Timeline of TenZ’s tenure and transfer to Sentinels

Tyson “TenZ” Ngo has been a star in the VALORANT world since he made the transition from CS:GO during VALORANT’s beta period in April 2020. Few players had as tumultuous a journey as TenZ did during VALORANT’s first year. Here’s a timeline of TenZ’s last year in VALORANT from switching from CS:GO, to retiring to pursue content creation to becoming one of the game’s biggest stars.

April 12, 2020: TenZ retires from CS:GO to become Cloud9’s first VALORANT pro

The period of time between VALORANT’s beta release and the game’s actual release in June 2020 was an interesting period for the esports scene. There were hardly any tournaments, the game didn’t even have a ranked mode and there weren't any esports plans shared with the public. Still, with Riot’s track record guiding League of Legends esports and a struggling North America Counter-Strike scene, many players committed to the switch including TenZ.

In an interview with Red Bull that April, TenZ said “I’ve decided to go pro in VALORANT because when I was playing the beta, I realised I haven’t had as much fun as I was having in a long time. Although it might seem risky to switch games, I feel like the future of this game is very bright.”

He was right.

Read more: Here are the biggest moments from VALORANT’s first year

Photo credit: Arctic Invitational

July 26, 2020: Cloud9 loses to Sentinels in the final of the PAX Arena VALORANT Invitational

No one at the time could have known it, but this meeting between the original C9 team and the original Sentinels squad in one of the first Ignition Series events would be the start of a relationship that would shape NA VALORANT.

Mitch “Mitch” Semago is the only C9 player left from that squad who still competes in the baby blue. Sentinels’ team, however, was already largely intact. Four of the five players who would later sit at the monitors besides TenZ at VALORANT’s first international LAN were already locked into the Sentinels team. In hindsight, it was an impressive feat of roster creation to find a core that proved to be the most successful in the region from the first days of the esport.

Sentinels won that matchup 3-1, but the two teams would meet with much higher stakes in the future.

Jan. 12, 2021: TenZ steps down from C9’s competitive roster to pursue content creation

During his time with C9 Blue, who received the name change in October after the creation of C9 White, the team didn’t find a ton of success. First Strike was the biggest event prior to the VALORANT Champions Tour, and C9 Blue failed to qualify after being eliminated by Renegades and T1 via sweeps in the two qualifying tournaments.

With his streaming career taking off as he became one of the main faces of a rapidly growing Twitch category in VALORANT, TenZ decided to focus on content creation. TenZ is the rare star who has found success at both sides of the modern esports world. Great players don’t necessarily make great content and great content creators aren’t always the best players. For TenZ, his streaming viewership only got more popular, and his skill in the game was unquestionable. The rumor was, he was waiting for LANs to return before coming back to competitive play, but an opportunity arose before that.

March 9, 2021: Sinatraa’s alleged assault has Sentinels send for TenZ

Jay “sinatraa” Won was one of the biggest names to make the switch to VALORANT. The former Overwatch League MVP was an integral part of a Sentinels team that hadn’t made any roster changes up until this point. After sinatraa’s ex-girlfriend Cleo published an eight page Twitlonger with accusations of sexual abuse, Sinatraa was suspended pending a Riot Games investigation.

Since then, his suspension was increased for failing to cooperate with the investigation. That investigation, both by Riot Games and law enforcement, remains ongoing. For Sentinels, the team was suddenly missing a player with only a week left before Stage 1 Masters, the biggest event of the esports scene to date.

Needing one more player, the team turned to TenZ who had been retired for three months. C9 loaned him out to the team for a deal we would come to learn the details of later.

Photo credit: Riot Games

March 21, 2021: Sentinels defeat FaZe Clan to become NA’s Stage 1 Masters champions

TenZ clearly didn’t need much time to figure out how to work with his new teammates. The core four that had defeated him back in the Summer of 2020 was still together and was happy to work with one of the most talented players in the game.

Read more: One year later, why consistent success has been hard to find in VALORANT esports

Stage 1 Masters looked an awful lot like Stage 2 Masters for Sentinels. Much like a prime LeBron James in the playoffs, Sentinels just have an extra gear in the biggest stages. After dropping a map to Luminosity Gaming in Round 1, Sentinels never lost another map. The team went 7-0 over 100 Thieves and FaZe Clan twice to win the crown.

