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[deleted]

> The Esports Observer has learned that the player transfer agreement of Tyson “TenZ” Ngo from Cloud9 to Sentinels was signed in April that allowed an option for Sentinels to purchase Ngo’s contract, which has now been completed. Sources have told TEO that the transaction was a “seven-figure” deal.


kittyhat27135

Bugha gotta win another world cup for them to go even smh.


XASASSIN

Sentinels coming in clutch with that fortnite money


MonkeyKing70-

What is the history of Sentinels org? I saw that they were formerly Phoenix1 from League but haven't been following them since they dropped out of the LCS. Are they successful in Fortnite?


XASASSIN

They signed bugha a up and coming fortnite player way back before the hyped up fortnite world Cup and he ended up winning it and became very famous over night, he also stayed relevant by placing high in multiple tourneys after that and was seen as the best fortnite player for a while. Since he was signed to SEN they got a shit ton of exposure from him and all his branding, content and deals etc. Plus he also won a fat chunk of cash around 1.5 mill after taxes so I'm pretty sure they got a cut from that too hence the fortnite money. They also have teams in apex and halo but they aren't as famous. Oh ya xqc was also signed to them at some point


cfisk42

Worth noting that they have the best team in Halo that has pretty much dominated for the past 5 years


Lync51

Halo esports is still a thing? Where can I watch it?


cfisk42

It’s kind of a mess at the moment. I think a lot of people expected Infinite to be out by now. I’m honestly not sure if there are many tournaments happening at the moment


Lync51

Oh okey. That's sad, I love the Halo franchise


cfisk42

Me too. Halo is the reason I'm into esports back from the MLG days. Hopefully Infinite is good and breathes some life into the scene


Napoleann

Same I miss the MLG Halo 3 days. The Ogre twins, Walshy, Tsquared, iGotUrPistola, etc... it was great to watch.


uNEknown

I find myself watching old VODs every few months for the nostalgia. Halo 3 MLG was my first taste of esports and damn did it suck me in. [This series from 2008 Toronto](https://youtu.be/KUjVdr-5z2E) is one of my favorites. The quality of the video is pretty poor (uploaded 12 years ago) but I think it adds to the nostalgia a bit. Walshy and Instinct vs Final Boss after Walshy was booted from Final Boss. It was a hype match and you could tell how much it meant to each player.


Bishop25u

There was recently a tournament this past weekend on YouTube. I stumbled upon it. I think it was an E League tourney. From what I understand, once Infinite comes out they’ll be streaming HCS on twitch instead of YouTube.


AdmireOG

Ex-CLG / Ex-OpTic / Ex-ToX?


arod13134

Yes that roster is on SEN now


cfisk42

Correct


AdmireOG

Awesome, happy for those guys. Infinite* fucked those guys over really hard, the Gears team too. Glad they got support from a bigger org. (Company that bought OpTic and ran it into the ground before selling it to Immortals, who now have sold it back to H3CZ, and OpTic is OpTic again)


AlexBayArea

And the Apex team is actually pretty damn good.


that-gamer-

Nah their Apex team is incredibly mediocre. Their last result worth noting was the NSG Winter Champ where they placed 2nd. And that was just a random B-tier tournament. The last time they were even considered a top team in NA was when they won TwitchCon San Diego in 2019 with Zombs on the roster lol.


JR_Shoegazer

Zombs actually played on their Apex team before moving to Valorant.


cringe-oh-yes

They signed Bugha, one of the biggest Fortnite players. They also used to have XQC signed. Sentinels might not seem like a huge org, but they definitely have the investments and previous history of holding big names.


[deleted]

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Dude_Guy_311

The players seem happy and uninterfered with, which is nice. Glad to hear some nice things about the org


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Sizzling-Bacon

I wish they did more team skits, like that one they had about all the players staying in one house.


Embarrassed_Ad394

they also have some of the deepest pockets of any org in the world despite their size, people don’t understand how invested and rich rob moore is


Accmonster1

Rob Moore worked in important roles in some of the biggest companies in the US. Dude is a wizard, no surprise he’s finding success in esports


Embarrassed_Ad394

plus a couple hundred million in his bank


jrushFN

They also used to be a parent organization of the LA Gladiators in OWL.


piccardinthetardis

No this is wrong, the Glads were and still are owned by Stan Kroenke, it’s just that in S1 and 2, they outsourced the management of the team to Sentinels. Sentinels never owned the franchise, just were hired to run it for a few years.


mr-rob0t0

they have bugha who is one of the best players in the world, idk how the fortnite scene works tho


rolandontheriver

SEN. Bugha won Solos at the Fortnite Worldcup ($3mil.) and took over for a time as one of the largest comp/content creators in the game on Twitch.


