“I think we have what it takes to win everything this time” Gen.G exude confidence after victory against Sentinels

In the second round of the VCT Masters Madrid Playoffs, Gen.G took on Sentinels in an Upper Bracket series to secure the first Grand Finals spot. Gen.G emerged victorious in the Bo3, soundly defeating Sentinels in the decider map to move on. Sentinels, meanwhile, dropped to the Lower Bracket.

Gen.G 2-1 Sentinels

Despite a closely contested series round-wise, Gen.G walked away with a resounding victory on Split, taking down the Americas goliath in 13-5 fashion on the team’s best map. Off to a rough start, Sentinels only managed 4 rounds in the first half and 1 in the second, as Gen.G cruised to a comfortable start to the series.

Head Coach Solo did not shy away from crediting the team’s performance:

“We knew that Sentinels had a strong Split, and we also knew that they would pick Split, but I just believed that our Split was stronger, and our players had better mechanics, and I think part of that kind of showed in the results today. And I wouldn’t say it was like a huge gameplan going up against Sentinels, but we were very aware of Sentinels played on their defense and attack, and how they run the Cypher and how they play around their Cypher. So, that was the main point, the focal point that we talked about heading into Split.”

IGL Munchkin also echoed his coach’s sentiment, claiming confidence from the team on taking on Sentinels on Split:

“After the series against EDG, we were able to build up our confidence on Split. So, heading into this series, while doing the map vetoes, we talked about how it’s not a big deal for us, and it wouldn’t hurt us to play Split. And as for the gameplan, we scrimmed a lot. We had a lot of practices together, so we were able to play against different comps. And the comp that Sentinels ran, we were able to get a lot of reps in against that comp specifically, so we were pretty familiar with how to counter their comp. So yeah, we felt pretty confident.”

Heading into Lotus, Sentinels put on a much better showing, challenging Gen.G for every round. In the end, Sentinels managed to put away Lotus 13-7, including a 6-round streak at the end to close out the game.

Unfortunately for them, Gen.G put on a masterclass on Breeze, showcasing why they are one of the most unique Breeze teams, with an aggressive defense side that frequently found Sentinels on the backfoot seconds into the round.

Gen.G managed to close out Breeze 13-3, silencing the Americas representative, who had been on an undefeated hot streak since Kickoff, having won 8 games in a row (not counting the loss to G2 in Play-Ins).

Speaking with Meteor after the series on the transformation of fortune between last year and this year with the Korean organization, he had this to say:

“Last year has been tough for me, but I am grateful that I am able to play with these amazing teammates, and I think just all the hard work that we’ve been doing this year is paying dividends, and also, I feel like we have the 5 best players in the world. So, as long as we keep our composure, I don’t think we’re going to choke or crumble under pressure, and I think we have what it takes to win everything this time.”

Sentinels’ IGL Johnqt also spoke on the team’s unexpected loss:

“We did watch their games and were ready for their playstyle. Obviously sometimes we were pretty surprised, for example, that Killjoy on Lotus C, and he just went through the [Viper] Orb, going for a one for one. They do stuff like that that surprised us, bu overall I think the loss is on us. We had to win Split and close it out on Lotus, but we just didn’t show up on Split. We’ll be pretty regretful about that but there are a lot of lessons to learn there, and we’re just going to move on and take the loss and come back better. But I don’t feel like we got surprised by how they played at all.”

Gen.G have now progressed on to the Grand Finals, while Sentinels will have to play against Paper Rex today for another opportunity against Gen.G and a shot at the first Masters’ title of 2024.

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Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games

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