The VCT 2025: America Stage 1 group stage’s first week will conclude with a match between Sentinels and 100 Thieves. While Sentinels is the favorite to win the upcoming match, those wanting all the facts may want to analyze both team’s recent performances, agent pools, and head-to-head records.
The VCT 2025: America Stage 1 tournament’s group stage is pitting 12 professional Valorant teams against each other to see which make it to the playoffs. The group stage will last for five weeks, and the last match of the first week is Sentinels vs 100 Thieves, two top teams.
Both teams have seen better days, even if Sentinels’ recent poor performance is better known because of the team’s earnest popularity. Regardless, looking at the last time the two teams met on the big stage, Sentinels may have a competitive advantage against their opposition.
Sentinels’ performance during the recent Masters Bangkok event left much to be desired. The team lost 0-2 against DRX and only managed to win one game against Team Liquid before losing and being knocked out of the tournament. The silver lining for the team is that it at least managed to reach Masters Bangkok thanks to its performance in the VCT 2025: Americas kickoff tournament where it landed second place, losing only to G2 Esports.
On the other hand, 100 Thieves hasn’t had a good 2025 at all. The team participated in the VCT 2025: Americas kickoff this year and defeated MIBR, before losing to Sentinels and NRG in succession to get knocked out of the event. While Asuna generally does a good job finding frags for his team, he’s ultimately too inconsistent with his plays and doesn’t have the support from his teammates that an aggressive duelist like him often requires. Changing this could give 100 Thieves a major leg up against any team.
Sentinels’ zekken is an equally aggressive duelist, though his saving grace usually comes in the form of his teammates. In particular, bang and johnqt showed excellent support in a majority of the VCT 2025: Americas kickoff matches, though that support also went out the window during Masters Bangkok. johnqt properly utilizing Tejo may give Sentinels the competitive advantage the team needs to win the upcoming match.
Below are the rosters for both teams:
Sentinels
100 Thieves
Sentinels is fairly strict when it comes to its agent pool. Picks like Yoru, Raze, Omen, and Vyse are common, though the team also occasionally picks agents like Viper, Fade, and Astra. Tejo will likely be the agent fans will see the most, considering how decisive the agent’s abilities were in the last match against 100 Thieves.
Tejo will also likely be picked by 100 Thieves, especially since the one game the team won against Sentinels was when 100 Thieves had Tejo on its side. Fade is also a common pick from this squad, though 100 Thieves will likely switch the rest around considering its recent performances.
Sentinels and 100 Thieves have duked it out seven times since they first met on the big stage in 2022. Out of those seven matches, Sentinels has won five times while 100 Thieves only managed to win twice. Sentinels won the most recent meeting with a 2-1 final game score.
Sentinels is the favorite to win the upcoming match, but not by much. The team’s 1.58 next to 100 Thieves’ 2.20 makes the latter the underdog, though that doesn’t mean there isn’t any upset potential.
Sentinels may have won the last time the two teams met on the big stage, but things could be different this time. The deciding factor the last time around was 100 Thieves opting to not use Tejo in the second and third games, ultimately giving Sentinels the advantage since Tejo played a huge role in shutting down 100 Thieves, especially while the team was defending.
Sentinels is currently in a strange place. With the departure of notable players Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi and Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, the team made some questionable plays during Masters Bangkok that had even its former players wondering what was going wrong. This apparent lack of teamwork and communication between the old and new members of the team may give 100 Thieves the advantage it needs to win the upcoming match.
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