After over four years of competing in Valorant, three of which spent as the face of
Sentinels
Sentinels
North America
Rank #3
N4RRATE
Marshall Massey
bang
Sean Bezerra
Zellsis
Jordan Montemurro
zekken
Zachary Patrone
johnqt
Mohamed Amine Ouarid
, Tyson "TenZ"
Ngo has announced his retirement. The talent stated that he will be remaining with the organization, albeit not as a player. This change for Sentinels comes after a recent fourth place finish at Champions Seoul, a notable finish to the organization's fruitful year in the VCT.
Among the initial batch of Counter Strike pros to migrate to the Valorant scene back in 2020, TenZ kicked off his new career under
Cloud9
Cloud9
North America
Rank #8
Xeppaa
Erick Bach
v1c
Victor Truong
mitch
Mitch Semago
neT
Michael Bernet
OXY
Francis Hoang
's first Valorant roster. In the early stages of the game's development, TenZ was highly-regarded as one of the best Duelist players in the scene. His explosive playstyle allowed his team to make many deep runs in tournaments.
However, TenZ would suddenly retire – for the first time – in early 2021 to pursue content creation, attributing the lack of offline events and unsatisfying tournament results under Cloud9 Blue.
Nearly two months later, Sentinels found themselves in a pinch after star-player Jay "sinatraa" Won was temporarily suspended from competing by Riot, forcing the organization to frantically search for a replacement to assist them for Stage 1 of the 2021 VCT. TenZ was loaned from Cloud9 and returned to the scene just in time to push Sentinels towards the first international event of VCT history, Masters Reykjavik 2021.
The global stage was where TenZ captured the hearts of fans. He fit perfectly into the five-map unit and slotted right into the team Shahzeb "ShahZaM"
Khan lead. Ready to showcase their talents to the world, Sentinels dominated Reykavik 2021 without dropping a map and began gaining supporters following their 3-0 over
FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Rank #6
crashies
Austin Roberts
Boaster
Jake Howlett
kaajak
Kajetan Haremski
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
in the grand finals. From there, TenZ and the rest of North America's best stepped foot on every global stage in the VCT that year.
The first five to ever do it. (Photo: Riot Games/Colin Young-Wolff)
Following a 2021 full of regional domination, Sentinels' dynasty began to show cracks. The next two years would see the North American powerhouse shuffle players around in hopes of making Masters and Champions. Unfortunately, after a 2022 full of lackluster results, the organization would rebuild the roster from scratch, bidding farewell to almost all the former players that once hoisted Reykjavik's trophy. The time prior to the commencement of the franchised system prompted countless teams to conduct roster overhauls, with only the best of the best remaining as star players.
TenZ alone survived the rostermania and Sentinels entered 2023 with a brand-new squad in hopes of finding more success. Once again, however, the team was unable to replicate the highs they once achieved in the VCT and failed to pick up a single win internationally. Once again, the organization made internal changes to prepare for the following year, and once again, TenZ began preparing with his new teammates for the next season.
After two years of beatdowns and upsetting placements, Sentinels finally qualified for their first international event of the season; Masters Madrid. The team upset many fan favorites within the Americas Kickoff to re-establish regional dominance and ignite the engine that would fuel their global run.
While in Spain, Sentinels defeated powerhouse after powerhouse to advance all the way to the grand finals. Throughout it all, TenZ held his own against other household names, even after finding himself in a brand-new Controller role. A 3-1 victory over
Paper Rex
Paper Rex
Asia-Pacific
Rank #6
mindfreak
Aaron Leonhart
Jinggg
Wang Jing Jie
f0rsakeN
Jason Susanto
d4v41
Khalish Rusyaidee
something
Ilya Petrov
pitted North America's sole representative in a match against
Gen.G
Gen.G
Korea
Rank #1
Foxy9
Jung Jae-sung (정재성)
t3xture
Kim Na-ra (김나라)
Munchkin
Byeon Sang-beom (변상범)
yoman
Chae Young-moon (채영문)
Karon
Kim Won-tae (김원태)
in a bid for the title, which ended in TenZ hoisting his second Masters trophy in three years.
Absolute cinema. (Photo: Riot Games/Colin Young-Wolff)
Despite missing out on Masters Shanghai, the Championship Points accumulated by Sentinels throughout their Kickoff and Madrid runs qualified them to Champions as the fourth seed from the Americas League. A group of death left the team unfazed as they took down
FunPlus Phoenix
FunPlus Phoenix
China
Rank #8
Autumn
Kale Dunne
Life
Qu Donghao (瞿东豪)
AAAAY
Zhang Yang (张杨)
BerLIN
Zhang Bolin (張柏霖)
yosemite
Wang Lei (王磊)
and Gen.G to qualify for Seoul's playoffs.
In their last run of the year, Sentinels defeated
DRX
DRX
Korea
Rank #4
Flashback
Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁)
MaKo
Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관)
free1ng
No Ha-jun (노하준)
HYUNMIN
Song Hyun-min (송현민)
BeYN
Kang Ha-bin (강하빈)
before falling to the lower bracket courtesy of
EDward Gaming
EDward Gaming
China
Rank #1
S1Mon
Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋)
ZmjjKK
Zheng Yongkang (郑永康)
nobody
Wang Senxu (王森旭)
CHICHOO
Wan Shunzhi (万顺治)
Smoggy
Zhang Zhao (张钊)
, the future champions. Poetically, the last match that TenZ would go on to win in his competitive career was against FNATIC, the very team that he once defeated to claim his first-ever trophy.
Unfortunately for Sentinels, their run at Champs would end after
Team Heretics
Team Heretics
Europe
Rank #1
MiniBoo
Dominykas Lukaševičius
Wo0t
Mert Alkan
RieNs
Enes Ecirli
benjyfishy
Benjamin David Fish
Boo
Ričardas Lukaševičius
shattered their dreams of advancing in a three-map match, closing the chapter on TenZ's competitive journey.
Years of competing amassed TenZ a large following on social media as one of – if not the – most well-known Valorant players. The former pro now takes a rest from competing professionally and will continue creating content with a relaxed schedule.
Sentinels
Sentinels
North America
Rank #3
N4RRATE
Marshall Massey
bang
Sean Bezerra
Zellsis
Jordan Montemurro
zekken
Zachary Patrone
johnqt
Mohamed Amine Ouarid
are now: