Shawn thinks Gen.G ‘could easily take Sentinels’ as team preps for lower bracket run

Gen.G bounced back from their upper bracket loss to Team Envy in their first VALORANT Masters match by beating XSET 2-0 to ensure their tournament run continued.

Now, Gen.G must face one of the strongest teams in the lower bracket, 100 Thieves, as they look to claw their way back to the Masters grand final where either FaZe Clan or Sentinels will be waiting.

Gen.G, the No. 8 seed at Masters, will look to make a Cinderella run through the lower bracket, but they will have to win three straight matches this weekend just to reach the grand final, and they will have to beat some pretty tough teams to get there.

Read more: TenZ says ‘it would definitely be a consideration’ if given the chance to join Sentinels permanently

Shawn “Shawn” O’Riley has already thought about the possibility of taking on the Sentinels in the lower bracket, and he would have preferred playing them for their next match instead of 100 Thieves.

“I think Sentinels, historically at least when we play them, they’re not really a hard team. What they have is very good team work a lot of the time. I don’t think their strats are out of the ordinary. They do definitely have really good teamwork, which is something that we’re still working on here. I think we could easily take Sentinels,” Shawn said.

The beauty of the VALORANT competitive landscape so far is that any team can win at any time. Luminosity Gaming upset Immortals last weekend, Sentinels lost to Envy twice during Challengers, and FaZe Clan lost to XSET in Challengers 2 before going on their current streak of six straight wins. While Sentinels and FaZe Clan are the two teams that people expect to compete in the grand final, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a team from the lower bracket make a run.

Read more: FaZe dominate, TenZ and Sentinels excel in first weekend of VALORANT Masters

“This game is pretty, I don’t want to say random, but you win pistol rounds, you win the anti-eco, you get more orbs than the other team, you get your ults faster, you have more chances of winning and the ball just keeps rolling. In the top eight of NA, anybody can beat anybody.” Danny “huynh” huynh said.

Gen.G now must prepare for their match against 100 Thieves in order to avoid being knocked out of the tournament. The team has cited communication as the biggest issue holding them back from success.

“I think we’ve been improving a ton on our communication in the game, and I think what we still need to improve on is when the rounds get chaotic … When there’s a lot going around the site with ults going off, I think our communication gets very chaotic and bloated. I think we need to figure out better ways to clean up our communication and make sure everyone’s on the same page, because we tend to make big mistakes in those rounds and they cost us a lot,” Michael “MkaeL” De Luca said.

Huynh echoed what MkaeL said about the need to avoid mistakes in critical rounds.

“I think the reason why we’ve been losing crucial, important rounds sometimes is because we are making small mistakes individually that have cost us rounds. Those rounds have cost us the game, so if we capitalize on making less mistakes, and focusing on not doing that again, then we’ll be good.” huynh said on what needed improving for their match against 100 Thieves.

100 Thieves is no easy team to beat, and many players have commented on the experience and skill their roster holds. Even with their newest addition, the team is still working well together and can’t be underestimated.

“100T are a good team. They have really smart players on their team. They also have really good teamwork. They’re at a month or two with [Ethan “Ethan” Arnold], even now they look good. I think they’re probably going to become the top NA team. I would definitely take Sentinels over them,” Shawn said.

Lead image credit: Gen.G