To fans' relief—or possibly, dismay—the Sentinels VALORANT roster will be sticking together for next season. Newly minted head coach Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty has shut down rumors about a possible roster shuffle in the off-season, despite the team's shocking early exit from VALORANT Champions Berlin. This put a quick end to the squad's 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) run and sparked speculation from the community as to whether changes would be made before next year.
Despite initially considered as one of the favorites to take home the trophy at Champions, Sentinels crashed straight out of the group stage. The team suffered a close defeat to EMEA's Team Liquid, 2-1, dropping to the lower bracket. Then, in a stunning series, Argentinian side KRU Esports pulled off the upset over SEN, 2-1. The underdogs sent the North America's first seed packing in the Decider match of Group B.
Earlier in the year, Sentinels had looked utterly dominant over NA and even won the first-ever international VALORANT event. The team did not even drop a single match at VCT Stage 2 Masters in Reykjavik, Iceland, crushing all the opponents in their path. But signs of collapse already emerged even before Champions. The team dropped out of the first round of playoffs at VCT Stage 3 Masters in Berlin, losing to fellow NA side Envy.
Returning to Germany for Champions, Sentinels had hoped to fare much better and go far in the tournament. But this time, they did not even qualify for the knockout rounds. Envy, too, failed to make it out of groups, with Cloud9 being the region's last hope.
Even with Rawkus joining the team as their first official coach just last November, the former FaZe player couldn't help steer Sentinels to victory, with very disjointed gameplay. Now that the squad's 2021 VCT campaign has reached its disappointing end, Sentinels fans have cast doubt on whether the roster will be sticking together for next year.
Rawkus, however, immediately quelled any speculation, telling the audience on his stream that “there are no roster changes” on the table. “There is nothing that needs to be changed. We made a couple of [mess] ups in one match, that's all,” the head coach claimed.
For now, fans will take his word for it, as many will hope to see stars like Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan and Tyson “TenZ” Ngo staying with Sentinels in the upcoming season.
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