Steel says Sentinels risk not making it out of groups at Valorant Champions

Former 100 Thieves in-game leader Joshua ‘steel’ Nissan has warned Sentinels against complacency if they take on KRÜ Esports in the Valorant Champions group stage.

Sentinels were one of the biggest question marks heading into Valorant Champions, the end-of-the-year international LAN that will bring the curtain down on the tournament season.

After dominating the field at the VCT Stage 2 Masters event in Reykjavík, Sentinels looked deflated at the following LAN in Berlin and were sent packing by Team Envy in the quarter-final stage.

It has been over two months since Sentinels last played a match, and many are curious to see which version of the team will turn up at Champions. Ahead of the event, Sentinels appointed former FaZe player Shane ‘Rawkus’ Flaherty as their coach in a move that should help alleviate the burden on in-game leader Shahzeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan.

But with Sentinels having been drawn in the same group as Team Liquid and KRÜ Esports, steel believes that the North Americans are not a lock to make the playoffs.

Sentinels should not underestimate KRÜ

On November 30, the renowned North American in-game leader made a guest appearance on ‘Curveball’, Dexerto’s Valorant show, to help preview Champions.

When discussing Group B, steel argued that Liquid “have looked really strong” since picking up Nabil ‘Nivera’ Benrlitom, and should take the top seed.

• Read more: Gambit’s Redgar expects tough Valorant Champions road

But when it comes to the rest of the group, the ex-100 Thieves captain isn’t sure how things will go.

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“Sentinels either have said, ‘We can’t have another poor performance’, they’ve hammered down, got back to practice, made sure they’re talking about agent compositions, how they want to approach maps, the inclusion of Fracture, all these things, and actually got back to practice, which I think they have been doing,” steel said.

“Or they’re going to be [like], ‘Well, stream is doing well’, and maybe they haven’t been keeping up, and maybe they will underestimate KRU.

“When we played KRÜ in practice in Berlin, they were actually insane. They were pretty nutty. If you sleep on KRÜ, they’re going to come out swinging, especially NagZ with the OP.

“I feel like there is a world, albeit not a big world, if Sentinels haven’t woken up yet, where KRU can come out with the second seed.”

Sentinels will play their first match at Valorant Champions on December 2 against Brazilian side FURIA. On his stream, ShahZaM said that “this might be the last run” for him, hinting at finishing his career and becoming a streamer.