Sentinels Defeat Fnatic at VCT Masters Iceland 2021: Stats, Highlights and Interview

The second North America vs Europe matchup of VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters - Reykjavík took place today between Sentinels and Fnatic, as the North American roster handed Fnatic a clean ‘2-0’ defeat. They definitely did not run away with the match as Fnatic put up quite a valiant fight, at times it even felt as if Sentinels might just be done. However, with ShahZaM and TenZ both playing so well, either one of them used to pop off during a clutch round to win it for the side. Fnatic adopted a slightly more tactical approach as Derke once again turned out to be the best performing player for the side, but despite their best efforts, Fnatic fell slightly behind across both maps.

NA vs EU: Sentinels Hands a Clean ‘2-0’ Defeat to Fnatic

Sentinels who are the best North American Valorant team competing in the currently ongoing VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters - Reykjavík, secured a smooth ‘2-0’ victory tonight against Fnatic in their opening game. Though the win on the first map ‘Icebox’ was mostly achieved on the back of huge performances by both ShahZaM and TenZ, the rest of the players came alive by the second map ‘Haven’ as Sentinels charged ahead in the upper bracket.

Fnatic put up a solid performance from their side, showcasing tactical and team-oriented gameplay. However, Sentinels often put them in certain clutch situations where the players were not always able to deliver and this proved to be the difference-maker between the two sides.

Result: Sentinels Defeat Fnatic ‘2-0’

The BO3 series between Fnatic and Sentinels started on Icebox where the two teams started going ham against each other from the word go. At halftime both the teams had an equal footing but considering that this was Fnatic’s map pick it was a bit of a disadvantage for them. In the second half both the teams won 5 rounds in a row each before Sentinels picked the last two, securing a ‘13-11’ victory and gaining confidence.

This reflected in the second map as the entire Sentinels lineup came alive, confident to close the series on their map pick Haven. After a solid start, Sentinels were able to end the half with an ‘8-4’ scoreline. They kept this advantage right through the end, winning the map with a ‘13-10’ scoreline.

Stats

• ShahZaM and TenZ ruled the first map with 31 and 25 kills, respectively. Both the Sentinels duelist players were just raring to go at the opposition, as they carried their team hard to the next map.
  
  
• Though Derke was not finding his rhythm in the first map, Mystic took on the responsibility really well as he secured 24 kills and 7 assists for the side.
  
  
• TenZ continued to dominate with a duelist on the second map also but his partner in crime ShahZaM was on support duty. This has led to TenZ becoming the MVP of this series with 49 kills to his name, a K/D ratio of +15, and an ACS (Average Combat Score) of 297.

Highlights

A brilliant ace from Mistic as he successfully defends the site with his Viper ultimate.

This sick pistol clutch by MIstic to take down 2 Sentinels players on the back of some super quick reflexes as he finds himself in a 1v2 clutch situation.

A perfect post plan execution by Sentinels as they put on a flawless show as attackers.

Dapr pulls off a sick quadra kill on Haven, involving some quick reflexes along with pin point firing accuracy.

Interview: ShahZaM Speaks About Sentinels Performance

In the post-match interview, ShahZaM one of the two insane duelists on Sentinels came forward to reveal that Version1 winning against Team Liquid motivated them. However, the game was pretty stressful according to him.

Talking about Fnatic, ShahZaM in reference to the first game states that “I thought we were reading them (Fnatic) well, but we had some sloppy rounds. We have a really good mentality as a team, so we know that even if we throw away some rounds that we should have won, we can definitely close it on the second half”.