2-time ‘Valorant‘ Masters winners Sentinels have been officially eliminated from VCT Americas Kickoff 2026. After a complete roster overhaul in the off-season, Sentinels fell short against Leviatán, shattering fans’ hopes of seeing their favourite org in Santiago.
The whole VCT Americas Kickoff 2026 was a brutal reality check for the region’s beloved franchise. Despite the high expectations following the complete roster overhaul and leadership changes, the team struggled in almost every series and finished in disappointing 9th-10th place alongside ENVY.
A Rocky Start Against FURIA And Survival Against Evil Geniuses
Sentinels had a rough start. They met Furia in the first match of the season. Many fans expect Sen to get an easy win; however, they got clean-swept by the Brazilian org. The newly built roster struggled to contain the Furia’s aggression and got run over the whole series.
Former IGL Johnqt delivered his best performance in the series, topping the server with a 1.75 rating. But his lone brilliance wasn’t enough to overcome systemic issues. While Johnqt was picking clean frags, that too as a controller, the team’s mid-rounding felt disjointed. Sentinels failed miserably to close out tight rounds and eventually dropped the series 0-2 with scores 5-13 and 11-13 on Split and Breeze, respectively.
After that, Sentinels dropped down to the Middle Bracket and got to face Evil Geniuses. They fixed some of the issues from their last series and provided a glimmer of hope for the fans, and managed to secure a 2-0 victory.
Both Reduxx and johnqt did the heavy lifting in this series and clutched some of the unwinnable rounds for the team. However, the cracks in the team coordination were still visible. Sen heavily relied on “hero plays,” and tactical execution again looked weak.
Sentinels Collapsed Against 100 Thieves and Leviatán
In the next round, Sentinels faced their favourite rival, 100 Thieves. Sen fans were somewhat confident for this matchup as org had defeated 100 Thieves in every meeting after losing to them in the 2022 LCQ.
However, their momentum after clean-sweeping Evil Geniuses was short-lived. Sentinels once again got clean-swept in the season, but this time with very close margins, with 11-13 on Corrode and 14-16 on Split.
Now, Former Master champions are in the final elimination pool, where they would meet Leviatán to keep their hopes alive. For this series, coach Kaplan finally moved Reduxx on Waylay. Fans already anticipated that, as he was spamming the agent in ranked games the whole week. But this was of no use.
Related: VCT Americas Kickoff: Sentinels And ENVY Eliminated Following Double Clean Sweep
Sentinels struggled on their own map pick, Corrode, and had a very weak first half. Later, they tried to bring it down but lost the map with a 10-13 score. On the second map, Bind, Sen again looked in poor form but made a magical comeback, winning eight consecutive rounds to reach match point.
However, once again, the communication and coordination looked poor and gave Leviatán the opportunity to force overtime. Sentinels once again choked a map and got eliminated from the event, shattering their dream to feature in the first international series of the year.
Sentinels’ Tactical Failure And The IGL Crisis
Despite pulling off some “hero plays” and decent shooting throughout the Kickoff 2026 event, it was visible that there was a massive failure in leadership structure. Sen moved johnqt from primary calling to “free him up” to let him shoot, which worked well for his individual stats. But this move backfired tactically.
Without John’s calm mid-round adjustments, which fans saw in both the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the team struggled in 5v5 executes.
Additionally, Cortezia, the anchor that Sen brought from MIBR, had a very minimal impact throughout the event. The “N4RRATE-Reduxx” experiment also failed to produce the synergy fans expected, as both players often stepped on each other’s toes rather than creating space for one another.
With the new 2026 format, Sentinels have already missed the opportunity to in-cash the free pass and must now look forward to fixing things before VCT Americas Stage 1.
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Since it’s very early in the season, fans can expect some internal changes. Management may go back to Johnqt for IGLing. Additionally, they also have to find a fix for their entry coordination. Now, Sentinels have more than a month to fix those cracks if they actually want to get the ticket for the next international event, Valorant Masters London, and ultimately, Valorant Champions Shanghai.
