[EXCLUSIVE] “I think they'll be a good opponent for us” SEN Kaplan talks about facing LOUD at VCT Americas Kickoff

The VCT Americas Kickoff 2024 is on the horizon and as a prelude to the new season, Riot Games organized a Pre-Season Media Day featuring 1-on-1 interviews and press conferences.

During the aforementioned Pre-season Media Day, Strafe had the opportunity to converse exclusively with Sentinels' Head Coach Adam "Kaplan" Kaplan.

The former Ghost Gaming coach joined the Sentinels efforts in VCT 2024 as an Assistant Coach. He was later promoted to the postition of Head Coach after SykkoNT's departure. The team has been on the rise since Kaplan's promotion.

The Off-Season

During the off-season, Sentinels and Kaplan added JohnQT and Zellsis as two new pieces to the roster, retaining the majority of the core. The team enjoyed immense success during the off-season playing with Zellsis. With the season starting soon, Kaplan takes about the team, his expectations, added pressure and player roles.

“Our team, every single person on the team, has a huge drive to win”

[Interviewer] How has it been? How is the team shaping up for the kickoff? What are your expectations going into the season?

Yeah, I think we're doing great. We worked really hard in the off-season and we all got to see it pay-off. So really easy to get the guys motivated to work hard coming back.

It's been really busy and we're feeling confident about our chances at the Kickoff.

[Interviewer] The off-season results and performance has re-ignited the hopes of the Sentinels fans who are very passionate. Does that add pressure on your team to perform?

Our team, every single person on the team, has a huge drive to win. And we all know that we have everything it takes, when combined with hard work to be the best in the world.

So the pressure we put on ourselves and the expectation we have is going to be the same no matter how well we're doing or how many fans we have or what they think and that just doesn't change.

[Interviewer] After taking the reins of the team, what was your vision behind the changes you made during the off-season?

We got an experienced IGL that I've worked with in the past. So I already have a working relationship with JohnQT, which is really good. We already have trust in each other. We already have a system that works for us.

And we added a player who brings a lot of energy and added a kind of morale to the team, right? Zellsis is a really big part of that. We also had time with a fresh start with an off season to set some systems in place that were really hard to set because it's hard to do any of that in the middle of the season.

[Interviewer] Who is starting for Sentinels during Kick off? Since there are a lot of conversations about the fifth player for Sentinels, can you talk about it? Is it Zellsis or Pancada?

I can’t answer that question right now.

[Interview] Can we talk about the roles in the team?  Because we saw TenZ playing omen for some of the maps? How would the roles develop for Sentinels in 2024? What are your plans for the team?

I think that there's a lot of diversity in how different agents play. People like to try to categorize by the role/roles Valorant’s designated, Riot’s designated in the game.

I don't think that's a very good way to be classifying roles that are pro level. If you look at an agent like Omen versus Astra versus Viper, they all play completely differently and have very different responsibilities and reward different types of players as well as the way an agent is played on one map can be pretty different from how they play on another map because of the map and the comp the other agents they're working around.

So, but TenZ is a player who is very creative and has what I call the X factor, the ability to play-make and be aggressive when needed and get the, you know, get around out of a situation that we don't deserve to win a round. And I think we're maximizing TenZ's skillset map to map.

That's gonna, you know, that doesn't necessarily - I can't sit here and go, he's gonna be a controller, he's gonna be an Initiator player. And I have really flexible players that can play different agents in order for us to put him on agents that he thrives best on.

The META Shift

The off-season saw immense changes to the map pool and the agents. Kaplan talks about the in-game changes, the Meta for the upcoming season and Haven going out of the map pool.

“I'm disappointed that they took out a map that changed, showed its flexibility”

[Interviewer] It has been a long time since the last “official” was played. How do you think the Meta would shape up going into 2024? What would be the key agents?

I think that the Cypher is really strong still, I think that Killjoy is still not very strong but necessary to play on certain maps. Viper is really strong. Every initiator is really strong but we'll probably see a lot more Gekko this year.

It's kinda hard to say, it depends on hopefully, you know, the next agent can shake things up and what not.

But yeah, I think probably still a lot of Viper, a lot of Raze. I don't think Skye is necessarily out of the meta because she got nerfed but I think Gekko looks really good.

