Sentinels has finally signed a VALORANT analyst to pump some life back into its roster, announcing the acquisition of Matt “Weltis” Liu today. Liu will join the recently re-tooled roster and help them prepare for perhaps their last stop of the year, the NA VCT Last Chance Qualifier.
The hiring of Liu takes place precisely four weeks after the Sentinels organization put out the call for two “Strategic Analyst positions for our VALORANT team,” opening its inbox to any and all applicants. Amidst some rather silly responses was the resume of Liu, a premier VALORANT statistician who previously worked with Riot during the NA VCT Stage Two broadcasts. Over the past few months, he’s created and shared numerous graphics on his social media platforms, showcasing team statistics, player value, map and pistol round win percentages, and more.
Liu will join coach Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty in helping direct a Sentinels team that looks drastically different from the team that dominated a huge portion of 2021 on both the domestic and international levels. Sentinels fell short of both Masters events this year, after attending all three international events in 2021 and winning the first-ever Masters tournament. Stage One this year ended in a first-round playoff exit for Sentinels, and Stage Two fared even worse with an 0-5 group stage record.
During Stage Two, the team struggled amidst roster inconsistency, with new addition Kanpeki struggling to contribute, both TenZ and SicK missing a match due to COVID, and finally SicK taking extensive time off due to family matters and mental health concerns. Earlier this month, the team took two huge swings with their roster, signing Version1 flex player Zellsis and legendary streamer and former CS:GO pro shroud to the team ahead of NA LCQ. They will join the well-established trio of ShahZaM, TenZ, and dapr in hopes of pulling together one last run and sneaking into VCT Champions.
The NA LCQ is scheduled for August, but no official start date has been given yet.
