Out of all the massive roster movement coming to VALORANT in the 2023-24 offseason, surprisingly enough, it’s the popular Sentinels that is staying relatively chill heading into the second year of franchising, making a quietly solid move with a new IGL pickup.
Former M80 IGL Mouhamed “johnqt” Ouarid has officially signed with Sentinels today, marking the team’s second announcement of the offseason after extending Tyson “TenZ” Ngo. After making his rise through the tier-two VALORANT scene with successful stunts on both Ghost Gaming and M80, this marks johnqt’s first time playing for a franchised VALORANT team.
Off the bat, this signing addresses a significant issue that Sentinels had all throughout their 2023 season: the need for an IGL who works with the squad. Heading into their first franchised year, Sentinels’ original IGL was Rory “dephh” Jackson, formerly of XSET who joined Sentinels alongside his teammate Zachary “zekken” Patrone. Despite having a talented roster, Sentinels’ issues came to light when the meta shifted to favor double-controller compositions. The team dropped in the standings, leading to many roster moves.
Dephh was released, Marved was picked up, and then Sentinels’ latest signing was given the IGL role despite the limited experience on it. It was a bit chaotic, to say the least, but the team did improve slightly as the season ended even though they weren’t able to qualify for Champions 2023. Still, the team knew what needed to change. This signing is a key example of that, picking up a very flexible player who can IGL teams to victory, especially as he did with M80 in 2023.
Johnqt’s ability to play the sentinel role, play both controllers or initiators if needed, and lead a team at the top level is exactly what a team like Sentinels needed heading into 2024. Their team still has one of the best controllers in the world with former champion Bryan “pANcada” Luna, and now they won’t have to force him on other roles to fit a meta. Plus, with maps like Sunset and Breeze coming back into the rotation, double controller setups are starting to sneak back into the meta on some maps, meaning this signing not only improves Sentinels’ leadership but also general role choice for the squad.
As of this signing, it looks like Sentinels has a potential roster to run with for 2024, with minimal changes from last year. TenZ is staying and so are zekken and the two Brazilians. Now, with johnqt, Sentinels has a starting roster with a good amount of flexibility.
- TenZ (duelist/flex)
- Zekken (duelist)
- Sacy (initiator)
- pANcada (controller)
- Johnqt (sentinel/flex/IGL)
Especially considering how much other rosters in VCT Americas are going through major shakeups, Sentinels are sticking with four players from last year and their new leader is aiming to make the difference and return them to the top of the region next year.
