He’s back: TenZ says the confidence with Sentinels at Master Madrid feels ‘nostalgic’

Returning to the international stage at VCT Masters Madrid 2024, TenZ and Sentinels are the center of attention after a three-year absence.

In the pre-Masters press conference, TenZ expressed confidence in Sentinels’ abilities despite external skepticism built around the three-year absence of the player and his team on the international stage. Pointing to their experience and understanding of the game, TenZ highlighted the factors that set him and his team apart from other participants to the Masters in Madrid. He also acknowledged the challenges posed by new teams coming into the international stage, as well as the team needing some time to adjust to different monitor rates heading into the tournament in Madrid.

“We understand the game a lot better than what previous years would be and I think as a team we understand each other and we trust each other a lot,” TenZ said. “And I would say recently this current iteration of Sentinels has been giving me not necessarily flashbacks, but it feels nostalgic to have this level of confidence moving into future matches.”

TenZ credited Sentinels for enabling his aggressive playstyle, emphasizing their support in facilitating his ability to make impactful plays no matter what agent he picked—though he said he’d pick Omen “80 percent of the time.” 

Despite the high percentage pick rate, TenZ still considers himself to be a flex within Sentinels. He explained that while he and the team have experimented with other controllers in the past, like Harbor and Astra, Omens’ strengths paired with the “X factor” that is TenZ make for a deadly combination on VALORANT. 

Reflecting on Omen’s strengths, the player highlighted the versatility of smokes and the utility of one-way setups for area control—a must for individuals who thrive when in solo. “With Omen there’s definitely more times I can do more individual plays than if I was playing another controller,” TenZ said before further explaining the advantages he can get from playing Omen over a duelist like Jett when it comes to individual plays, comparing the two agents. 

Even in relation to the current meta, and the tendency of teams to field a double duelist comp, TenZ said it “feels a lot better” to play Omen over any duelist as he is “more comfortable” at being able to set up plays for his teammates and then play around them. This, combined with Sentinels’ improved performance thanks to an “enhanced cohesion within the team,” resulted in newfound synergy both in-game and outside it for TenZ and his teammates, according to the player.

Despite the overall scene looking at TenZ and Sentinels with high expectations, they remain focused on their goal of success at VCT Masters Madrid, which begins tomorrow at 9am CT.