Zellsis explains why Masters Bangkok was a "blessing in disguise" for Sentinels

In the second week of VCT 2025 - Americas Stage 1, Sentinels suffered a surprising loss to KRÜ Esports. It had been a few years since KRU Esports had picked up a victory over Sentinels, so many fans were stunned after a pretty strong performance helped them pick up the 0-2 sweep. However, Sentinels' veteran star Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro says that this was simply a blip in his team's run to the playoffs and beyond.

Zero stress

"I'm not sweating it," Zellsis said. "I know today looked rough but in our heads, honestly, it wasn't that bad. Obviously losing is never easy, and it sucks. But you know the show goes on, [and] we have so much more VALORANT to play. We're still super confident... we've just had one of our best scrim weeks. And last week, coming up to this match, I think we've ironed out a lot of things that we need to work on in and out of the server. I'm not really worried at all, I think we just need to show up when the time comes and trust ourselves more in game and I think we showed last week against 100 Thieves what we can be like in-game when we're flowing."

Sentinels still have plenty of matches to get through, with games against Evil Geniuses, LOUD, and 2GAME Esports ahead of them. They'll need to return to their top form, however, if they want a chance at redemption at VCT 2025 - Masters Toronto 2025.

Reforging their identity

There were a few concerns plaguing Sentinels fans following their departure from VCT 2025 - Masters Bangkok 2025, especially when Zellsis said that the team was lacking confidence and had lost their identity in a post-game press conference. This time around, however, Zellsis was pretty upbeat and enthusiastic when talking about the team's current state, saying that when they had a huge team talk when they returned from Bangkok, where they discussed what everyone wants everyone to do as an individual and what direction they wanted the team to go, including strategies, executions, and team compositions.

Due to this, he even called their Masters Bangkok performance a "blessing in disguise" that helped them become better teammates and players and build their chemistry in-game. He also shared that one of the biggest aspects that they have been working on is having players continuously communicate whether they are for or against a suggested call during a game. If they don't agree with a call, then the player would need to provide an alternative strategy.

Usually, the golden rule on the team is, or on teams that I've been on, at least, is if you say no to an idea you have to give an idea. A big thing that we talked about that we had an issue with is people had like their own ideas, their own play styles, and things how they wanted to do, and they were always thinking about that in game. It was very troublesome, like someone would call an idea and not everyone would listen it or not everyone would like fully believe in it.

Sentinels will be back in action as the opening series for week three of Split One, and should be coming back re-energized and ready to roll. If they can stick to the gameplan they've drawn up for themselves, it should be an exciting and competitive series. For more interviews and VCT coverage, keep locked in with THESPIKE.GG.