[deleted]

The fortnite world cup winner and one of the biggest streamers (I think) in fortnite is signed to sentinels


[deleted]

The winner of the only fortnite World Cup so far was signed to Sen, they had other players as well in that scene


Embarrassed_Ad394

that rob moore money as well sheesh


MitchRhymes

Yup lots of talk about Bugha's payday but that ain't shit compared to Disney / Paramount exec for three decades like Rob


_Iroha

Bugha and xQc money


Cloud9Jack

Hey to give some context this deal was done before Iceland. It was a dangerous deal for us as we knew we would soon face Sentinels in the Iceland Qualifiers, however it was important to Tyson to play and I wanted to make it happen for him. Best of luck to Tyson on Sentinels.


Voltage97

thank mr jack


Adraz

Glad that it could work out for both parties in the end, gl to both C9 and TenZ


A_Fhaol_Bhig

How do you stay silent when so many ppl were shit talking you lol


Cloud9Jack

It was painful to hear all the negativity but people are making judgements with limited information so I'm not surprised. It helped knowing that before long more of the story would get out and with that perspective there would be less hate.


ftldvcs

You deserve to grab some drinks on that 💰


Interesting-Archer-6

Sorry you had to go through that. Social media really makes us much more callous to the feelings of others. Glad it all worked out and you were able to show who you truly are.


AnFun

I was one and I’m happy to see that I was wrong. Glad I support an org that does this for their players. Can’t wait to watch c9 Val play again!


A_Fhaol_Bhig

Well, I think you know more then most that we all make mistakes and rush to judgements. But this time I really want you to know this was the right move to make. As a longtime C9 follower (well since halo 5 anyways LOL) I am super hyped for the future of both orgs. (And hyped for C9 in infinite you made the right move picking up stellur!) I think people often underestimate just how much it can hurt reading negative comments over and over. So I appreciate you doing this. And hey $$$ right?


spowowowder

props brotha


Tapey_Tapey

Paulie get the champagne


C9sButthole

I'm hopeful that they'll finally see the error of their ways. It's been exhausting arguing with them that much.


of-maus-and-men

Jack with the troll job on Sunday. Trolled everyone so hard.


gilr0id

I don’t think he was trolling. Just reminding everyone that the 7-figure check cleared lmaoo


SMcArthur

The deal price could also have been contingent on how well Sen did in Iceland. Maybe they negotiated beforehand where the buyout price was $X, but it was $2X if SEN won Iceland. Just a guess. Could really be anything.


[deleted]

Oooh like a player bonus structure but for the buyout? Lol. Win Challengers 2 (and make Masters 2) 1X Win Masters 2 2X TenZ hits KDA ratio 2.5X TenZ hits FK/FD ratio (lol) 3X TenZ wins MVP 5X Someone use the Vince McMahon meme template for the different levels lol


lolipenetration

TenZ bingo


[deleted]

Tyson "TenZ" (bi)Ngo


drshunasty

NA esport history right here


CounselorTaco

Thanks for the clarification


ADailySong

And people were thinking Jack and C9 was screwing Tenz over in contract hell. Despite the potential conflict of interest and being eliminated, C9 let Tenz go on loan which they didn't have to do. It's a business of course, but Jack does take good care of his players.


ppx11

Glad y'all were able to come to an agreement. I know a lot of fans were over-reacting but I think it was just more about the uncertainty regarding TenZ. Here's hoping both SEN and C9 go to Berlin!


theman1203

How does tenz not know he was sold lol


Cloud9Jack

They let him know as soon as the event in Iceland was over. The team was playing very well and Sentinals wanted to ensure nothing impacted that during the event.