[Interviewer] As you mentioned Raze being part of the meta. Do you think dive agents like Raze, Neon, Jett will ever go out of the meta? Will we see Phoenix or Reyna being the centerpieces of a strong composition?

I think that, with the current duelist that don't have dive abilities, it would take a lot of nerfing or a really significant buffs to make them meta because they don't have a dive ability like Jett or Raze.

And at that point, you're usually running them with another duelist. So you need to give up double-controller or give up double-initiator.

And I just don't think Iso, Reyna or Phoenix really do enough to, to, to earn that, you know, when you compare them to something like what a Viper or a KAY/O or a Breach or a Gekko, brings to a team, it's really hard.

[Interviewer] The sentinel that was recently buffed is Deadlock? Do you think in her buffed state teams would want to experiment with her?

I definitely think teams could. I think that she has the potential to surprise because teams are not used to playing against her.

And I think that we talk a lot about meta, but you can expect anything at Kickoff because it's not a regular season. You're not playing the same comp or you, you know, you don't have a turn around. You're not playing a Best of Three, waiting a week playing a Best of Three.

You have a couple incredibly important Best of Threes where every team has had at least six weeks to be in the dark preparing.

So I think, I definitely think even if something isn't necessarily Meta, you can, it's anything might happen and Kickoff because of the context of the tournament and how much time has been available to prepare for it.

[Interviewer] After a long while, Icebox is back in the map pool and it has received some minor tweaks. What are your thoughts on the changes? Do you think the changes alter how a team would approach the map?

I think Icebox is pretty one dimensional and that's just, and I don't think the changes have done enough to really fix the map in that sense.

But I do think it's exciting to come back to it and have the question to answer: does the old Icebox meta comp make the most sense or are new comps better?

And you know, the last time we saw Icebox was a very different meta and even then the agent on meta that was getting discovered was Harbor. Icebox got taken out pretty early into it.

So it's kind of, I don't like the map and I think it's boring, but it's kind of fun to try to. You're gonna play them out the same no matter what but it's kind of fun to figure out what comp plays that way the best.

[Interviewer] Lotus has also received some tweaks. Riot has added some new corners and cubbies to the map. Do you think it’d be approached differently now?

Yeah, I think that creating more of a, I think it, I think, when the map is, is itself more defensible, it gives you more freedom to explore, more aggressive comps, because you don't need such strong defensive agents in order to have a chance of holding it.

So it’ll definitely open up possibilities to explore. And I definitely think teams are gonna try to explore because of the changes.

[Interviewer] What are your thoughts on the overall map pool?

I think Ascent, It's just really boring and it's upsetting that it hasn't been changed or, or removed. I think the Haven is a really fun and interesting map and I think that when you look at Haven. It's a map where new agent releases and agent buffs and nerfs have constantly changed.

The meta on the map, you've been able to not only explore new comps pretty regularly every season and every year, but the map is actually even played very differently during the year, for example, with the Raze, Fade, Chamber and then it got, the map became more aggressive and faster last year.

I don't - I'm disappointed that they took out a map that changed, showed its flexibility and the, you know, the map design doesn't force you into a certain thing.

Whereas Ascent, even at the peak of Chamber and triple initiator, there were still teams playing the meta and comp and winning even at that point and it's been years of it. So that sucks.

I didn't like the Breeze that removed halls. I thought it made it more one dimensional. I'm glad the halls are back. Might not be a popular opinion, but I think it's a good change.

[Interviewer] Do you think there is anything that needs changes on Haven?

I think it would be interesting to make it either easier for the defenders to fight for A lobby or make A Long, more defensible.

In peak Astra Meta and in peak Fade/Raze meta, the map felt pretty balanced because - and it played a little slower - because defense could control and fight A lobby.

Last year, we saw what happens with Haven when you can't control and defend a lobby very well on defense. It feels kind of useless to play long and most teams just played a kind of style where they sort of hold the site and the space around sewers or short and there were parts of the map that, other than grabbing the orb and putting it up on it, it felt kind of useless.

So, I think it would be interesting if they made some changes there, make it more defensible.

VCT Americas 2024

Kaplan discusses the new format and schedule for the game. His thoughts on his group mates, the new teams and the VCT Americas season.

