Sentinels spends over $1 million to lock up TenZ from Cloud9

Fariha Bhatti Published 01/06/2021

Tyson “TenZ” Ngo is officially a member of Sentinels’ Valorant roster.

One of Valorant’s most gifted players finally has his contractual situation sorted out after months on Cloud9’s bench and a highly successful run as a stand-in for Sentinels. The organizations have reportedly come to terms on a deal that will see TenZ move to Sentinels officially. Following reports, both Sentinels and Cloud9 confirmed that TenZ was being sent to Sentinels.

He’s here to stay.
— Sentinels (@Sentinels) June 1, 2021

Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne made a statement on Reddit.

“Hey to give some context this deal was done before Iceland, it was a dangerous deal for us as we knew we would soon face Sentinals (sic) in the Iceland Qualifiers, however, it was important to Tyson to play, and I wanted to make it happen for him. Best of luck to Tyson on Sentinals (sic),” Etienne said.

TenZ’s contract from Cloud9 after agreeing to an initial deal in April. According to The Esports Observer, the deal included an option for Sentinels to purchase TenZ’s contract, which has now been completed. The said buyout is reported to be worth seven figures, but an exact amount was not given.

TenZ has mentioned multiple times that he wants to play alongside the Sentinels players, but his contract had placed a massive question mark on his competitive career. The deal being completed follows Sentinels’ sprint through VCT Masters Rejkyavik, which put the North American organization at the top of the Valorant scene.

TenZ to permanently replace sinatraa

TenZ joined Cloud9 in 2019 as a professional Counter-Strike player but was benched and eventually transitioned to Valorant. After some time on Cloud9 Blue, he opted to take a hiatus from competitive Valorant. The player stayed under Cloud9’s banner as a content creator, but he returned to action with Sentinels earlier this year. Sentinels has been dominant in the North American Valorant scene, but the organization had a crisis on its hands when Jay “sinatraa” Won was suspended from competition following sexual abuse allegations.

While this was a dire situation for the team, Sentinels became unstoppable with TenZ as a stand-in. The team cleared qualifers, won the entire event, and seems poised to dominate the scene for some time.

TenZ’s addition could mark the end of sinatraa’s time with Sentinels, as the pro player is expected to make a return following his suspension. sinatraa remains under contract with Sentinels at this time.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

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