SEN cortezia: "This is my best performance at Sentinels so far"

Despite his team's loss against G2 Esports, Gabriel "cortezia" Cortez had yet another strong showing for Sentinels at VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Americas Stage 2. Having looked like one of the strongest performing members of the team at the event so far, the Brazilian player opened up to THESPIKE Brazil about the reasons behind his solid individual form.

Ewok and Johnqt to the rescue

According to cortezia, head coach Martin "Ewok" Ewok and IGL Mohamed Amine "Johnqt" Ouarid are largely responsible for his good run of form. Player and coach have both played a fundamental role in getting the most out cortezia inside the server.

"With the team change and Ewok coming in, I think I'm being used better on the server. Today I'm freer to do the things I like, play the agents I like, and the team has a lot of confidence in me. I think that was a bit lacking at Kickoff. I definitely feel much better [than at Kickoff and Stage 1]. What happened in the last game against 100 Thieves was a fluke. I think that drop in performance in the last two maps against 100 Thieves will never happen to me again. It was really absurd. I'd never had that feeling that everything was going wrong. After that game, looking back on everything, I thought: 'Damn, what happened to me was crazy.' But it won't happen again. It was some seriously bad luck. And I think I proved that to myself this week. I started the first map well [against G2], like what had happened against 100 Thieves, but I managed to keep a better level in the other two maps."

Even though this is the best cortezia has felt during his stint with Sentinels up to this point, he still feels he can potentially "do more."

"I really believe this is my best performance at Sentinels so far. I'm happy that I'm managing to help my team more. I think I can still do more, especially there on Lotus, I could have pushed a bit harder. If I had to get 30 kills, I should get 30. What matters is coming out victorious. Of course, from the team's perspective, we'll never say: 'Jerrwin needs to get 30 kills and 20 first bloods for us to win.' We want to win as a team. But if it's necessary for someone to get 30 kills for us to close out the map, we'll look at that. I myself know that everyone on the team thinks like that: 'Man, if I'd gotten more kills, communicated more...' I feel the same way. If I'd gotten more kills, communicated better, maybe we would have come out with the win. So I'm glad everyone has that mentality. I have it too. I haven't changed much, to be honest. I think what changed the most was the team and our way of seeing the game, with the IGL and with the coach."

Sentinels on the Rise?

This good run of form is not just on an individual level, though. Despite losing their match against G2 in the end, as well as holding onto an even 2-2 record in Group Omega, Sentinels has been putting up solid collective performances at Stage 2. That is precisely why cortezia feels like this is the best version of Sentinels so far this season.

"This is the best Sentinels of this year. I think, comparing it to the Sentinels from Kickoff and even the one from Stage 1 — at Kickoff it was terrible, and at Stage 1 we fell very early, not making it to the playoffs but showing better games. But now we're showing better games. I think today we feel in a position where, when we lose, we say: 'Damn, we could have won.' In my perception, and I believe the team's too, maybe even the fans', this is the best Sentinels of the year. It's definitely not the best Sentinels of all time. We've already had Sentinels teams that won VCT Americas, went to international championships, and won international titles. But I feel like I'm on a Sentinels that improves every day."

This "better" version of Sentinels doesn't come strictly down to results, but rather to the fact that every game feels winnable as the team looks, and feels, capable of going toe-to-toe with the best squads in the region.

"Even giving you this interview now after a loss, I feel: 'Damn, we were in the game.' During Kickoff and the first Stage, there were many matches where I thought: 'Man, these guys are better than us. It's over.' Today, I come out of every game with the feeling that we could have come out victorious. Many times, on the server, we were better than the opponent, but ended up not being able to close out the match. At the end of the day, what matters is coming out with the three points. Unfortunately, today, we couldn't."

You can find the complete video interview with cortezia in the original Portuguese below:

Despite all of their improvement, the fact remains that cortezia's Sentinels are virtually out of contention for a spot straight to playoffs. Instead, they will need to make their way through the play-in stage of Stage 2 first. But before that, Sentinels have their final match of the Group Stage coming up this Saturday, August 8, against KRÜ Esports.

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