Scotland Celebrates as Sentinels Win Valorant Masters Madrid
The Sentinels emerged victorious at the Valorant Masters Madrid tournament with a 3-2 victory against South Korean team Gen.G Esports in the final to take home the $250,000 prize. This marks the first time the team will be taking home the trophy since their victory at the VCT Masters Reykjavík.
Sentinels and Gen.G Esports battle for championship
The final began with a dominant performance from match favourite Gen.G who took a 13-8 win on Breeze before the Sentinels fought back to take Blind 14-12 in overtime to even the field to 1-1. Gen.G took map 3 (Ascent) with another blinding 13-8 win before Sentinels once again levelled the playing field as they took Split with a score of 13-10 with the help of teammate Zachary "zekken" Patrone who got an ACS of 366 and 29 kills on the fourth map alone, bringing them to a final tie breaker.
Sentinels dominate in Icebox tiebreaker
Icebox was selected as the final map, with the scores being even at 5-5 after the first ten rounds. However, the Sentinels began to draw ahead, closing the first half of the match with a 7-5 lead. Sentinel's lead continued into the second half as they took the next two rounds, bringing the score to 9-5 before Gen.G claimed another round. However, the Sentinels continued to dominate the final, ending the match with a win 0f 13-6 to take the championship title. Gen.G, although falling short in the final, displayed formidable skill throughout the event, earning them the $100,000 runner-up prize.
Scottish coach DrewSpark takes center stage in celebrations
During the celebrations the Sentinels coaches, with assistant coach Drew ‘DrewSpark’ Spark-Whitworth joining his team on stage in a kilt as he lifted the championship trophy. Commenting on the victory in a statement on X, DrewSpark said “I love this team and I’m proud of all the hard work we all put in for this. Feeling on top of the world right now.” The Sentinels assistant coach previously worked with XSET as an analyst for Rainbow Six Siege before transitioning to Valorant a couple of years ago.
Scotland "won twice today" as Valorant introduces new Scottish non-binary agent "Clove":
However, this was not the only win for Scotland at the Madrid Masters as Valorant unveiled their newest agent, Clove. Clove is labelled as a “Scottish troublemaker” and is Valorant’s first non-binary agent. Their abilities include:
Ruse (E)
Ruse can be used to view the battlefield and to select the locations where Clove’s clouds will settle. The clouds block vision in the chosen areas and the ability can be used even after death.
Meddle (Q)
Meddle allows clove to fire a fragment of immortality essence, which, when fired, temporarily decays all targets in range.
Pick-Me-Up (C)
Pick-Me-Up instantly absorbs the life force of a fallen enemy damaged or killed by Clove. Clove regains haste and temporary health.
Not Dead Yet (X / ULT)
After dying, this ability can be activated to resurrect Clove. Once resurrected, Clove must earn a kill or a damaging assist within a set time or they will die.
BoDork, the Social Media and Esports Strategy Manager for MistGames/Valorant Challengers North, said: “NA might have won once today, but Scotland won twice today.”
With Sentinels' triumph, attention now turns to future VCT leagues, including VCT EMEA Stage 1 starting on April 3rd, followed by VCT Masters Shanghai on May 23rd, promising more thrilling competition in the world of Valorant esports.
Sentinels roster: “zekken” (USA), “Sacy” (Brazil), “TenZ” (Canada), “johnqt” (Morocco), “Zellsis” (USA), and substitute player “curry” (USA). Coaches: “kaplan” (USA) and “DrewSpark” (Scotland)
Gen.G Esports roster: “Meteor” (SK), “t3xture” (SK), “Lakia” (SK), “Munchkin” (SK) and “Karon” (SK). Coaches: “solo” (SK) and “HSK” (SK)
