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The VCT Americas League has been going strong, with 10 Valorant-partnered squads competing against each other to see who gets the trophy. Week 2's third game featured NRG taking on Sentinels, where the latter failed to secure even a single map in the best-of-three series. While they have maintained a strong fan following since in Valorant esports, the NA side has been in a rough spot lately.
With NRG defeating Sentinels, the latter will now have to work hard on their strategies to win the rest of their matches in the VCT Americas League 2023.
SyykoNT from Sentinels shares his thoughts on Sentinels' performance in VCT Americas League
Don "SyykoNT" Muir is an American professional Valorant personality who is currently assigned as Sentinels' head coach. This individual is a popular esports veteran who has previously guided teams like XSET and Pretty Boyz in the past.
In an interview with Kushal Bhattacharyya of Sportskeeda, SyykoNT was asked to share his thoughts on his team's recent game against NRG.
Q: How much do you think Sentinels has improved since the recent LOCK//IN tournament in Brazil?
SyykoNT: I think our improvement since LOCK//IN has been pretty great. Obviously, we still have a long way to go to be a championship-level team, but I'm very proud of the progress we have made. Unfortunately, we didn't display that progress today. We came in and didn't play at that level like we did the last two weeks.
We are really disappointed in ourselves with that, and the only thing left to do is to get back to work this week and start to implement some consistency. Come back next week and show off what we are made of.
Q: What were your expectations for taking NRG at the tournament today?
SyykoNT: No expectations. We never underestimate any of our opponents. We just come in, ready to find them throughout the last round. There are no bad teams in the VCT Americas League. Obviously, Chet and FNS have established that in the last couple of years, and they are a force to be reckoned with. It is always a hard-fought battle against them, as it would be with any team in this league. We are just taking it one week at a time.
Q: Where do you think Sentinels struggled the most in today's matchup, considering they had an outstanding game against 100 Thieves last week?
SyykoNT: I think the main thing for us was confidence and communication. I think both of those things were lacking severely. We tried to rectify them in timeouts and between maps as well. Unfortunately, we could not get the train back on the tracks. We just start off too slow; the energy was low. We were not communicating or formulating plans well. For that, they, unfortunately, punished us.
Q: Sentinels itself has a pretty strong roster in the Americas. What do you think sets Sentinels apart from the rest of the teams in the VCT Americas League?
SyykoNT: It's hard to say. Like I said, there are no bad teams in VCT Americas League. Everybody's very good. I would say we have a lot of experience with this team. At a high level, too, a lot of LAN experience. Hopefully, that plays in our favor. Unfortunately, if we keep showing performances like this, then that experience is not displayed properly.
Q: You will be facing Lev next game. What are your expectations from the matchup?
SyykoNT: Leviatán is always a tough matchup. We played those guys back in XSET and in Copenhagen. We have been practicing against them a ton. Both in this event and back in Brazil. They are a great team with solid fundamentals and great discipline.
It is going to take a really good showing from us to come in. We will have to out-call them and out-maneuver them. I would foresee it going into three maps.
Q: What are your thoughts on Bind replacing Icebox soon? Would you rather have it replaced with another map?
SyykoNT: No, I think it has been a very long time coming. I think Icebox is a very one-dimensional map. Kind of disappointed that they are making a change in the middle of the season and not earlier. But you know, it is what it is, right? It's up to us to adapt. The teams that can adapt can perform the best.
It is the right choice with the map. I'm excited to see Bind come back and, hopefully, have a mixup in the map pool and the meta. Interested to see what kind of compositions teams will pull out of it.
