Sentinels defeat Cloud 9 and win the PAX Arena Invitational VALORANT event. This is the team’s first major tournament victory.

The finals began on Ascent, a map where Sentinels dominated the opposition. The team started with a dominating 7-1 start. Cloud 9’s Tenz’s heroic Jett plays brought Cloud 9 back, however, Sinatraa and crew were able to stave off the opponent and they won 13-11. Unfortunately for the champions, Cloud 9 expectedly managed to dominate on Haven, winning 13-6. Both teams fought tooth and nail on Bind. The map score stayed even throughout, but SICK’s heroic clutches on Sage won the map for Sentinels, bringing the series to match point. Luckily for them, map 4 was to be on Split, the map where Sentinels had a 100% win rate. Sentinels dominated the map from the very beginning. While Cloud 9 began to show signs of life and began to march a comeback, SICK, once again, clutched the match point round. Sentinels won the series with a 3-1 score.

Prior to the event, Sentinels were a major underdog. TSM and T1, both teams being considered as the best in North America, were competing. Sentinels’ key factors attributing to their victory showed after their domination over tournament favorites TSM. Sinatraa overwhelmed TSM with his aggressive and unpredictable entries on Phoenix and Sova. TSM never seemed to find an answer to the ex-Overwatch League MVP and were swept with a series score of 0-2. This series proved that the Sentinels deserved to be in the conversation for the best team in North America.

Sentinels’ victory, and the PAX Invitational as a whole, shows great promise for the future competitive VALORANT. Every team competing seemed to have their own unique playstyles and never seem to stray away from what they believe works best. The teams are proving there is no one correct way to play VALORANT does not exist. Cloud 9 relies on Tenz to be the best player in the world and plays off of his skill. TSM relies on WARDELL’s Operator to get picks. T1 plays patiently and forces enemies to make mistakes, punishing them accordingly. Sentinels’, the champions, proved that a team can overwhelm enemies with aggression and misdirection. The event proved that competitive VALORANT is ready to make a big debut. The only question is, when is Riot going to announce a VALORANT League.

Sources: Sentinels, Twitch