Total Shorty Kills
The Story Behind Sentinels Valorant Team
Antonio
09/01/2020
When talking about the story behind Sentinels, the talented esports organization that joined the Valorant competitive ecosystem, we aren’t talking about the classical mixture of players. By classical, we’re referring to the typical roster structure that incorporates ex-CSGO players. Instead, Sentinels opted for a different approach; they opted for a mix between former CSGO, Apex Legends, and Overwatch players.
Unfortunately, we can’t know what sort of performance this roster will display on the upcoming events. What we can do is give you a glimpse into Sentinels’ players, their past experience, accomplishments, and stats.
Sentinels Esports Organization
The story of Sentinels Esports organization begins in 2016 with League of Legends NA team Phoenix1. In 2016, the team purchased LCS spot from Impulse and started competing in NA region. They played in LCS 2016 and 2017 season and even won Rift Rivals in 2017. However, Phoenix didn’t last for a long time. On June 7, 2018, the organization rebranded into Sentinels.
Even though they started as a small LoL team, they do not play League anymore. The organization currently competes across 5 different games including Fortnite, Hearthstone, Apex Legends, Legends of Runeterra, and Valorant.
Sentinels Valorant Team
The beginning of Sentinels Valorant team actually predates the game itself. The CEO of Sentinels Rob Moore used to lead Overwatch team Los Angeles Gladiators. During the Overwatch League, he met Jay “sinatraa” Won, who he later built the first Valorant squad around. The funny thing is, sinatraa wasn’t a player form Gladiators, he was the captain of their biggest competitor, San Francisco Shock. Not so long after that, sinatraa announced his retirement from Overwatch to pursue a career in Valorant.
“We had been involved in Overwatch for the first two seasons and watched the way sinatraa competed and how he rose to the challenge of competing against the best players in the world, It is rare you get the opportunity to sign a reigning world champion and MVP.”
CEO Rob Moore
Finally, on April 28th, Sentinels announced their Valorant roster which was composed of:
- Jay “sinatraa” Won
- Jared “zombs” Gitlin
- Shahzeeb “ShahZaM” Khan
- Hunter “SicK” Mims
- Michael “dapr” Gulino
Looking into Sentinels Valorant Roster
Unlike other Valorant teams, this team is unique in many ways. They didn’t take the obvious path like every other successful Valorant team that took former professional CS:GO players to fill their rosters. Instead, former Overwatch player sinatraa and Apex Legends player zombs joined forces with two CS:GO pros, ShaZaM and SicK.
“I think after competing at a high level in Overwatch and Apex [Legends], we had an appreciation for their skill level involved in getting the best of a character’s ultimate ability, so I think we put a higher value on that combination than others.”
CEO Rob Moore
Jay “sinatraa” Won
Sinatraa is a 20 year-old American and a former Overwatch player. He is best known for winning Overwatch League 2019 and Overwatch World Cup 2019. Truth to be told, Sinatraa stepped down from Overwatch at the highest peak of his career and started pursuing career in Valorant. He is currently playing as an in-game leader and his most used Agents are Sova, Phoenix, and Raze.
Jared “zombs” Gitlin
Zombs is a 21-year-old former Apex Legends and Overwatch pro player. Jared didn’t actually join Sentinels, he was already a member of this team competing in a different game. However, zombs decided to switch to Valorant to play alongside his friend sinatraa. He is currently playing as a support player and his most used Agents are Brimstone and Omen.
Shahzeeb “ShahZaM” Khan
ShahZaM is a 26-year-old American and former CS:GO player. Probably the most known player with a successful career behind him. He used to be AWPer for Tier 1 teams like Cloud9, OpTic, TSM, and Complexity Gaming. With that in mind, he didn’t really have to leave CS:GO but he still chose to do so. ShaHZaM is currently playing as a riffler and AWPer and his main Agents are Breach, Sova, and Jett.
Hunter “SicK” Mims
SicK is a 21-year-old American and another former CS:GO player. He used to play with ShahZaM in TSM, Misfits, and Complexity and saw this as an opportunity to reunite with his teammate. He is currently playing as a support and his main Agents are Sage, Phoenix, and Cypher.
Michael “dapr” Gulino
The fifth member of this team also used to play CS:GO on a professional level. He is a 21-year-old American with a poor CS:GO career. Michael switched between 12 CS:GO teams until he decided it is time to switch careers and go to Valorant. He is currently playing as a rifler and support with either Cypher or Sova.
Make sure to come back to RunItBack for more interesting Valorant stories, news and guides.