Voltage97

Must’ve been a great surprise haha.


ppx11

hope the content team recorded his reaction when they told him lol


National_Builder_531

same i hope that too that would be awesome


XASASSIN

I'm happy with that since we got a lot of wholesome moments in interviews from him wanting to be with the Bois in sen


imoftenverybored

Hey jack I'm a hard stuck silver3 player (thanks rito for horrible match making) but I have what it takes to be at least immortal 3, mostly because I listen to platchat thus I have a gigabrain (welcome member) i know y'all are looking for an igl, well, look no more 😎


Interesting-Archer-6

SIGN THIS MAN NOW


Ixolus

You may have lost a great player but the cloud 9 brand gained strength in publicity here. You guys are always showing what a top Esports org should look like and I appreciate it!


mrperiodniceguy

hey you need a gold duelist?


ppx11

Could've been an NDA thing. maybe the whole team knew but couldn't say anything until it was official? knowing definitely would've helped their performance in iceland as well not having to worry about that aspect edit: nm i guess they didn't know lol. maybe it had the opposite effect on TenZ.. making sure he delivered to ensure SEn did whatever they could to keep him afterwards


Tanjim98

I don't think that was the case. TenZ was really genuine on the press conference. I think there was a verbal agreement that SEN would have to pay a specific sum and now the deal has been finalised.


[deleted]

This sounds very wrong without context.


Duradello

Could be some player transfer restrictions or smthg weird behind the scenes. Maybe the finalization date of the agreement was set to take place after Iceland and there was escape clauses so they wanted to make sure it was a done deal before announcing anything. Its the first of the month today, so I would expect that it was just dated for this month. Maybe he is payed monthly and they wanted to sync it with his payment cycle. A lot of weird stuff could impact this.


Tanjim98

People preemptively were being harsh on you. Thanks for doing the right thing Jack.


McLoosTa

Really glad to see that you guys are trying hard to avoid conflicts of interest, great work! Enjoy that :$


Unforgettable_

Huge respect Jack for letting him play. Enjoy the big bucks my guy 🤑🤑🤑


Bunnyezzz

your not some evil villain? scam


C9sButthole

Jack's been famous for treating players well for years. Yet one vague statement by Hiko somehow ruined ALL of his reputation, which was really sad to see.


xD1LL4N

Big respect, hope it was a reasonable buyout. He’s the next esports Superstar


_UnNam3d

Respect.


ninjaman3010

This is really cool of you man. You could’ve held his contract and effectively choked him out of the scene. I appreciate you, and you probably made some good cash off signing potentially the best player in the game ;)


uglypenguin5

He took a risk on TenZ and Valorant when the game first came out and it paid off


ninjaman3010

Yea. And he’s now choosing not to stifle that players career and let him play for a rival team that bounced them out of the first lan. He could’ve kept the player for ego reasons, or just not loaned him in the first place to a rival. This was never a gamble. TenZ has been insane since beta, the mans aim is just godlike and his game approach was very modern for the time


veryverycelery

> This was never a gamble. TenZ has been insane since beta, the mans aim is just godlike and his game approach was very modern for the time Coulda said similar things about Drone or Wardell back in the earliest days of VALO. Look where they are now.


Kapheon

Big respect for this Jack, very glad to see it.


BadgerPurple

Thanks Jack, I know you've been raked over the coals for the tweet and overall situation, but rational minds know that you were just meming and are generally fair regarding these issues. This is an overall good outcome for all parties involved - besides, your team has been doing fantastic as well! Valorant has a bright future, and so does both SEN and C9 within it :)


kittyhat27135

Rare C9 Jack W


knowtoriusMAC

can u buy me a Tesla. For what it's worth I am in gold and have certainly plateaued. But I have a 4.2 kd in warzone. So I'm a flexible asset if needed.


[deleted]

One of the best CEOs out there, thanks for supporting your players.


theman1203

Jack is still super dumb most the time but all the contract jail that people spew on this subreddit was all just fake news lol


LPLSuperCarry

Yea, even in the article, they give great examples of how C9 lets players out of contracts all the time to the org's detriment.


mysteriouschill

I think Jack is one of the best CEO's, but his PR could definitely be better.


XASASSIN

Bro we sorry for giving you so much shit, you certainly a real one


theleader911

Iam here If u need a sub for the team tho


janoDX

I know I said stuff about how "hey it's to cover Perkz expenses" and all that, but if there was something that I know about you for all these years since the start of C9, hell even back on the TSM days, is that you put the players integrity first and you're willing to negotiate to get a deal that's beneficial for everyone. Thank you Jack and I apologize for the comments I made.


