Sentinels is an American

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

organization based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California. The organization was founded as ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for War ...

'' team Phoenix1 and competed in the

North American League of Legends Championship Series The League Championship Series (LCS) is the top level of professional ''League of Legends'' in the United States and Canada. The esports league is run by Riot Games and has ten franchise teams. Each annual season of competition is divided into ...

(NA LCS). In June 2018, Phoenix1 rebranded to Sentinels. The company currently fields teams in, ''

Valorant ''Valorant'' is a free-to-play first-person tactical hero shooter developed and published by Riot Games, for Windows. Teased under the codename ''Project A'' in October 2019, the game began a closed beta period with limited access on April 7 ...

'', ''

Apex Legends ''Apex Legends'' is a free-to-play Battle royale game, battle royale-hero shooter game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in February 2019, for Nintendo ...

'', and ''

Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

''.

History

Phoenix1 was founded in May 2016 as a ''

'' team to compete in the

(NA LCS). After the NA LCS became a franchised league, Phoenix1 sold their LCS spot. Following, Phoenix1 partnered with

Kroenke Sports & Entertainment Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) is an American sports and entertainment holding company based in Denver, Colorado. Originally known as Kroenke Sports Enterprises, it was started in 1999 by businessman Stan Kroenke to be the parent company ...

(KSE) to launch their

Overwatch League The Overwatch League (OWL) is a professional esports league for the video game ''Overwatch'', produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. The Overwatch League follows the model of other traditional North American professional sporting lea ...

franchised team

Los Angeles Gladiators The Los Angeles Gladiators are an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Los Angeles, California. The Gladiators compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, the Los Angeles ...

for the video game ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: ''Overwatch'' released in 2016, and ''Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games fea ...

''. After successfully launching the ''Overwatch'' team, the company rebranded to Sentinels in June 2018. Sentinels opened two new divisions in 2018; in June 2018, they entered ''

Hearthstone ''Hearthstone'' is a free-to-play online digital collectible card game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Originally subtitled ''Heroes of Warcraft'', ''Hearthstone'' builds upon the existing lore of the ''Warcraft'' series by u ...

'' esports, and the following month, they began their ''

Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in three distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', a free-to-p ...

'' division. In August 2019, Sentinels co-founder and CEO Rob Moore filed a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

against KSE; Moore alleged that KSE purchased the organization

Echo Fox Echo Fox was an American esports organization. It was founded on December 18, 2015, by retired basketball player Rick Fox, who created Echo Fox after he purchased the NA LCS spot of Gravity Gaming. The organization had expanded into various g ...

without his knowledge. Following the suit, Sentinels split with KSE, leaving the latter as the sole owner of the Gladiators. In February 2020, Sentinels expanded into the competitive ''

'' scene. Two months later, they established their ''

'' division.

Divisions

''Valorant''

Sentinels began their ''

'' division in April 2020, signing former ''

'' player

Jay "sinatraa" Won Jay Won (born March 18, 2000), better known as Sinatraa, is an American professional ''Valorant'' player. Won began his esports career as a competitive ''Overwatch'' player for Selfless Gaming, before signing with the San Francisco Shock of the ...

and former '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' players

Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan Shahzeb Khan (born October 8, 1993), better known as ShahZaM, is an American professional '' Valorant'' player for G2 Esports. He was a former '' CS:GO'' professional player before announcing that he would be officially making the switch to Riot ...

, 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. After sinatraa was suspended in 2021, Sentinels acquired Tyson "TenZ" Ngo on loan from

Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

in March of that year for Valorant Challengers Stage 1 and 2. Sentinels won the first international event in the ''Valorant'' competitive scene, VALORANT Champions Tour 2021: Stage 2 Masters – Reykjavík, without losing any map points. In June 2021, Sentinels fully acquired TenZ from Cloud9, buying out his contract. In September 2021, Sentinels finished 5th–8th place at the Valorant Champions Tour Stage 3: Masters Berlin after a defeat to

Team Envy Team Envy was an American esports franchise based in Dallas, Texas, owned by Envy Gaming. Founded in 2007 as a professional ''Call of Duty'' team under the moniker Team EnVyUs, they fielded rosters in '' Counter-Strike, FIFA, Fortnite, Gears o ...

. Sentinels signed Matt “Weltis” Liu as their analyst in July 22, 2022. On September 21, 2022, Sentinels was selected as a partner by Riot Games to compete in the Valorant Champions Tour Americas League for 2023. Sentinels overhauled their entire Valorant roster by letting go of

, Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro, Michael "shroud" Grzesiek, and Eric "Kanpeki" Xu and replacing them with Zachary "zekken" Patrone, Gustavo "Sacy" Rossi, Bryan "pANcada" Luna, and Rory "dephh" Jackson. 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 strategic coach.

Current roster

''Halo''

Sentinels entered the ''

'' scene in February of 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. In October 2020, Sentinels announced the signing of Bradley "Frosty" Bergstrom, a two-time Halo World Championship winner.

Current roster

Former divisions

''League of Legends''

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.

''Fortnite''

In July 2018, Sentinels began their ''

'' division after signing the players of 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 Kyle Giersdorf, better known as Bugha (), is an American professional esports player who is best known for playing ''Fortnite Battle Royale''. He came to fame after winning Fortnite World Cup 2019. Early life Giersdorf lives in a town in P ...

. On December 29, 2022, Sentinels announced their exit from competitive ''Fortnite''.

References

External links

* {{Official website Former North American League of Legends Championship Series teams Defunct and inactive Super Smash Bros. player sponsors 2016 establishments in California Esports teams established in 2016 Halo (franchise) teams Esports teams based in Los Angeles Valorant teams Apex Legends teams Fortnite teams