Are Sentinels the Best Team in NA?

North American VALORANT is arguably the weakest it’s ever been. Despite two top 4 finishes from G2 Esports and NRG at Masters Santiago just a month ago, both teams are 1-2 in Stage 1 as of Week 3, and need to win out on their last two games to qualify for playoffs. In fact, the only NA team with a positive record halfway through the group stage is… Sentinels?

After a less-than-stellar 9th-10th finish in Americas Kickoff, Sentinels retooled their roster, starting with letting go of coach Kaplan. In true SEN fashion, this change sparked some controversy, as CEO Rob Moore went on a stream and stated the new roster schematics (johnqt off IGL, Kyu on IGL, N4RRATE on entry duelist) were all Kaplan’s idea, and due to their contract with him, he had full say on the roster despite the rest of the organization not agreeing with him. His replacement is Ewok, who formerly coached RRQ during their Stage 1 win. The new regime let go of N4RRATE and Kyu, replacing them with ex-G2 player JonahP and tier 2 star Jerrwin. Additionally, johnqt returned to IGLing for the team. The team started off shaky, facing an unknown KRÜ team with emergency substitute Victor in a close 0-2 loss. However, since getting Jerrwin back, the team has looked strong, achieving convincing wins over 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses in 2-0 fashion.

The SEN roster for Americas Kickoff, posed together for a picture.  (Left → Right: cortezia, Kyu, N4RRATE, johnqt, Reduxx)

However, week 3 standings don’t tell the whole story. Sentinels have yet to face both FURIA and NRG, the two teams seen as the strongest heading into Stage 1. While their wins are still impressive, it’s very likely they’d end up going 2-3 in the group. Meanwhile, both NRG & G2 are 1-2 at the moment, which looks bad… until you see who they’ve faced. G2’s losses came to MIBR and LEVIATÁN, who are currently atop their group at 2-1 & 3-0 respectively. Meanwhile, NRG’s losses have been at the hands of FURIA and KRÜ, who are also 2-1 & 3-0 respectively. Those two teams have very easy schedules going forward, and will likely go 3-2 to make Stage 1 playoffs.

New SEN pickup Jerrwin after the team’s 2-0 win over Evil Geniuses, bringing them up to a 2-1 record.

In short, while it looks like SEN has taken the North American crown, they’ve yet to face their hardest matches. Meanwhile, G2 and NRG have both faced their toughest opponents, and are likely going to cruise into Stage 1 playoffs with 3-2 records.