“I love the crowd, I hate this stage”: SEN cortezia on playing without fans

It didn’t take long for Gabriel “cortezia” Cortez to laugh about his performance against Evil Geniuses (EG). Despite Sentinels (SEN) winning the match, cortezia described it as the worst performance of his career, something he said he had never experienced before, in an interview with esports.gg after the game.

The four hours of Deathmatch might not be enough punishment, because Sentinels had a really rough time in the next match, losing against 100 Thieves and being sent to the lower bracket.

For SEN cortezia, having a slow start against EG was not the end of the world. Still, it can be frustrating not being able to help the team or be that crucial pillar when it matters. “There were rounds that were all about bad timings, but there were others where I missed every shot, or I had my knife out,” SEN’s cortezia explained. “I was having a very difficult game. Everything was going wrong.”

When you enter a spiral of bad luck, it ends up snowballing into bad decisions, bad aim, and bad timing, something that cortezia never experienced since he became a professional player. It was in the 1v3 clutch on Pearl that everything changed. Winning those trades, leading the match to 11-11, made all the difference, both in the game and in his confidence.

"We never know what will happen. If we lost that map, we could have lost the third, but I brought that clutch that helped my team come back and close 2-0. That's all that matters," he added. For cortezia, the coaches played a key role in the series by helping the team reset and keeping everyone calm and rational.

Ahead of their match against EG, SEN Cortezia had several areas to improve after their first defeat to FURIA. After an intense week of training sessions lasting over 12 hours per day, cortezia was ready for the challenge. "We identified the points we needed to improve, and we did it," he said. "The next matches can be way cleaner and more relaxed."

In the VALORANT Champions 2025 tournament, we get used to seeing cortezia playing in the sentinel position. However, with this new roster and strategy, we have been seeing him in a controller position multiple times, going from Viper to Astra and even Omen.

This takes us to the beginning of his career, when he used to play controller. "I was the best controller player in the region back then, so I know how these agents work. I used to play Viper a lot, and it was my favorite role, but I believe it depends on the map," he explained. "Astra was something I hadn't played in a long time, but I'm getting used to it again."

SEN cortezia has no doubts that the VCT Americas is the best region in the world. Every team is surprising, every team is bringing their best out. There are no silly teams, not a single one that you can say will be an easy match. "You have to be prepared to be punished and adapt some things. It is more important to think about our game instead of what the enemy does," cortezia added.

As someone who loves to engage with the crowd, cortezia hates to play in the secondary stage. On a smaller stage, with only computers and the staff, the atmosphere just isn’t the same. "A lot of lights, a lot of computers. It was really hot. I want to play on the big stage, with the fans cheering for us," he said.

With the beginning of the League Championship Series (LCS), the VCT Americas is being held on the secondary stage. For cortezia, playing with the Sentinel fans is much better. "On a Sentinel's match day, the arena is crowded. About 90% of the fans are Sentinels fans, and it is so cool. I like to play in front of them and ask them to cheer for us," cortezia explained. "I'm a hater of this stage. It looks like a basement."

The Brazilian player is confident that Sentinels can reach the international stage and qualify for the Masters Santiago. Currently in the lower bracket, Sentinels have one last chance to make it. Losing a match now would mean elimination from the tournament.