by Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, Sentinels’ star player, has extended his contract with the franchise. The North American esports organization made the announcement on October 12, after much speculation concerning the player to fill the team’s fifth roster spot.
TenZ will carry on his run with the Sentinels in the 2023 VCT season as the only returning player from the 2022 lineup. For the past few weeks, the Valorant player’s future with the team has been undecided, mainly because of the new influx of players. TenZ’s contract with the NA team lasted until the end of 2022.
Earlier reports revealed that TenZ and the Sentinels were in negotiations for the player to extend his time with the team. However, the deal was yet to be completed.
The Sentinels brought on some new coaches, including Adam Kaplan and Don “SyykoNT” Muir, to help create a champion lineup for the fast-approaching Valorant season. According to prior reports, the Canadian Duelist was among the top options considered for the roster.
The announcement post revealed that the new roster would be “built around” TenZ, who is known as one of the best players in the world despite the Sentinels’ poor performance this year. The player’s contract extension with the organization is possibly Sentinel’s most impressive accomplishment during the VCT offseason.
TenZ initially joined the Los Angeles-based franchise in June 2021 after the issue with Jay “sinatraa” Won, and as such, it was no surprise the team were not equipped to receive the player at the time. The contract purchase from Cloud9 was reportedly a “seven-figure deal.” TenZ went on to share roles with former fellow CS:GO player Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan.
During the VCT 2023 rebuild, ShahZam was placed on the bench, and TenZ’s recent contract extension revealed that he would hold the reins in his more familiar role.
The Sentinels have certainly been occupied with the VCT rostermania since the Valorant teams were announced. The team took on former XSET coach SyykoNT and two players from the franchise, superstar Zachary “zekken” Patrone and Rory “Dephh” Jackson, to boost the squad, although the latter has yet to be announced.
TenZ’s four other teammates from last season, including ShahZaM, Hunter ‘SicK’ Mims, Michael ‘dapr’ Gulino, and Jared ‘zombs’ Gitlin, have been benched and allowed to look into other options. SicK and zombs were initially not part of the Valorant lineup toward the end of the season. SicK previously took some time off and cited personal reasons, while zombs was replaced mid-season.
Dapr was benched earlier to create space for the Sentinels’ new intakes, Brazilian stars Bryan “pancada” Luna and Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi from LOUD. The team’s former in-game leader, ShaZaM, on the other hand, will become a free agent after his contract with the team expires.
The Sentinels are one of the 10 organizations selected for the VCT 2023 Americas league and will compete in the league next year during the February Kick-off tournament. Other American squads with a similarly impressive roster for the 2023 season include Evil Geniuses, FURIA, LOUD, Cloud9, and NRG.
