Shroud blames lack of practice for Sentinels’ exit from NA VCT LCQ

Shroud recently discussed on stream how Sentinels’ lack of practice was their downfall during the 2022 North American VCT Last Chance Qualifier. 

Sentinels were a popular pick among fans to win the LCQ after the team signed shroud and Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro to fill out the roster for one last shot at VALORANT Champions. Throughout 2022, Sentinels struggled to perform up to the expectations that they had set for themselves the year before with back-to-back Masters wins. While the team did retain its roster during the offseason, there was a lack of coordination in the new year.

With shroud and Zellsis on the team, fans thought they had a promising chance at taking home the LCQ title. But shroud feels a lack of practice is what ultimately did them in. 

“We had fucking five days to practice before 100 Thieves,” shroud said. “We didn’t practice, Tyson (TenZ) got really, really sick. Unlucky, I think he’s feeling much better now, which is good, but fuck man. We had plans, we were going to change some comps up, we were gonna have a good time.”

Related: Shroud on VALORANT franchising in Los Angeles: ‘I would love to play’

100 Thieves eliminated Sentinels from the LCQ during an intense best-of-three in the lower bracket that saw Sentinels getting reverse swept. Sentinels only played three matches during the LCQ, two of which were against the teams that eventually met in the grand final in The Guard and 100 Thieves. Despite bowing out of the tournament early, Sentinels were still able to sweep Shopify Rebellion and push the other two matches to a third map.

The future of Sentinels is unknown with franchising on the horizon, but Zellsis has confirmed that he will be staying with the team heading into 2023.