Playing against two teams that were regarded as top three teams in North America, Sentinels proved they were a level above the rest at Stage 1 Masters.

April 25, 2021: Sentinels defeat Cloud9 Blue in Challengers 2 Finals

With Sentinels clearly the best team in the world following Stage 2 Masters, it’s crazy how close the team came to not even making it in. Sentinels’ Stage 1 Masters finals opponents in FaZe Clan failed to qualify for even Challengers 1 or 2, much less Challengers Finals or Stage 2 Masters. Qualifying required a quick turnaround from Stage 1 Masters, and many top teams struggled including FaZe and Gen.G.

Read more: FaZe Clan’s Corey reflects on Stage 2 struggles, switching from Overwatch

So did Sentinels. The team lost to Built by Gamers in the first qualifier for Challengers 1. After making it into Challengers 2, Sentinels lost the team’s first-round matchup 2-0 to Andbox. From there, it took a massive lower bracket run to reach the final. Waiting for them was C9 Blue, TenZ’s old team.

With a mostly new C9 roster, TenZ and Sentinels dominated 3-0. But the real prize of Challengers 2 wasn’t the $10,000 prize bump from second to first place, it was a spot in Challengers Finals the following week.

May 1, 2021: Sentinels faces off against C9 Blue with a spot in Iceland on the line

If C9 had known that TenZ’s new team would be the final barrier between a spot in Stage 2 Masters, the deal might never have been done. In a twist of fate, the two teams just seemed to keep meeting in huge situations. The upper bracket final of Challengers Finals would award the first spot in Stage 2 Masters, the loser would await the winner of Version1 and Envy.

This game wasn’t Sentinels’ characteristic stomping. It was quite close. C9 Blue absolutely thrashed Sentinels on Split with a 13-1 final score. It was the worst single-map performance Sentinels had played in a key spot.

“We beat C9 in Challengers 2, so we had confidence we could beat them again in this tournament,” TenZ said after that game. “They played quite well, especially on Split, I noticed that their comp was insane, I couldn’t do anything on that map.”

Regardless of that lopsided loss, Sentinels would win the deciding third map. C9 Blue got another chance to qualify for Stage 2 Masters in the lower bracket final but V1 beat them 2-1 in that match as well.

Photo credit: Riot Games

May 30, 2021: Sentinels claim the crown of best VALORANT team in the world

For the first time, all the major VALORANT regions sent their best teams to one tournament. Stage 2 Masters or IceLAN or Masters Reykjavík or whatever you want to call it, was a true test of skill like nothing the esport had seen before. Was Europe’s CS prowess going to dominate VALORANT as well? Was Korea’s dominance in Riot’s other major esport going to extend to this title? Was the aiming in Brazil so cracked it was actually the best? Could NA actually prove relevant at a major international esports event?

No one knew the answers to these questions going in. By the end, only one team had a claim to the crown. By not losing a map throughout the tournament, Sentinels not only won the prize, they settled any doubts for the time being as to who the best team in the world is. TenZ was named the MVP. Under three months after he was pulled back into competitive play, he became the best player on the best team at VALORANT’s biggest tournament.

But a few clouds still hung over his head ...

June 1, 2021: Sentinels confirm buyout of TenZ’s C9 contract in “seven-figure” deal

Before the tournament was even over, there was discussion of TenZ being put in contract prison by C9. Basically, would the org let him out of the deal? Turns out, it was merely a formality. The original deal included a provision for Sentinels to buy TenZ as part of the loan agreement after a set period of time. Sentinels happily signed on the dotted line, paid C9 $1.25 million, according to a report from Upcomer, and set the team’s dominant roster in stone.

So many contract disputes in esports end in bad blood. This time, it wasn’t the case. Despite TenZ arguably being worth even more money than that, and a fairly cryptic tweet from C9 CEO Jack Etienne during Stage 2 Masters, everything in this deal went perfectly. Both parties left happy. TenZ gets to play with a team he called “the best teammates he’s ever had,” Sentinels get a good deal on a star player, and C9 gets an infusion of cash to improve a roster that is already top five in North America.

Where TenZ’s story goes from here remains to be seen, but if the past is any indication, TenZ’s star seems to get only brighter as the months go on, the headshots keep hitting and his K/D keeps skyrocketing.

Lead image credit: Riot Games