“They’ll be good opponents for us”

[Interviewer]  You have expressed your opinion on the VCT 2024 schedule and format and expressed your thoughts on the length of the season. Though, if a team wins all their games, they will play a lot more games in a short amount of time. Do you think that’d add to the exhaustion during the end of season, especially during Valorant Champions when it’d matter the most?

Now, I think that if you want to be the best and win as a team, even if there's more time in between your tournaments or league splits, you're not actually going to end up using any of it as a vacation. You're just gonna use it to scrim really hard, and if you, if you get given an extra month and you use it partially for a vacation and another team doesn't, you're gonna probably get punished for it.

I think, increasing the breaks and the schedule won't do a lot to help burn out.

But I do think if the turnaround time is too short for teams coming back from an event to play in a league split, that can be really hard because another team has just been at home scrimming.

So, yeah, I guess, I guess, I don't think.

Yeah, I think that probably making sure there's a good enough amount of time between international events and, and league sports resuming is pretty important.

[Interviewer] The VCT Americas Kickoff starts in two weeks, you are part of one of the toughest groups of the event. What do you think of your first match-up, LOUD. Especially after they have lost their star in Aspas?

Obviously he's a really good weapon and every time when we played them, every time Aspas is alive, he has knives up, things like that, it's a really terrifying round.

And I've felt as a coach when you take him out of a round, it becomes a lot easier to, it feels a lot more possible to win it.

But that being said, I think LOUD have played really well together as a team and found their own style for two years in a row now and I'm sure they'll do it again this year and I think they'll be a good opponent for us.I think it will be a tough game.

[Interviewer] Leviatan is also in the group and has made some interesting changes during the off-season. What are your thoughts on them?

Yeah, they obviously have really strong individual pieces.

But you know, there's a lot that goes into being cohesive as a team and with new teams there's so many intangibles and I'm just like any fan.

When I look at that team, I don't, I don't know, the players and their personalities, so I can't, I can't say whether it'll work or not, but as long as the intangibles all add up and click, I think they'll be a really good team, because individually, everyone's great at their job.

[Interviewer] Compared to other teams, like NRG, Lev, C9, Sentinels didn't make a lot of changes. The rosters mentioned earlier are built with the winning formula. How do you think Sen would fare in comparison to teams?

I mean, I'm really confident in my team and the work we've put in and, you know, we didn't make a lot of changes because we didn't feel like that would be the right thing to do. We didn't feel like we needed to make a lot of changes.

We feel like we have all the pieces and I feel like everything clicks in terms of the teamwork and the energy and, and the culture and I'm confident we'll do really well.

But again, it's impossible for me to say about you were team builds because I just have no clue what's going on behind the scenes for them.

[Interviewer] Talking about the rest of the teams. Who do you think would be the toughest opponent in the Americas?

I think that it's a hard one, I'm willing and I'm, I think, right now, I expect LOUD to be a tough opponent. Even though they lost a really strong duelist, they still kept a bunch of core pieces and seemed to have a system figured out.

And I, I bet that they'll look pretty. I think all in all they'll play as a team pretty cohesively whereas it is hard, but I think as other teams figure out how they work as a team of, you know, a bunch of individuals combined. I think it's impossible to predict who will be the toughest opponent three months from now.

[Interviewer] Any team you are excited to face?

I'm excited to get surprised by teams in China. Because we haven't really gotten to see the kind of competition on the international level too much.

And obviously EDG surprised people when they first started doing well. Bilibili not only took down NRG, but I think they showed some interesting props and strategies. So it'll be really cool to see. I guess, yeah, I'm excited to watch more Chinese games this year.

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Sentinels will face LOUD in their opening game for the season today.

Follow the VCT 2024 action on Strafe.

For more information on the VCT Americas Kickoff, check out Strafe Esports' piece on the Format, Schedule, Teams and more. If one of the other Kickoffs catches your fancy, we also have previews for EMEA, Pacific, and China.

As an additional bonus, you can catch the VOD for the interview on our new YouTube channel. Also, check out our tier list for the 33 partnered teams (VCT China notwithstanding) heading into 2024's season.

Featured Image Credits: Riot Games // VCT Americas

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