Update: This story now includes financial details of TenZ’s contract and a link to the original source of the news.
Tyson “TenZ” Ngo has been officially traded to Sentinels, as confirmed by Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne on Reddit after the Esports Observer reported the news Tuesday.
According to sources familiar with the agreement, Cloud9 originally shopped TenZ around for $2 million, but accepted a $250 thousand loan fee from Sentinels that secured his services through the end of May. Then, after seeing how happy TenZ was playing with the new team and considering the ease of working with Sentinels throughout the process, Cloud9 let Sentinels buy his contract outright for $1.25 million.
Originally, TenZ started playing VALORANT competitively with Cloud9 in 2020. After several lackluster finishes at tournaments, TenZ stepped away from Cloud9’s VALORANT roster to pursue content creation. That only lasted a few months, as soon Sentinels recruited the twenty-year-old for their own team.
Sentinels’ previous player Jay “Sinatraa” Won was accused of sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend and was suspended from playing professional VALORANT and by Sentinels in general. Without a player to compete alongside them before Masters 1, Sentinels searched for a replacement. They landed on TenZ, who had not played for a team during the VALORANT Champions Tour already. When Sentinels qualified for Masters 2 in Iceland, fans began to speculate on whether TenZ would join Sentinels fully.
Sentinels and Cloud9 confirm TenZ’s new home
Now that Sentinels are back from Masters 2 with the first international trophy in their suitcases, the TenZ trade has been made permanent. Jack Etienne wished the young VALORANT start the best of luck on Reddit, clarifying that he wanted to make the deal work for him.
“This deal was done before Iceland. It was a dangerous deal for us as we knew we would soon face Sentinels in the Iceland Qualifiers, however, it was important to Tyson to play and I wanted to make it happen for him. Best of luck to Tyson on Sentinels.”
He's here to stay.
— Sentinels (@Sentinels) June 1, 2021
Sentinels also confirmed that the international champion would have a permanent home with the organization. They tweeted out ‘He’s here to stay’ when rumors began to fly that the deal had already been made. After winning Masters 2 and taking down Fnatic in the grand final, TenZ expressed his desire to continue playing with the roster. He had already won two championships in Masters 1 and 2 with the squad. With their win at Masters 2, the team also qualified for Champions at the end of the year. Simply put, Sentinels has seen a lot of success with TenZ on the roster and now have a chance at more.
Published: Jun 1, 2021 05:27 pm