Michael “shroud” Grzesiek says Sentinels didn’t initially believe him when he said he would be interested in coming on as their fifth player for North America’s VALORANT Last Chance Qualifiers in August.
Sentinels broke the VALORANT community on Friday by announcing the former Counter-Strike professional joined their roster. The team was in need of a fifth player after Hunter “SicK” Mims revealed that he would be taking an extended leave of absence due to personal reasons, and would not be finishing out the season. Unlike last year, Sentinels have struggled to win events in VCT and have missed out on their initial chances at Champions. Instead, Sentinels will have to fight their way through the VCT LCQ for North America.
Without warning, Sentinels posted that shroud would be joining the team, his first competitive squad since stepping away from pro Counter-Strike in 2018. Since ending his pro CS:GO career, shroud has become one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, and formerly Mixer. Shroud’s large audience not only drove thousands to Sentinels’ Twitter, but also had many people questioning whether the move was legitimate, or an elaborate joke. Shroud went on stream shortly after the announcement to confirm that not only was the move real, but explain how he got signed. According to shroud, he was asked if his name could be put in to try out as Sentinels fifth, to which he agreed.
But the fans were not the only ones to question the roster change. Shroud said Sentinels themselves thought he was trolling when the opportunity arose.
“[Sentinels] all thought I was trolling,” said shroud. “They all thought I was trolling, but I was not trolling.”
The initial announcement video has over two million views, and has many debating whether this is one of the best, or the worst, signings in VALORANT history. Regardless, shroud will have little time to gel with his new teammates and settle into competitive VALORANT before competing in the all-important LCQ.
