The VALORANT community is in shock after Sentinels’ Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo announced his retirement from competitive at the age of 23 yesterday. The Canadian professional was one of the most popular players and has a global fanbase of his own. It is quite shocking for his fans and also VALORANT lovers as they will not be able to watch their favorite player in the VCT 2025.
TenZ is one of the most successful players of VCT (VALORANT Champions Tour) winning two international trophies in his short career. He started his career in 2019 with Cloud9, one of the most popular Esports organizations in America. He joined their CS: GO team before switching to VALORANT full-time in 2020 after the release of Riot’s Shooter. Later he joined Sentinels in 2021 with a world-record transfer fee that time. After joining Sentinels he won the very first event with them in VCT Masters Reykjavik 2021 and TenZ was the MVP of the event. However, Sentinels struggled as a team since then before winning the VCT Masters Madrid 2024. TenZ was an instrumental part of this team as well.
Fans have enjoyed some jaw-dropping plays from TenZ in VCT. Here are the top five TenZ moments in VCT events over the years:
One Tap Prowess against PRX:
Sentinels go up against Paper Rex (PRX) from the APAC region in VCT Madrid 2024. It was the Lower Final with the qualification of Grand Finals at stake. Two teams were competing on Ascent and Sentinels was on the attacking side.
The American side decided to hit A-site and successfully gain control. However, after planting the Spike, the whole Sentinels team collapsed leaving TenZ in a 1v2 situation. TenZ hit two quick headshots on his opponents and secured the round for his side, closing out the map for his team. Sentinels later won the game and qualified for the Grand Finals.
Round-winning Clutch against Fnatic:
Sentinels faced Fnatic in VCT 2023: LOCK// IN. Sentinels was down to 1:0 in the Bo3 game and the match was on Split. Sentinels was on the attacking side and TenZ was playing as a Sage on that map.
The American side attacked B-site and before taking full control, TenZ found himself in a 1v3 situation. However, he decided to switch to the Battle-Sage mode and remove two players quickly. With time running out, he somehow planted the Spike and positioned himself for the last player. After some time, he killed the last player also and secured the round for his team.
Clutch against Gen.G:
VALORANT is a game of mechanical prowess and tactical supremacy. Players need to be equally good with their aim and the Agent’s ability to perform better in the game. TenZ showed his excellence in both for the clutch against Gen.G in the VCT Masters Madrid.
Sentinels was attacking in Breeze and planted the spike on B-site. But things became critical for them and TenZ found himself in a 1v3 situation. The VALORANT star took out two with his gun while the last alive players of Gen.G was busy in defusing the Spike. TenZ was playing as KAY/O on that map and used his FRAG/MENT to take out the last player. TenZ denied the Spike-defusal and secured the round for his team.
TenZ’s 3K against PRX:
Another excellence of TenZ was showcased against Paper Rex in VCT Masters Madrid. The game was on Sunset and Sentinels was on the attacking side.
Both teams were fighting for the mid-control and TenZ took out two players of Paper Rex and found himself in a 1v1 situation at the last. Tenz was playing as Omen and used the Ultimate to go to the A-site and plant the Spike. The last alive player of PRX decided to defuse the Spike with a Poison Cloud cover of Viper. TenZ entered the Poison Cloud intelligently and took out the last player with ease to seal the map & the game for his side.
4K against NRG:
It is probably the best VCT moment of TenZ in recent times. The match was against NRG on Sunset and Sentinels was on the defending side. NRG hit the B-site and decided to enter aggressively.
However, TenZ was guarding the Site as Omen and positioned himself to surprise the opponent. He got the value by taking out three players of NRG from that position and putting Sentinels in a promising position in that round. Later he took out another player and his team won the round quite impressively. The mechanical prowess of TenZ’s game was showcased in this round.
Fans are surprised by TenZ’s decision after his impressive performances at the recent VALORANT events. Many expressed their feelings on social media requesting TenZ to reconsider his decision. However, it will be interesting to see if TenZ re-thinks his decision seeing the request of his fans.
