Did Sentinels peak at the exact perfect time?

Been seeing this narrative being thrown around a lot and honestly it makes sense.

EG disbanded, PRX lost their best and most impactful player and adopted an objectively worse playstyle before because of it, LOUD lost their best and most impactful player and adopted an objectively worse playstyle than before because of it, DRX disbanded, the Kick Off format allowed teams like FNC and NRG to be gone after a single loss, the entirety of EMEA got exposed for not bringing FNC, etc etc.

Sentinels managed to peak in an 8 team Masters tournament on top of that, less teams = less chances of losing, which means they don't have to spend time prepping to face 3rd seeds (as an example, EG was Americas 3rd seed for Masters Tokyo yet still made the final). The fact that LOUD without aspas and PRX without Jinggg made it this far with objectively worse players is honestly just proof in that this might be one of, if not the weakest internationals in which SEN successfully managed to peak for, especially compared to what we've seen just last year (the quality of gameplay at the top took a big hit honestly).

Proud of them securing a trophy though at least, even if it's a bit fraudulent. Hope they can keep this form up for Shanghai 💪💪💪

honestly rewatching some vods from last year's top 4 rn and yeah I just can't see SEN beating these teams with the mistakes they regularly make (yet they still win with them). We're so lucky lets go.

Just goes to show how mickey mouse this tourney is

the real teams are all preparing for shanghai

why you always write paragraphs

i dont think they peaked yet. they have elite maps but their overall map pool is wonky. i see their potential with maps like split, sunset and lotus. they just need to figure it out elsewhere and they can continue to be one of the best

All fair points, but can't deny they are an extremely good team.

On the other hand, most of it doesn't matter. They've beat all of who most would say are the strongest teams right now. And hypothetical results are meaningless. Only what actually happened.

As for 8 team tournament being fraudulent, absolutely. But still, they deserve all the success, the players are all COOKING right now.

Yes SEN definitely are in better form than PRX, LOUD, NRG, FNC. They simply have played too much LAN and their prep is of the best at the moment.

"Peaked" is a strong word. It implies SEN cannot get any better or are close to their best. I think once the the other teams I mentioned fix their glaring issues, then we will see if SEN can rise to that level.

For now, I don't mind the use of the word "peaked", they are playing at their best right now.

Yes very true, low competition Mickey Mouse tourney

They definitely haven't peaked. They're average to terrible on like 3 maps. And ignoring split, they can also improve substantially on their other good maps. I'm not sure how you can logically call that peaking. As long as they keep grinding, they'll only get stronger as the year progresses.

this skibidiyesyes guy has only been hating in his posts like bro do some else.

EU coping so hard its insane 😭😭😭

I mean every 1st event has lower quality teams than the champions the year before.

Couldn't this be said after every year be considered like this cuz u could say, oh well fnatic peaked last year cuz gambit split and and loud lost sacy and pancada or loud won 2022 champs because acend or sen fell off after 2021. Like teams have a point in time where they are able to win, not just because everyone fell off but because they got better. I don't think that this event is any less competitive than any other masters.

Yesshitskiiii alt confirmed

I think this is very fair. However, what you are missing is that the first tournament of the year will always be of a lower quality than champs. The meta and map pool have all been reset, so it is natural that teams are playing worse than Champs 23. Also, players are just always rusty towards the beginning even if they are scrimming non-stop. I think what is impressive is Sen's read on the meta, set ideas, anti-strats, and calling all of which are factors that other winning teams have had and relied on.

facts

Facts

i mean for this tournament yea but the perfect time to peak is at champs.

I think it's too early to say. imo Sentinels are winning thanks to sorting role and player issues pretty early on, built team chemistry very quickly and they got a lot of off season matches to happen, so progress-wise they seem at minimum like a couple of months ahead of other teams. They've clearly practiced a lot, but have lots of kinks they need to work out; but i feel like the skill ceiling for them will only grow more. The win will still be deserved considering the work it still took to get even to this point so far.

That being said, the main reason I say that it's too early is because every team progresses at different rates, we are bound to see different teams do well as they sort out their shit. A good player is only as good as his team allows him to be, so there are many many potential promising talents this season that are going to start popping off once things get refitted.

All in all, I'm hyped for the rest of the season regardless. I'm already consistently pulling all nighters to watch these stupid Masters matches.

12 team but regional winner getting a pass to playoff
fnatic only won 4 games in tokyo

sen already won 3 games and they need at least 2 more games to claim madrid

madrid>>>> mickey mouse tokyo lol

This Masters is a mickey mouse, Sentinels will flop the next two events.