Usually, the top teams in Apex Legends wait to make roster changes until after a big event like a LAN. But it appears Sentinels are intent on getting back into Apex just a few days after dropping their former rosterāand Spacestation Gaming, instead, will be the org departing from the scene.
According to a report by Tom Bull for Esports.gg, Sentinels will sign the current SSG roster to compete in the Split One Playoffs next weekend in London. The trio of Joseph “Frexs” Sanchez, Angello “xenial” Cardenas, and Mark “DROPPED” Thees have represented SSG as a trio for more than a year, with Frexs and xenial originally being picked up by the org nearly two years ago.
According to Bull’s report, DROPPED may or may not stick around with Sentinels after the conclusion of the Split One Playoffs. Recent third party tournaments like Hyperluxe’s Oversight Circuit saw DROPPED instead play with OpTic Gaming, while SSG competed in the Split playoffs with longtime Complexity member Bowen “Monsoon” Fuller. Frexs and xenial have also been spotted in various tournaments and scrims competing with other players, like CLG’s Robert “Dimi” Johnson and Mac “Albralelie” Beckwith.
Regardless, Sentinels should return to the top of the heap in North America with the move. While the former Sentinels core of Adam “senoxe” Lau and Nicholas “Crust” Kell was long-regarded as one of the most fearsome teams to fight in North America, the team looked like a shell of their former selves over the course of 2022, failing to qualify for both LAN tournaments in year two of ALGS before being relegated to the Pro League qualification tournament after the first split of year three.
On the other hand, the current SSG roster has long been lauded as one of the region’s most consistent teams. They have not failed to finish in the top 10 of NA Pro League since its inception in 2021, and finished in sixth and fifth place in the last two ALGS Championships.
The biggest question mark for the Sentinels’ new look will be exactly what the full team will look like come Split Two of Pro League. If DROPPED does indeed leave for OpTic gaming, there are plenty of viable free agents that can round out the team, including the aforementioned players. Monsoon and Albralelie both represent part of the old guard of pro Apex, and both are well-regarded in the Apex scene. Both have also spent time as IGLs or co-IGLs in their squads. Those ideas should fit the culture of the new Sentinels well, as the team has showed off a somewhat-fluid approach to IGLing (with Frexs as one of NA’s most experienced IGLs).
However it all shakes out, it seems that the North American Apex rostermania is about to get a whole lot more hectic with just a week to go before the Split One Playoffs begin on Feb. 2.
