The verified Sentinels account put out a wild graphic and caption in the direction of the C9 VALORANT squad, sending the community into an explosive rant for a solid hour. What is the deal with this image? It’s almost a technical vibe somewhere between anime villain energy and something about cyberpunk catgirls-material-that either excites the players or throws them off entirely.
Pretty basic stuff: The tweet just says, “hope you’re ready @C9VAL,” alongside the visuals as though they had been ripped right out of a fighting game’s character select screen. Helmet with everything blurry and stuff inside?? And some crazy armor art that got everyone debating what that could even mean. Now, that is a REAL way of garnering hype for a match. Instead of some lame stats graphic, SEN is making art. Or chaos. Probably both.
The replies, man… moods. @_keyesel just going “damn, senna…” and like, right? @limeswire_ gives us thirst trap I-Wish-I-Was-That-Helmet vibes. Then someone called @GugaJyouki actually asked if this was a legitimate “CATGIRL FACE REVEAL???” and, well, probably literally?? The Internet have just fried our brains.
In what really is interesting is the competitive back-and-forth. @Originfnnt noted that unless 100 Thieves win their next game; this will be the first split where 100T and SEN don’t come up against each other, just wild to consider. Those weird little stats spawned by a VALORANT league structure. Then you have @VCTsenzen shouting shady lies at the former SEN player Zellsis while saying, “Watch zellsis drop a stinker this series to help the boys out,” which is messy but funny.
More kudos coming from the side of SEN fans. “After watching 2chocker safe to say this gon be a breeze,” said @user006k, referring to the recent performance of Cloud9, and @hmmmmyuhh went ahead to start the banter of “ggs sen 2-0” before the match even commenced. There goes unwavering belief right there. However, @S3RPEE is thirsting for blood: “Just send C9 to the lower bracket😈 #SENWIN,” we are listening to you now.
These other people aren’t too sold on this graphic. @MimiSorianoFPS called it a “Gooner ahh graphic,” and honestly, I had to Google that meaning, apparently stalkerish obsessive? And @AlyssaTheAmazon couldn’t even begin to grasp, “what even is this????????????????????” with a million question marks. @_Kamru_ just laid it out flat with the simple question, “This is art?” and really, something that deserves to be asked.
The situation just got more hilarious with @Itz_m4trix chiming in with, “Dont forget that was the banner that riot took from us.” This insinuates that might be using assets that were previously rejected or something? The shady drama behind the scenes that we aren’t even aware of yet. Then @cinnabondi added “this is just akali,” linking it to the L.O.L. character, which, okay, I can actually see the resemblance.
Some of these replies are downright craziness. @angejlz also went fourth-wall-breaking “belt to ass,” which is… what does that even mean in this context?? Then we have @kermykai from C9 himself chuckling with, “who is this diva,” which is pretty funny coming from the opposition. @_HMochii followed up with just “Holy fuck” and a video of someone screaming, which honestly is pretty much everyone’s response.
What we do know is that Sentinels are masters at building hype for and engaging their community in some way they can genuinely relate to; sometimes, that just means going totally unhinged. This tweet pulled thousands of likes and hundreds of quote tweets for being so different from usual esports content. Creative. Weird. Attention-grabbing. Gets people talking about the upcoming match. In other words, it’s working!
The VALORANT Champions Tour Americas league has been dropping hot matches this season, and that Sentinels versus Cloud9 rivalry always puts out must-watch content. SEN has TenZ and zekken, while C9 has runi and vanity. Those individual names alone are a reason to tune in. Toss some pre-match trash talk for some extra bonus, and that’s an experience worth having.
By the way, whether you think the graphic is art or just complete nonsense, it fulfilled its duty. It got everyone talking about the Sentinels vs Cloud9 match. Engagement levels are through the roof, and so is the hype. That is how storylines get forged in the esports world – with personalities, creativity, and the willingness to let go and just be goofy sometimes. So yeah, C9 better have their game faces already up because SEN is coming at them full gun-wielding and anime-inspired graphic attacks.
