TenZ is back on Sentinels' VALORANT roster, but who is he replacing?
The rollercoaster ride that is the 2023 VCT Americans season for the Sentinels is about to take another unanticipated turn. Prior to the team's final two games, the org reinstates TenZ to the starting lineup.
In a short announcement video today, TenZ interrupted coach Adam Kaplan’s address to the supporters, saying “f#ck it, I’m back.” While Kaplan has been explicit about who will be replacing whom in prior releases, it is currently unknown how the Sentinels' starting lineup will really look.
It’s another change of course for Sentinels this year, who just two weeks ago made the move to permanently bring Marved in for TenZ for the rest of the season—or so we thought. That move was originally made to give TenZ some extended time off after a finger injury and a positive COVID test amidst other circumstances, which itself came after a surprising coaching change.
On websites like Reddit and VLR, fans have been speculating about who TenZ is replacing in the starting lineup, claiming that TenZ had recently been practising with the Sentinels players and that zekken was assuming the agents or roles usually filled by the team's in-game leader, dephh.
Omen on Lotus, Harbour on Pearl, and KAY/O on Ascent have all reportedly been played by dephh during VCT matches by zekken, according to tracker.gg. Zekken has still been playing Raze on ranked Fracture, though, instead of the Breach that dephh has been playing in the VCT.
The Sentinels' upcoming encounter is on Sunday, May 14 at 2 p.m. CT against the winless KRÜ Esports.
According to George Geddes, Sentinels will continue to field Marved and will substitute Rory 'dephh' Jackson for TenZ as their IGL because the former XSET player is leaving the team. Sentinels will also continue to field Marved.
TenZ will be back in the starting lineup for Sentinels' Week 7 match against KRÜ Esports on May 14.
Here is the Sentinels' roster:
- 'TenZ' Ngo, Tyson
- Jimmy ‘Marved’ Nguyen
- The Bryan 'pANcada' Luna
- Gustavo 'Sacy' Rossi
- 'Zekken' Patrone Zachary