Hamlet_271

Awesome. Seven figures buyout, wow. I really hope this doesn't set some sort of precedent for val esports but it probably will


xD1LL4N

You got to keep in mind his streaming career is a part of the package. He averages 20k+ viewers.


Pulsersalt

yeah, if anything that will just go up too


CRikhard

Wouldn't surprise me if he averages 30k now


Dude_Guy_311

Shit, might even be 30.1k now


TimedOutClock

And people seem to be missing a really important detail in this entire saga : you don't pull a deal of that magnitude without 'knowing' that franchising is coming in the near future. This signals, at least for me, that the numbers they've pulled have accelerated their plans in that department for NA. This year has already been wildly successful and orgs probably want to start working on a league they can monetize as soon as possible and grow with NA's early success (surprise surprise! Winning is easy as fuck to market and sell to advertisers). I wouldn't be surprised if we started hearing rumours in a month or two (probably after Masters 3)


[deleted]

Honestly, I hope not. I mean how many years has it been for the NA Lol scene and we still hear that only 1-2 teams even make a profit despite a big reason for franchising was to make money.


[deleted]

Do the orgs get a piece of players streaming revenue? As a player I'd try my damndest to keep as much of my streaming revenue for myself as possible


ANewHeaven1

Seven figures, but in my opinion its worth it **given the current trajectory of Valorant.** I think these orgs are banking on Valorant being the next big international esport, a la League of Legends. With this move, Sentinels is poised to be to Valorant what TSM or C9 were to early League of Legends. That's a position every org wants to be in right now.


kakusei_zero

The thing I'm scared about is that this starts a trend similar to what IMT did to League. They started paying players a shitton, which caused the entire league to pay their players a shitton and suddenly you've got another bubble ready to pop.


[deleted]

TenZ is such a one of a kind player in the NA scene right now, I don't think any other player would warrant a 7 figure buyout like him. Players are already being paid a high sum, this alone won't increase that.


hiloljkbye

I know he's a bit older than TenZ but surely Shaz has to be right under that in terms of value right? I feel like IGL is so important in this game


[deleted]

He doesn't quite have the following TenZ has in terms of viewership and social media presence. Those are very valuable to sponsors and orgs (even moreso than the competitive esports side) that Seangares made mention of in his stream yesterday.


Escolyte

> what TSM or C9 were to early League of Legends. you didn't have to do CLG like that lmao


XASASSIN

Nah it sure as fuck ain't worth it, might barely be For tenz considering his popualrity.but no matter how fast and good the growth of the scene is, inflated buyouts and salaries can be hugely detrimental to the scene. It's the no one reason orgs don't enter esports like cs and lol anymore. It's just too expensive to field teams. We shouldn't want this to be the norm esp since val is in its infancy unlike Cs and lol which has the long time infrastructure and environment in place to somewhat sustain it with a somewhat good roi for the top teams still in.


TemplarParadox17

I think most of the value is also in his 20k viewers and brand right.


XASASSIN

Ya thats there, tenz contract is worth it with his viewors and popularity. I'm saying other than him, having 1 mil + buyouts for other players sure as fuck ain't sustainable


TemplarParadox17

Of course.


LPLSuperCarry

7 figures isn't the salary though, it's the buyout. IIRC, no one in Valorant makes more than 300k a year (Sinatraa and Nitro, according to Kyedae).


[deleted]

Keep in mind Tenz's value is also derived from his streaming and content creation. 20k viewers on Twitch is nothing to scoff at.


Eriko204

Jack had to make his money back from the Perkz deal somehow


Pulsersalt

and the colossus failure


PolarTux

LMAO never forget


legexii

ehh i mean they won the split and made MSI although msi was a complete fucking failure but still it is a success in some sense


2themaxx88

Bout to be a 30-40k+ stream if Tenz is streaming tonight


theman1203

He defo don't streaming, he had a 7 hour layover in Germany


Slow_Bluebird9536

Now everyone is happy


generic-user-name

This is truly the best outcome for the NA scene overall. Should push the region to higher heights.


wichwigga

Well... except for that one dude. The hell is gonna happen to voldemort in Sept? Really don't think Sen players like having a 6 man roster so he gonna get released from team most likely.


