Masters Reykjavík: Sentinels defeat NUTURN, advance to Grand Finals

With only two days remaining in the first ever VALORANT Lan VCT 2021 - Stage 2 - Masters Reykjavík, we had our first opportunity for a team to advance to the Grand Finals of the event. With Sentinels bulldozing their way through each opponent with ease, facing off against NUTURN, who despite slow starts to their matches found a way to advance to the winners final matchup.

The matchup started on NUTURN's pick of Bind, a map that they specialize in, having been the only team to play the map, a 13-5 victory over yng Sharks in the first round. From the opening round, Sentinel was showing their prowess throughout the first half, stopping NUTURN and securing 8 total rounds. Including this sick 1 v 2 clutch from the clutchmaster himself, Hunter "SicK" Mims.

After that, the morale of NUTURN was clear, they were defeated. In the end, the one thing that did in the Korean qualifiers was not having a Sentinel. Their agent composition works for their attack side, however not having that one agent who can lockdown a site by theirselves is what is truly needed, especially on a map like Bind.

Next up was Sentinels map choice of Haven, a map that favored them in every possible way. In NUTURN's previous matches on this map, they lost 13-3 and 13-5, to yng Sharks and Version1. Just as they did on Bind, NUTURN once again chose not to play a Sentinel, a move that they would come to regret. Even as they were able to get on to a site and plant many times, their ability to hold was not up to par, as Sentinels regained access with ease.

In the second half, after giving up both pistol rounds to NUTURN, the Sentinels boys would close out the map and series with 3 consecutive round victories. For the series, SicK and Tyson "TenZ" Ngo share MVP honors, combing for 73 total kills and both having an ACS over 285, with SicK's being 301.

With this victory, North American's last hope moves on to the Grand Finals of the first ever VALORANT lan event. Their opponent will be decided tomorrow, in the early matchup we get the two European powerhouses competing against each other, with NUTURN waiting in the wings for a possible rematch. The Grand Finals will be a best of 5, which means that every map in the game could potentially be played.