During that great game, the problems I feared that Sentinels faced happened. Split was a great map but Ascent was unfortunate. And there was 5 problems Sentinels faced in the entire match:
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Unpredictability - Sentinels faced qck1, who was a completely unknown variable. He was a player that Sentinels knew about, but had no information on how we would perform in LOUD. And let's talk about Map 2, Ascent. Caunzin and qck1 played masterfully, and Loud played a very unique team composition, having Viper and Phoenix, two agents who's not part of the Ascent meta. Not only that, I believe that Sentinels highly dislikes Ascent since they don't do good in that map.
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Experience - Unfortunately Sentinels fans, it's true. The difference between johnqt's and Saadhak's calling is experience. Johnqt's igling was only developed in the Tier 2 scene while Saadhak's was developed in Tier 1. Not only that, Saadhak's igling and Loud's ex-star player, aspas, brought them to Champions, and also brought them the trophy. The difference between their experience is exponential, but in the near future, Johnqt may have a counter-strategy ready and more experience.
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Confusion - I believe that Sentinels had an unfortunate 2nd game in Ascent. Tenz on Omen and Zellsis on KAY/O was a nice thought, but in my opinion, Tenz is more comfortable on KAY/O in Ascent and Zellsis is more comfortable on Omen. I also believe that Viper was also viable, as shown in the exact same game by Less. I think that if Zellsis is uncomfortable with playing smokes on a map, you should play Pancada instead. I know that that strategy with DRX was unviable but I believe that it would add more versatility to the team, and it would fulfill Pancada's wish of playing again. It also won't have any effects in my opinion since they would just be like a 6th man player, and teams usually have and practice with 6th mans.
Overall, if Sentinels improve on these, they may win their groups or at least gain the ability to beat LOUD or be on par with them. Sentinels are in my opinion 4th place on the best team in Americas, but with more experience, they may surpass 2nd or 3rd.
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