy. Although it succeeded, a few extra rounds were too little too late to prevent SEN from closing the series with a 13-4 victory.
Slipping away from LOUD.Across the series, all three of TenZ, zekken , and johnqt finished with 14 more kills than deaths. Every single player in the server besides johnqt had a better kill differential on attack, as every map but Split became an attackers paradise.
Both teams have qualified to Masters Madrid where they will represent the Americas at a tiny eight team event. The win got SEN three circuit points which will set them ahead massively if they fail to qualify directly to Champions at the end of the year.
Banner image by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games