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Sentinels unexpectedly replaced Hunter “SicK” Mims with head coach Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty for Week 3 of the 2022 Valorant Champions Tour North America Challengers 2. It was expected that SicK would return the following week, but that was not the case, resulting in Rawkus playing the remainder of the tour.
The reason for SicK’s absence was not revealed, as it was reported he was “attending to an ongoing family matter”. However, the 23-year-old has revealed that he was battling mental health.
“I’ve been struggling with my mental health over the past month or so,” SicK said in a recent Twitter post.
“But I’m feeling much better now, thank you everyone for the support. I will hopefully return to competitive play soon. Also of course there will be monthly streams!!”
Although SicK started his professional career as a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player, he made the switch to Valorant in April 2020. Since then, he has played with Sentinels.
SicK last featured for Sentinels on Week 2 Day 2 of the NA Challengers 2 against Evil Geniuses. It was their second game of the tour, and it ended in a loss.
Although the results will show that they were swept, it was a closely-contested matchup. But EG won both maps 13-11 and 13-10.
With Rawkus as a stand-in, Sentinels did not witness a turnaround in their results. They failed to win a map for the remainder of the tour, losing to OpTic Gaming, FaZe Clan, and Cloud9.
Five losses in the group stage saw them finish sixth in Group B. Seeing as only the top-four teams advance to the playoffs, they are currently not participating in the ongoing event.
Although Sentinels will miss the Stage 2 Masters in Copenhagen, Denmark, they still have a shot at participating in the 2022 Valorant Champions via the NA Last Chance Qualifier.
SicK has enough time to get reintegrated into the team before the LCQ commences in August. While we wait to see if he will feature, there is a chance that he streams before then.
Sentinels were one of the best teams in 2021, winning the first two Masters. However, their performances have continued to drop from the 2021 Berlin Masters to this point. They missed the 2022 Reykjavik Masters and will miss the Copenhagen Masters.
Nonetheless, Sentinels have an opportunity to close the year with a bang. SicK, who is one of the longest-serving members of the team, will play a big role in their attempt to get back to winning ways.
