Jay “Sinatraa” Won sent shockwaves down the eSports community on Tuesday. He announced his retirement from the professional Overwatch scene, saying he “straight up just lost passion for the game.” He wished to pursue a professional career in Valorant now, rather than Overwatch. The Sentinels obviously understood Sinatraa’s stance and clearly did not want to lose him; they have now announced a Valorant team of their own to accommodate their star man.
joined @Sentinels for VALORANT
— Jay Won (@sinatraa) April 29, 2020
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Sinatra to Dominate Valorant too?
When Sinatraa announced he was stepping away from Overwatch, there was almost a ringing silence around. How do you react when a player who is the best simply drops the game and moves on?
Sinatraa has amassed quite the list of wins in his Overwatch community. He is the reigning Overwatch League MVP, while also leading the Sentinels to victory in the Overwatch League Season 2 Grand Finals Championship. Moreover, he also captured the Overwatch World Cup gold medal for Team USA. Unsurprisingly, many consider him the best player to ever grace Overwatch.
So would @sinatraa quitting OW for VALORANT be akin to @s1mpleO / @dev1ce or a similar player quitting CS at their peak for a diff game?
— Scott Smith (@SirScoots) April 28, 2020
This is the biggest esports game change I can remember for a player in their prime in a top Esport. Closest I could come up with was Peterpandam going from HON to Dota or Crim/formal going to COD, but no where near as big/relevant
Anyone have a good parallel?
— Adam Apicella (@MrAdamAp) April 28, 2020
Popular Overwatch commentator paid tribute to Sinatraa with a clip of his “best play ever.”
Insane mechanical ability and one of the best players of all time to grace the game, really do wish him the best for the future and I'm sure he's gonna be cracked.
— Brennon Hook (@BrenCasts) April 29, 2020
Sinatraa will now try his luck at Valorant, and he will do so fro the Sentinels once again. The Sentinels’ Valorant team will feature some amazing names apart from Sinatraa. Joining the reigning Overwatch world champion is former CS: GO players Hunter “SicK” Mims and Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan. Additionally, the new team will also feature Jared “Zombs” Gitlin, who was already part of the Sentinels’ Apex Legends team.
Time to write the next chapter.
We are excited to announce details about our Valorant team consisting of @sinatraa, @ShahZaMk, @zombs and @SicK_cs.
📰: https://t.co/sQ6hDFtvtZ pic.twitter.com/wsxlXCOqF7
— Sentinels (@Sentinels) April 29, 2020
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While there is little doubt the Sentinels will be disappointed that Sinatraa won’t play Overwatch anymore, they are surely ecstatic they did not lose him. Forming a Valorant team of their own was undoubtedly the best move.
They have enjoyed a ton of success, in recent times, across multiple games like Halo and Fortnite. They’ll be hopeful Sinatraa can continue to dominate for them, this time in Valorant.
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Riot Games’ Valorant has truly taken the industry by storm. Even before releasing to the public, there are plans in place for competitive tournaments. there is little doubt the eSports competitive scene will heavily feature Valorant soon.
The Sentinels are just about ready to take the challenge head-on.
