"This is the year that I've learned the most"- johnqt's reflection on the 2025 season after Sentinels' early exit from Champions Paris

Sentinels are the second team eliminated from VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Valorant Champions following a tightly contested 2-1 loss against XLG Esports. Sentinels' 2025 season has officially concluded, with their 0-2 result at Champions being unprecedented given their strong history at international tournaments. In a post-match interview with Adrian from THESPIKE.GG, in-game leader Amine "Johnqt" Ouarid reflected upon his team's year, his growth as a leader, as well as future plans.

THESPIKE: Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro mentioned that Sentinels are a much younger roster than last year after losing two veterans (in Tyson "TenZ" Ngo and Gustavo "Sacy" Rossi). How has that decrease of experience helped you grow as an IGL and a leader?

johnqt: I definitely feel like I've done more leadership and had more of a leader role this year compared to the last one. Because obviously, I kind of was the rookie IGL of last year's team. This year, I'm coming with two younger players, and I've had to kind of be more of a veteran presence; me and Zellsis, and the coaches, obviously.

I feel like this is the year that I've learned the most, to be honest, compared to last year. It's kind of sad how you learn the most when you lose, and we've done some losing this year. But to be honest, I had two goals going into the year with the new roster: it was to make all the internationals: done that. And, obviously, to win a trophy eventually. Sadly, I couldn't do the second part. But I mean, sometimes all you can control is the effort, not the outcome. And I feel like with everything done, I'm okay with it.

THESPIKE: Do you mind expanding a bit more on how you've grown a lot more this year compared to last year as a person or a leader?

johnqt: Yeah, like teaching the guys how we want to play and how to approach things, even lifestyle choices, like some stuff outside the game. Also to have more presence on stage, making sure my teammates are comfortable, and making sure the communication is well. I mean, obviously it was a learning curve. Sometimes I wasn't the best, sometimes I was pretty good at it, but I feel like I already have other traits of being very skilled individually and being a good caller. But this year, I grew very hard in the leadership role, so I feel like that's my biggest takeaway.

THESPIKE: You mentioned just having more of a presence on stage. What was the most memorable moment you had on stage? For me, it's the finger wag against Team Liquid at Masters Bangkok.

johnqt: Yeah, I mean, that one is funny. I know I'm being memed for it all the time, but at the end of the day, we're entertainers. We're not here to solve war problems. We're not going to change the world. We're just here to entertain. So, that was kind of my goal with that. And obviously, it backfired, but it is what it is, and I would do it again. I did it against GIANTX and I don't care. I would do it again.

THESPIKE: We talked about having a younger team in general and how you as a leader had to integrate Sean "bang" Bezerra and Marshall "N4RRATE" Massey more into the team, both obviously having really big shoes to fill. How well do you think they were integrated into the team this year?

johnqt: I think they integrated pretty well. At the end of the day, they have their own personalities. It's not like they were rookies. Bang has had multiple years in Tier 1. N4RRATE has had a whole year in Tier 1: he won Kickoff and competed in Madrid with Karmine Corp. At the end of the day, I was just making them comfortable, compromising them being themselves, making sure they use their strengths but also become well-rounded and have a mixture of styles in the team.

I would say they did pretty well. They had a good year. I know everyone on the team sometimes has that downtrend and uptrend and it kind of bit us at the end because I felt like we never peaked together. There was always some down moments that cost us in big tournaments or big matches. But it is what it is. It's one of those lessons you need to take with you.

THESPIKE: Moving away from the game slightly, how has Paris treated you so far and what's been your favorite thing about Paris?

johnqt: Definitely the pastries and the cafés. To be honest, we've only had a day off since I landed here because I landed a day late. The only day off we've had was really after the GIANTX match, where I did some sightseeing with some friends. I mean, obviously, it's a beautiful city, unreal sights, unreal architecture. The food is really good. It's very diverse.

Being able to speak French also helps: I kind of feel at home. It's an amazing city, and I'm kind of sad because I really wanted to go all the way, and especially play in a big stadium with so many fans. I know a lot of French fans support me, and I know there's a lot of, in general, Moroccans, people from the Maghreb that speak Arabic that also cheer for me. But hopefully I made them proud in some way, and see you later, I guess.

THESPIKE: You mentioned really liking cafés. You're a big coffee guy, right? What's your go-to order?

johnqt: I like to go for experiments. Usually if I go to a café, I try their signature. If I really want something strong, I could also drink black coffee. I would straight up do a double espresso. I'm also down for a good vanilla latte, an orange vanilla latte, or pistachio latte. Anything latte-wise is good. I feel like the only thing I wouldn't get is an Americano. I don't want hot water in my coffee.

THESPIKE: You mentioned playing in the big arena: there's a showmatch happening there between TenZ and Tarik, where four fans play on each of their teams. If you were managing TenZ's team, which four players would you put in to defeat Tarik?

johnqt: I'll put myself, so I would have made it to the final either way. You know what? Why not just run it back? Sentinels 2024. Let's get the squad going. Let's get everyone. Tyson, me, Sacy, Zach, and Jordan. Let's run it back for the showmatch. One last time. The last dance.

THESPIKE: What are your short-term plans?

johnqt: I'm not sure, to be honest. I definitely want to stay a bit more to visit, and I also wanted to like do a little trip in Europe. There's a lot of cities I've been wanting to see and since I'm here, it's worth doing it. Also, I'm going back home to Morocco and it's very close. It's a three hour plane ride, so it's perfect. Definitely not going to watch Champs, that's for sure. It is so depressing to be out of a tournament and watch the other teams compete. But hopefully it's a good one and the fans enjoy it.

THESPIKE: Top three European countries you want to visit this trip?

johnqt: Italy, for sure. I've already done Spain, done France. I would also say Greece, which has some insane sights. For the last one I would say Switzerland.

THESPIKE: Thank you so much for the interview, and sorry for the loss once again.

To stay up to date on everything going on at Champions, stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG.