Valorant and drama in North America, name a better duo?
North American Valorant drama is a tale as old as time. From 100 Thieves imploding within two months, to T1 being disqualified from a competitive game, these are just pieces that make up the NA drama puzzle. This time involves newly acquired G2 player Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan, who fired shots at his old team in Sentinels. These shots ignited a war of words with Sentinels' CEO Rob Moore.
The tweet that lit the flame
The ShahZaM and Sentinels drama last night originated from a light-hearted tweet that was posted on Sentinels official Twitter page. The tweet made fun of the 'stratbook', which was an ongoing joke that the team would spin a wheel which would determine what Tyson "TenZ" Ngo would do in the next game.
What started as a light-hearted joke quickly turned sour when ShahZaM would make a response to this tweet. ShahZaM insinuated that he was promised a spot on Sentinels' 2023 VCT roster. The response was fired directly at the making on the LCQ roster, which featured Michael “shroud” Grzesiek.
"Oh yeah, one time I spun the wheel and it landed on “please play with shroud, we don’t care if you win just make it hype. we’ll personally guarantee you a spot in franchising if you do”. This was a strong accusation for ShahZaM to make. Insisting the organization valued social engagement over results.
Sentinels' CEO hits back at ShahZaM
This response did not go down well with Sentinels' CEO Rob Moore. Expectedly, Moore defended his organization in a strong retaliation tweet. The Sentinels' CEO indicated ShazHaM had behavioural issues. According to Moore, ShahZam acted as if he did not want to be part of the org for the duration of the 2022 season.
This 'drama' was not going to go away any time soon, with ShahZam doubling down on his allegations that he was promised a spot on Sentinels' VCT franchised roster.
ShahZaM responded "Are you actually going to deny promising me a spot if i did you this "huge favor"? you can own up to it and do better. don't lie to your players. best of luck to you and your new team. To which Moore replied, "I did not."
It will be interesting to see where this latest Valorant drama ends up. ShahZaM and G2 Esports will kick off their Valorant season in Split 1 of the VCT Challengers League which kicks off Feb 1.