Kings of NA: Sentinels confirm the signing of Champions’ Winners “Sacy” and “Pancada.”
New Faces join NA’s Favorite Team
It is official. The rumors have been circulating for a week now, on the potential signing of Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi and Bryan “pANcada” Luna to the Sentinels roster according to a multitude of leaks, including a report by George Geddes. Those claims have now been confirmed, with Sentinels officially posting the announcement that the reigning Champions winners would be part of the roster in 2023.
With the joining of “pAncada” and “Sacy”, Sentinels have officially confirmed 4 of their 5 players. This marks a near completion of their complete roster rebuild for the upcoming VCT 2023 season. With the exception of star piece Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, the organization has chosen to release all their players to free agency as announced by the departure of Shahzeb ShahZam” Khan and Michael “dapr” Gulino earlier this month. The pair will be joining the list of unrestricted free agents during this tumultuous time as they look to join a new squad for next year.
New Roster, Same Sentinels
Sentinels, love them or hate them, have managed to create a massive following for their brand since their inaugural entry into the Valorant scene with the iconic roster. Since then, they’ve only grown larger, with essentially a cult following that number the thousands on Reddit and Twitter. Barely a day goes by where Valorant esports was mentioned and the name ‘Sentinels’ was not mentioned in conjunction.
The brand has become iconic for its mixture of memes, sh** talk and hilarious content that engaged much of the Valorant community. There isn’t much expectation that this will change despite a new roster, however, there is an expectation for a greater work ethic. LOUD’s victory at Champions represents a culmination of hard work that “Sacy” and “pANcada” will undoubtedly expect from their new teammates.
Switching from Green to Red
The two Brazilian players were key to LOUD’s incredible run throughout 2022, from top finishes at Masters to their Champions win. LOUD dominated domestically, winning both VCT Brazil Stage 1 and 2 Challengers, asserting their dominance through a flawless run that saw them charge the finals without dropping a map.
Making it even sweeter, LOUD’s victory at Champions was over NA’s Optic Gaming, whom they have a rivalry with, in a 3-1 fashion.
“Sacy” released a twitlonger on Oct 15th, where he stated it had ‘not been an easy decision to make, for everything we have achieved in this year of 2022.’ He acknowledged the decision, stating ‘the career of a professional esports player is made of opportunities and since I started in LOL, back in 2013, I always had the dream of living an international challenge and this moment had finally arrived!’
“pANcada” released a statement too, to the same effect. He thanked all the fans who were there from the beginning, ‘giving him strength to pursue [his] goals.’ ‘I won almost everything I could this year but it’s time to go in search of new challenges but I won’t forget any of you see you soon <3,’ said the tweet.
The two ex-LOUD players will join superstar “TenZ” alongside former XSET star Zachary “zekken” Patrone. Tenured In-Game Leader Rory “dephh” Jackson is expected to round out the roster according to reports.
As of now, the Sentinels roster looks as follows:
- Tyson “TenZ” Ngo
- Zachary “zekken” Patrone
- Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi
- Bryan “pANcada” Luna
- Hunter “SicK” Mims (inactive)
- Don “SyykoNT” Muir (Head Coach)
- Adam “kaplan” Kaplan (Coach)
Image credit: Sentinels