Sentinels Secure Grand Finals Victory At Pop Flash

The North American team was able to best every single team in the bracket. Their usual Grand Finals adversaries, TSM, had long since exited the event. Team Envy were able to fight through to the Grand Finals, but were quickly and soundly defeated. Sentinels are the winners of Pop Flash and can finally add an IGNITION Series trophy to their collection. 

In the preview to this event, we had highlighted TSM and Sentinels as favorites on the basis of their recent success. But TSM were beaten by Dignitas early on. In their Decider Match, they faced Dignitas once more and, again, were unable to win. The victors of FaZe Clan Invitational were unable to advance from their group this time around.

Sentinels, on the other hand, made a victory run through the Group Stage. Shahzeeb “ShahZaM” Khan and his boys didn’t drop a single map. Only Cloud9 were able to steal one small victory off them with 13-11. But as C9 later fell to Team Envy, Sentinels had a clear road ahead. Having beaten Envy in the Opening Match already, Sentinels now sought to repeat this performance in the Grand Finals.

THE GRAND FINALS

Up to this point, Pop Flash managed to impress with tense matches and close upsets. Flashpoint have put a lot of effort into their presentation and the production quality has certainly set a precedent for future VALORANT events. This didn’t change for the Grand Finals. The crew once more provided insightful analysis and presented tips and tricks clips all throughout the breaks. But what about the Grand Finals participants?

Sentinels tried early on to make this a quick victory. On Haven, they reached an 8-0 lead and secured a 9-3 score at halftime. On the defense, Envy were a bit stronger, but ShahZaM and company only needed 3 more rounds anyways! With 13-9, they ended the first map. Jay “sinatraa” Wong, the former Overwatch MVP, was the star of the match with 23 kills and a 180 ADR.

That shouldn’t change on Bind. Sentinels had an even better start and were able to win all rounds in the first half, with the exception of the last. Leading 11-1, they got onto the defense. Jake “kaboose” McDonald and Abdo “c4Lypso” Agha tried everything they could to keep Envy in the game, but sinatraa proved too strong once again. A 13-7 sent the two teams onto a third map, where Sentinels would get the chance to close the Grand Finals out in quick style.

But Team Envy weren’t down and out just yet. In the first half of Split, the two teams posted an even 6-6 scoreline, giving the underdogs a buffer for the second half. Winning the second pistol round, they suddenly found themselves in the lead. Would this finally be their comeback into the Grand Finals?

Unfortunately, no. When sinatraa and his colleagues raced to A spot, they managed to plant the spike with just 20 seconds elapsed. While Envy did make it a costly round in the end, Sentinels powered through their offense to secure all rounds for a 13-8 victory.

ARE SENTINELS THE BEST NA TEAM?

Obviously, it’s difficult to make a judgement on the basis of just one tournament victory. But their usual rivals, TSM, broke down completely at this event. Apart from Cloud9, who did steal a map off of Sentinels, no team was even close to touching them. As soon as VALORANT events commence again, we will see whether Sentinels really are the leading team of their region.