bang on Sentinels falling to G2 and how many Bangkok puns he’s heard

Sentinels has looked like a fantastic VALORANT team to start 2025. They even looked poised to defeat a very powerful G2 Esports team in the Grand Final of Masters Bangkok. Unfortunately, Sean "bang" Bezerra and company fell just short in the five-map series.

Following the defeat, we spoke with bang regarding how the year has started for him and the Sentinels squad. They have still qualified for Masters Bangkok, and of course, there are plenty of puns involving his name and the location of the tournament.

"What a match we saw today. Three straight days of intense and important matches here at the VCT Americas Kickoff. How has that affected you mentally and physically?"

bang: "Yeah, it's definitely affected me a decent amount. It's been tiring. It's been, honestly, just pretty exhausting in general. It's taken its toll."

"This one went the distance, a lot of maps and situations you guys haven’t been in this year yet. Obviously, you have to prepare for anything and everything. Do you feel like you guys were as prepared as you could have been?"

bang: "I don't think we could have prepped much better than we did. Obviously, there's some things that we just didn't know, like what their Haven would look like. We knew most of other things, but I mean, everything that we should have known prep wise, anti-strat wise, we did know."

"So, just tell me about the Kickoff journey for you. You’re on a new team, you guys make the Grand Final and are just rounds away from taking the trophy. What have you learned about yourself in this first month of competition?"

bang: "I learned some things that I can work on individually, things I'm not comfortable really sharing, but yeah, that's the big biggest thing. I just learned things about myself that I need to work on, to fix, in order to be a better player.

"But other than that, I mean this team, I'm not going to lie, I feel like I've never been on such a team. Just insanely good players and really smart players. My whole team, they're all just insanely gifted and talented.

"They know exactly how to play. In many situations, they can adapt very well. So, it's honestly just a blessing to play with these guys. These guys are all amazing and they all deserve everything they have."

"You’ve been on some solid teams in the past. That TSM squad, Built By Gamers, 100 Thieves here in the VCT, and now Sentinels. But you’ve yet to lift a trophy in VCT Americas. Even though you fell short against G2, what about this Sentinels roster has the ability to get a trophy at some point this year?"

bang: "I feel like we have a solid roster of just five really good players, and we all have the potential to pop off in any match and potentially win our team the game. And obviously, our teamwork.

"I feel like even though today wasn't as good as it usually is, when we play at 100%, we're almost unstoppable, if not just plain unstoppable. I feel like with this team, the sky's the limit, honestly."

"I've heard that a lot this year from Zellsis and the guys that were on the team last year with TenZ and Sacy. Stating that they feel like the potential's a lot higher this year, even with those two icons leaving. Did you kind nervous coming into this team, with those shoes to fill at all?"

bang: "Not really. I was focused on playing my own game. I'm not Sacy, I'm not TenZ. Obviously, those are really insane players and they have so many achievements in this game. But hat's not what they wanted. They didn't want to just get another TenZ, another Sacy.

"They just wanted people that were new, and people that were ready and driven. So, they didn't ask us to fill into TenZ and Sacy's shoes. They just asked us to be ourselves, which is what we have been."

"So, we’ve heard all about the other members of the team all Kickoff long. Zellsis being the veteran leader, johnqt being the brains as the IGL, zekken as the fragger, N4RRATE as the comeback story from being in EMEA last year. What about you? What’s your story? What defines you as a member of this team in 2025?"

bang: "I mean, I don't know. I feel like I came from not I mean the most winningest team. I've had a bumpy kind of career in franchising, where I've had some success, last year mostly compared to any other year.

"The players I'm joining are players that are won Masters Madrid and N4RRATE, he also won Kickoff. Like, I've won Stage 1, but, we all have our own achievements, and I feel like my story is just, I mean, it is less awesome, I guess, as the core three players. But I'm just trying to get to that point, in order to get a championship."

"Talk to me about the match itself now. Five maps against a team many are calling the best in the world. Did they feel like the best team in the world to you, as you played them?"

bang: "They're definitely very good. They were on top of their game today. They played really well. They looked confident. I mean, they made mistakes, we made a lot of mistakes. I feel like it was mostly just a scrappy series in general. But best team in the world? I have yet to see the other regions play that much, because I've been so busy practicing myself.

"It's hard to tell, but I think they could be. I feel like we also could be, if we had showed up better as a better team today, I feel like we could have been more convincingly the best team in Americas, but unfortunately, we just didn't show up as much as we should have today. And it is what it is."

"Looking back so soon after the end of the series then, having mentioned mistakes made, what do you think was the difference that let G2 get the victory?"

bang: "We didn't know much of what they were going to do on Haven at all. They ran a comp that we have never played against. And it's hard to prepare for it, when you just don't know what to expect. With our comp, we were just kind of forced to make plays, do things that don't seem like the most together, teamwork-related things.

"It was very puggy, I'm not going to lie. But that's kind of what we were forced to do, because we hadn't played that map in a minute. They just looked better. They played better on the map. Everything was just better. We started crawling back towards the end, but they just played better. I don't know how else to say it."

"Alright, well, Masters Bangkok is on the horizon. Congratulations for qualifying. What’s the big focus for the team heading into that international event?"

bang: "I think there's, obviously, a lot of things we need to work on, but I think one of the main things is just keeping the team environment and atmosphere at a good level. I feel like that's something that we struggled with a lot. We can get easily disrupted, like mentally and individually.

"People can overthink things. People can make mistakes, and we just kind of dwell on it. It kind of affects the team atmosphere. We worked on that and we did a lot of improvement on that in the last two days. So, yeah, that's going to be the main focus for Bangkok as well.

"Trying to make sure that we keep a good atmosphere and a good team environment. We just need to work on some things strategically, just teamwork wise and fundamentally. With the way we play right now, I think the biggest thing is just keeping the vibes good."

"And lastly, it’s only been a day, but I have to know. How many times have you heard 'Bangkok' puns since you qualified?"

bang: "I can't even count. Like, it's an unreal amount of that. I mean, it's funny. It is kind of ironic, but yeah, too many times that I can count."

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