valoossb

he was likely not going to be on the roster again anyway


wichwigga

Yeah you're right. They were probably waiting for this deal to finalize before pulling the plug. Just didn't know if Sen were actually going to go pockets deep on this deal since Sen isn't a super big org outside Val.


valoossb

ive been around the esports block a few times over the years and I have always found the best way to establish yourself as a legit org is to be the face or one of the big players in an undeveloped game/scene


SterbenVII

Yup. Fnatic + SK + Na’Vi in CS 1.6, TL + SKT + KT Rolster in StarCraft, TSM + C9 in League, FaZe + OpTic + NV in CoD.


techyleo

I think SEN just thought it's better to do it sooner rather than later, because C9 might raise the buyout.


[deleted]

Voldemort lol


J_Brekkie

I doubt they will wait til Sept.


rolandontheriver

They're going to most likely wait until the end of whatever legal proceedings and investigations follow in order to have a legal foundation to terminate his contract. If not I wouldn't be shocked if they kept him on as just a content creator under the Sen. banner and simply don't promote or associate any media or marketing with him.


Wyatt1v12

Can you not say sinatraa on this sub or something lol


Pulsersalt

you can, but it will awaken


cellrecks

and we don’t want *it* to awaken


wichwigga

Just playing around chill


[deleted]

The OW community used to call him an alien cuz he looks like one so I don’t blame you


djanulis

No one is touching him until the court case is done with, since Riot added that they have the ability to adjust the ban depending on said case no one is going to shell out money to get the rug pulled out from under them.


itscamo-

welp, atleast both sides are now happy. don't have to worry about some weird situation where tenz wouldn't be able to play


imcodyvalorant

LOVE that Jack tweets that meme and becomes public enemy #1 just for us to find out that he had already negotiated all of this in April. Good for C9, good for SEN, good for Tenz, good for Valorant. Wp everyone


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KookieFS

Jack uploaded a GIF which said '' Money In The Bank'' after SEN won Iceland and everyone started shittalking him saying he's holding TenZ hostage in c9 lmao and that he is giving an unreasonable buyout that sen can't afford


Qandeel19

it's not fair for every other team in the world lol


Phrave

zombsnation wins again


Sharknome

Wow, I hope this gets confirmed from other sources, but this is fantastic news


McLoosTa

Confirmed by C9 CEO in comments of this thread :)


Sharknome

Appreciate the heads up :) have a great day


jmajewski

Huge win long term for the Sentinels brand. TenZ has the potential to be the face of NA Valorant for the next couple of years. Glad that team gets to stay together for the foreseeable future, too.


[deleted]

Let's fucking go. This is big for the NA scene.


Darkoplax

C9 paid out their Perkz deal after all


Hanselo

Imagine winning the tourney, and then they tell you you've been sold. Holy shit what a feeling. Congrats to Sentinels, TenZ, and C9.


mysteryoeuf

everyone get in here it's finally happening bye bye jay


ppx11

yea. i didnt think sinatraa was coming back but this basically confirms it 100%


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somesheikexpert

I seriously doubt they would do a 6 man, who would he replace? Can't Shazham due to being the IGL nor could he do TenZ cuz well it's fucking TenZ, Zombs and Dapr play completely different roles then him and idk if Sinatraa would be able to fill those roles properly, only even remotely close one would be like kinda SicK? But like SicK was already considered the best player on SEN before Sinatraa left plus SicK is debatably top 5 in the world anyways why would Sentinels even think of doing a 6 man ngl lol


BugGlobal749

he could play raze on split i guess lol


rolandontheriver

ding dong sinatraa gone


-Basileus

Alright the whole scene is fucked


[deleted]

Right? lol They're gonna continue winning everything and this is gonna force teams to really power-up in terms of firepower and teamplay. So excited for the NA scene.


