| Sentinels | |
| Former Name: | Phoenix1 |
| Type: | Private |
| Industry: | Esports |
| Founded: | 2016 |
| Hq Location: | Los Angeles, California |
| Hq Location Country: | U.S. |
| Parent: | P1 Esports, LLC |
Sentinels is an American esports organization based in Los Angeles, California. The organization was founded as the League of Legends team Phoenix1 and competed in the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS). In June 2018, Phoenix1 rebranded to Sentinels. The company currently fields teams in Valorant, Apex Legends, and Halo.
Phoenix1 was founded in May 2016 as a League of Legends team to compete in the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS). After the NA LCS became a franchised league, Phoenix1 sold its LCS spot. Following, Phoenix1 partnered with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) to launch their Overwatch League franchised team Los Angeles Gladiators for the video game Overwatch. After successfully launching the Overwatch team, the company rebranded to Sentinels in June 2018.[1] Sentinels opened two new divisions in 2018; in June 2018, they entered Hearthstone esports, and the following month, they began their Fortnite division.[2]
In August 2019, Sentinels co-founder and CEO Rob Moore filed a lawsuit against KSE; Moore alleged that KSE purchased the organization Echo Fox without his knowledge.[3] Following the suit, Sentinels split with KSE, leaving the latter as the sole owner of the Gladiators.[4]
In February 2020, Sentinels expanded into the competitive Halo scene.[5] Two months later, they established their Valorant division.[6]
Sentinels began their Valorant division in April 2020, signing former Overwatch player Jay "sinatraa" Won and former players Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan, and Hunter "SicK" Mims, as well as bringing in Jared "zombs" Gitlin from their Apex Legends division. In June 2020, they rounded out their roster with the signing of Michael "dapr" Gulino.[7] After sinatraa was suspended in 2021, Sentinels acquired Tyson "TenZ" Ngo on loan from Cloud9 in March of that year for Valorant Challengers Stage 1 and 2.[8] Sentinels won the first international event in the Valorant competitive scene, VALORANT Champions Tour 2021: Stage 2 Masters – Reykjavík, without losing any map points.[9] In June 2021, Sentinels fully acquired TenZ from Cloud9, buying out his contract.[10] In September 2021, Sentinels finished 5th–8th place at the Valorant Champions Tour Stage 3: Masters Berlin after a defeat to Team Envy.[11]
Sentinels signed Matt "Weltis" Liu as their analyst on July 22, 2022.[12] On September 21, 2022, Sentinels was selected as a partner by Riot Games to compete in the Valorant Champions Tour Americas League for 2023.[13] Sentinels overhauled their entire Valorant roster by letting go of Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan, Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro, Michael "shroud" Grzesiek, and Eric "Kanpeki" Xu and replacing them with former XSET players, Zachary "zekken" Patrone and in-game leader Rory "dephh" Jackson, as well as 2022 Valorant Champions winners Gustavo "Sacy" Rossi and Bryan "pANcada" Luna. Sentinels also let go of their head coach Shane "Rawkus" Flaherty and replaced him with Don "SyykoNT" Muir as head coach and Adam "kaplan" Kaplan as a strategic coach.[14] [15] On March 13, 2023, Sentinels announced the signing of former OpTic Gaming player Jimmy "Marved" Nguyen, as a substitute.[16] On April 17, 2023, SyykoNT announced his departure, promoting kaplan to head coach and Drew "DrewSpark" Spark-Whitworth as assistant coach.[17] On May 9, 2023, Tyson "TenZ" Ngo returned to the active roster following a wrist injury.[18] Following his return, dephh was let go and later replaced with Marved, who would compete with Sentinels for the remainder of the season as their in-game leader. Sentinels did not qualify for the Americas League playoffs, forcing them to compete in the Americas Last Chance Qualifier for 2023 Valorant Champions — of which they were then eliminated by Leviatán, putting their season to an end.[19]
On September 13, 2023, Sentinels announced the signing of in-game leader Mohamed "johnqt" Ouarid.[20] One day later, Sentinels re-signed Zellsis, now as their substitute player.[21] Following the signing of Zellsis, Sentinels began a series of multiple off-season events culminating in their participation in the "AfreecaTV Valorant League" in Seoul, South Korea where they finished 1st place after beating Paper Rex.[22] This was the last off-season event they participated in ahead of the 2024 season. As of February 9, 2024, Sentinels have moved pANcada to the bench and promoted Zellsis to the starting roster.[23]
On March 24, 2024, Sentinels won VALORANT Champions Tour 2024: Masters Madrid by defeating Gen.G in the grand final.[24]
Sentinels entered the Halo scene in February 2019, signing Halo veterans, previously of TOX Gaming, consisting of Paul "SnakeBite" Duarte, Tony "LethuL" Campbell Jr., Bradley "aPG" Laws, and Mathew "Royal2" Fiorante, with Chris "Royal1" Fiorante, as their coach.[25] In October 2020, Sentinels announced the signing of Bradley "Frosty" Bergstrom, a two-time Halo World Championship winner.[26]
On January 13, 2023, SnakeBite, Royal2, Frosty, and Royal1 departed the organization. On the same day, Sentinels signed Kahari "Kuhlect" Miller, Tyler "Spartan" Ganza, Nick "KingNick" Panzella, and Kyle "Chig" Lawson.[27] Exactly three months later, Kuhlect is released from the active roster,[28] and a few days later on April 17 the organization signs Ayden "Suspector" Hill.[29] A few months later on June 23, Suspector and KingNick depart the team, and Sentinels pick up Jesse "bubu dubu" Moeller and Michael "Falcated" Garcia.[30] [31]
For Phoenix1's inaugural season, the team signed top laner Derek "zig" Shao, jungler Rami "Inori" Charagh, Sang-ook "Ryu" Yoo, bot laner Dong-hyeon "Arrow" No, and support Adrian "Adrian" Ma.[32]
In July 2018, Sentinels began their Fortnite division after signing the players of the North American team TT. Included in the signings were Owen "Animal" Wright, Jaden "rieo" Leis, Mike "mikeqt" DeMarco, and Cayden "Carose" Bradford. In March 2019, Sentinels signed Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf.[33] On December 29, 2022, Sentinels announced their exit from competitive Fortnite.[34]