Sentinels drop to the lower bracket after its 2-1 loss against Gen.G Esports.
The upper bracket finals of VCT Masters Madrid did not disappoint as both Gen.G Esports and Sentinels went blow-for-blow in the best-of-three series that ultimately went in the way of the VCT Pacific Kickoff champions. That win has placed them in the grand finals with the chance to be the first VCT Pacific team to lift an international VCT trophy.
While Sentinels did lose, the North American favourites are still not out of the competition just yet. As the playoffs of VCT Masters Madrid is a double-elimination bracket, Sentinels now drop to the lower bracket final where they will await the winner between Paper Rex and LOUD. Sentinels will have to win that best-of-five series if they want another shot at Gen.G in the grand finals.
Gen.G brought the Energy
As the first VCT Pacific team to qualify to the playoffs alongside Sentinels, this match-up proved to live up to the hype as both teams went at each other constantly from the get-go. The first match was on Sentinels' pick of Split, a map they have known to be ruthless in but Gen.G had other ideas. Gen.G would take the pistol round before they would start trading thrifties with Sentinels for the next four.
However, Sang-beom “Munchkin” Byeon was able to kickstart Gen.G's first-half dominance with back-to-back two-versus-one clutches in the fifth and sixth rounds. This opened the floodgates for Gen.G to take six rounds in a row before Sentinels responded with two of their own before the break. But Gen.G didn't let those two rounds stop them as they managed to claim the pistol and subsequent round to start the second half. While Sentinels did get one back, Gen.G were ruthless as they took three in a row to claim the first map.
The second game was on Gen.G's choice of Lotus but this time, it was Sentinels who managed to come out of the first-half on top with a slim 7-5 lead. Both teams had brief periods of dominance with Sentinels finishing it with a three-round streak that saw Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi get one of the cleanest clutches of the tournament in a one-versus-three situation in the 10th round. Zachary “Zekken” Patrone followed that up with his own clutch in a one-versus-two to go with a 4K.
Gen.G would once again win the first two rounds of the second half that also had Munchkin get a 4K with a pistol, but that didn't deter Sentinels one bit. Instead, they managed to rally and get on a six-round streak to secure the second map, which was also the highest any team has managed against Gen.G so far. This brought things to the third and final map, Breeze. And Gen.G showed just why they are a real contender.
Jong-Min “Lakia” Kim was the one to kick things off with two 3Ks in the first and fourth rounds as Gen.G took four straight rounds. While Sentinels managed to steal the fifth, it didn't stop Gen.G from getting another four in a row as both Kim "Meteor" Tae-o and Kim “Karon” Won-tae secured critical 3Ks in the seventh and ninth rounds respectively. Even Kim "t3xture" Na-ra was able to get in on the action with a 3K of his own in the 11th round.
While Sacy managed to reply with a 3K of his own in the 12th round to make the score 9-3 in favour of Gen.G, the curse would not take place today as Gen.G managed to win another four rounds in a row to secure the game and a grand final spot. And that was all made possible in the 15th round when t3xture got his 4K to further drive the stake into Sentinels and give his team the match-point.
Sentinels will now have to wait for the victor between another VCT Pacific team in Paper Rex as well as their fellow VCT Americas compatriot, LOUD. Sentinels last faced PRX in the friendly AfreecaTV VALORANT League tournament grand finals, which they won 3-0. The VCT Americas Kickoff champions were also responsible for sending LOUD to the lower bracket in the first place. With that being said, either match-up against Sentinels would be the perfect opportunity for revenge for either team.