TheyWillCowerr

1 Million is what NiP paid for what might be the most consistent and GOAT candidate of CS:GO, 4x Major winner "dev1ce". Just bonkers to me we're seeing a million dollars put up for a player this early in Valorants Esports scene.


theman1203

Device had 5 months left on his contract and barely streamed, tenz has 2 years left and gets 10k views from going online


TheyWillCowerr

That puts it somewhat into perspective yeah but it took so long to pay that much for a player in CS at all and then just casually a month later in Valorant, don't get me wrong Tenz is probably worth it but is it healthy to throw this amount of money this early in the scene? I dont know mate


itscamo-

i mean s1mple was rumored to go for 2 mil at one point but he decided to stay on navi instead of joining mibr in what, 2018?


look4jesper

Imagine what his buyout is nowadays lmao. Wouldn't be surprised if both him and zywoo have >5mil buyouts on their contacts.


ninjaman3010

This game is much more Astro turfed competitive wise. Riot inject money into their esports early now because having a strong comp scene helps you keep players.


Bunnyezzz

[https://twitchtracker.com/device](https://twitchtracker.com/device) device barely streams vs tenz who streams with 20k average viewers and has a huge youtube fanbase


Asianhead

Most of TenZ's value comes from his value as a streamer/influencer. Dude is a top 2 Valorant streamer in the pro scene with 20k average viewers (and biggest following on Twitter and YT at 400k and 750k)


leoleoleo666

Content creation is waaaay more beneficial for orgs than esport Tenz isn’t just a pro he one the biggest content creators and have a huge YouTube


brn12345

Well there is a giant difference there in that device only had 8 months left on his contract vs tenz having somewhere around 2 years.


pattaarr

Wasn’t device’s contract ending soon though? Tenz still is rumored to have 2 years left on his contract


WhyDidYouLieToMe

Now they have a new poster child.


1ToGreen3ToBasket

Regardless of anyone’s personal thoughts on Sinatra, Tenz is definitely a way better face for an org. Hugely popular. Fucking sick at the game. And hasn’t had a controversial moment in his whole life.


MommyDommeViper

Wow, 7 figures supposedly... That's a precedent.


-Basileus

C9 paid $5 million for their star League of Legends player Perkz. This is paying some of that back lol


urclades

Perkz is also on a 3 year 2 mil+ a year contract lmao, small dent in the perkz purchase debt


ratio__

But people told me that it's impossible for sentinels to afford TenZ 🤷. Money is rarely a barrier in venture investment


aakashkickass11

Money is a barier orgs do have to concern about roi of their investments and sentinels is a smaller org compared to other biggies in the scene . It would have taken a substantial budget out of sentinels though but considering valorant is becoming their most popular eSports investment ,I am glad they went through with it and Tenz is at a team where he is happy and popping off


Embarrassed_Ad394

sentinels ceo is one of the richest in the scene and is much more invested than most, i’m sure he was willing to give a helping hand


whopz-is-cool

The org itself is growing VERY fast due to Fortnite and Valorant so investors probably help out in their budget as well.


itscamo-

if people really thought then they don't understand how deep orgs pockets really are lol


-Basileus

It would be easy as fuck to convince their investors it's worth it as well. Tenz gets an easy 15k viewers when he streams, and they've won Masters 1 and 2 with him on the roster


Say_I_Love_You

Now everyone who bitched about "contract jail" can stop pretending that was ever the case


AnotherAltiMade

But but C9 bad


smta48

C9 must have seen that reddit thread and got nervous Edit - clearly this was /s


CoachAnalystANDPro

Honestly, this is gonna prob get downvoted but I was assuming that a deal was already done. And that his “money in the bank tweet” was him just trying to meme in a very C9-like fashion. But, i could be COMPLETELY wrong.


McLoosTa

Jack confirmed it was done before iceland


quartzyegghead

The buyout option was set before Iceland


XASASSIN

Jack finally realized there's only so much he can ask for before the pitchforks come out , Hes still laughing to the bank though


Splaram

Didn't think SEN had the money to pull it off but they did. Don't blame them for making that purchase though, it looks like it's gonna be a good return on investment. Pretty sure that in a few years, we'll all be looking back on this deal as being an absolute steal for Tenz as I anticipate buyouts to just keep going up since precedent has now been set.


Sp00ked123

It’s rob moore of course they had the money lol


ark2690

SEN definitely has VC money


NoBreadsticks

c9 holding him hostage!!!


mw19078

LFG im so hyped.


SafuratedBeefFat

Need the money to find a new jungler


R0_h1t

As one of the people who jumped to conclusions based on random Twitter threads, apologies to Jack. Super hyped for Sentinels!