Over the past few weeks, several Overwatch League professional players have announced their departure from the League — and the launch of the Valorant closed beta has certainly had something to do with that.
The new competitive FPS from Riot Games is constantly attracting new players from different shooters, but yesterday's announcement is certainly the most significant to date for the future of Overwatch.
In a Twitter post, Jay 'Sinatraa' Won announced his departure from San Francisco Shock and the League. The news came as a huge shock, given we're only halfway through Season 3. However, it's not the end of a career for a player who earned the titles of World Champion, OWL and World Cup MVP in 2019.
Valorant about to dominate esports?
ESPN were the first to report on the news that Sinatraa had joined Sentinels' new Valorant team. In a TwitLonger, he explained that he had lost his passion for Overwatch, and that Valorant may be the answer. Is it because of the implementation of the Role Lock or the Hero Pool? Not even he knows the answer.
After reaching the highest step of the podium in Blizzard's title, it's time for him to say goodbye to his core team, put away the orange jersey, and set off to conquer what could become one of the biggest games in esports history.
The former San Francisco Shock player is the first real OWL superstar to make the decision to pursue a career as a Valorant professional player. Some of his fans had been expecting it — while live streaming Valorant, he declared that a big announcement was to come.
He explained that the decision to leave wasn't an easy one. It took a lot of thought, and issues with the way the OWL operates certainly didn't convince him to stay within the League.
ESPN also stated that Blizzard prevented all players in its two franchised leagues from participating in amateur Valorant tournaments, while at the same time barring their former players from signing with any organization for another game that also has a team within the OWL or Call of Duty League setup.
If this is true, then it isn't surprising to see more and more players leaving the League to try their luck on their own. For Sinatraa, this will be at Sentinels. Formerly known as Phoenix1 — a League of Legends team in the LCS — the organization is starting to become famous for its Fortnite and Apex Legends rosters, but also by recruiting true champions.
Sentinels have made a name for itself by signing Kyle 'Bugha' Giersdorf, the 2019 Fortnite World Champion. By adding Sinatraa to their player list, there is no doubt that their Valorant team will have every chance of becoming one of the best in the world, thanks to the quartet he will form with Jared 'Zombs' Gitlin, Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' Khan, and Hunter 'SicK' Mims.
Overview of an outstanding career
Sinatraa discovered the world of video games early, with Call of Duty and Counter-Strike. While still in high school, he joined his first professional team, Selfless Gaming. Before signing with San Francisco Shock, he was already competing in the competitive Overwatch scene as a member of the American team.
It is within this team that he was able to make his mark alongside other big names in the Overwatch League such as Dafran, emongg, and dhaK. He also played alongside another player who would become his teammate at the Californian organization, Carpe.
They stood out through their aggressive gameplay, leading them to many victories and widespread recognition. As a result, in 2017 he was part of the United States team at the Overwatch World Cup. Joining San Francisco Shock then allowed him to show the full extent of his talent.
Shock's Flex DPS was renowned for his mastery of heroes such as Tracer, Genji and Doomfist, but above all for his ability to adapt to any situation. Despite his given role as DPS, when the GOAT meta was in full swing he proved able to play other characters, including Zarya — something which frightened many of his opponents.
It was partly due to his talent and leadership that his team won OWL Season 2, defeating their long-time rivals the Vancouver Titans. For that same reason, he had the honor of being crowned MVP for the season.
However, these exploits still weren't enough. Sinatraa is a competitor, and he always wants more. That's why he and the US team surprised everyone at BlizzCon 2019 by winning the Overwatch World Cup. Why was this a surprise? No team had been able to beat South Korea in the competition.
Once again, Sinatraa had written history by dethroning the reigning champions. We can't imagine the rest of his career going badly. He has all the qualities of a champion, and we hope that he will be able to repeat his successes in Valorant.
Crusty, Sinatraa's former Head Coach, said of him that "he was the best player and best teammate," and that "he is the one of player who really tried his most for the second season."
Let all his fans be assured, Sinatraa remains active on his Twitch channel. In fact, he has announced that in addition to Valorant, he would also stream Overwatch from time to time.
We're halfway through the 2020 Overwatch League season and Blizzard has just unveiled the May Tournament. All Overwatch League teams will compete against each other for a $225,000 prize pool.
