Sentinels run at the VCT NA Last Chance Qualifier may have been cut short, but the team has still continued to make waves with superstar streamer Tarik “tarik” Celik joining the organization.
There is also the tantalizing prospect that Michael “shroud” Grzesiek might return to the team. The CS:GO pro turned Twitch celebrity played just three matches with the team before they were eliminated from the LCQ, but that version of Sentinels was the best the team had looked in a long while.
While the 28-year-old seemed like an unlikely choice at first, having spent four years away from pro play, coach Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty says that he turned out to be a good fit for the team.
In an interview with Valoranting, Rawkus talked about why they decided to sign Shroud for the LCQ and how he adapted to the team so well.
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Shroud reached out to Sentinels
“We needed something grounded and we didn’t have a lot of options to pick up for that role,” said Rawkus. “He reached out to us. He wanted to do it.”
“We also thought that the smoke role in general was a very rounded role. He’s also an experienced player and he had the right mindset for our team.”
In fact, Shroud was on the same page as in-game leader Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan. “He thinks about the game the same way as ShahZam,” added Rawkus. “It just made sense. The other options that we were considering at the time didn’t really fit what we wanted.”
During his time on Sentinels, Shroud proved extremely receptive to any feedback given to him. He did not shy away from putting in the work to master his role as the team’s main controller either.
While he started out being the most comfortable on Omen, he soon picked up other agents like Brimstone, Viper, and Astra.
“He also learned the most lineups I’ve ever seen. Like crazy lineups that haven’t even been invented yet,” said Rawkus.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get many opportunities to use them. In their LCQ opening match against The Guard, he constantly found himself planting the spike, which meant that he was seldom able to get into position to use any post-plant lineups on Viper.
That was a blunder on their end, said Rawkus. “Everyone was just so focused on winning, we forgot the most important thing, which is getting the spike,” he laughed.
Since then, Shroud has expressed interest in continuing his career in pro Valorant. And now that the Americas league in the VCT 2023 season has been confirmed to be hosted in Los Angeles where he lives, the stars are lining up for Shroud’s return — even if it is not on the Sentinels roster.
You can watch the full interview here.
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