VALORANT: Sentinels sign Ewok, drop Kaplan over disagreements

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The Sentinels VALORANT team is making some changes, including parting ways with their coach, Kaplan, and bringing on a new player, Ewok. They’re now focused on rebuilding and improving for the rest of the 2026 season.

Sentinels is undergoing a major change, starting with the signing of new player Marthinus Jacobus “Ewok” van der Walt. This comes after they parted ways with coach Adam “kaplan” Kaplan, who had been with the organization since 2022, due to differing opinions on the team’s lineup. Sentinels CEO Rob Moore explained the decision and the organization’s future plans in a recent livestream.

Kaplan leaves SEN City, Ewok flies in from Pacific

Rob Moore first announced on social media that Kaplan was leaving and that Ewok had joined the team.

Ewok is joining us after coaching Rex Regum Qeon in the VCT Pacific league. During his first season with RRQ, he led them to a championship victory. They also placed second in the following season and, with Ewok as coach, competed internationally twice.

After Champs in 2025, RRQ decided to let me go. Since then, I’ve been doing some work as an analyst for VCT Pacific whenever they need a hand.

This news marked the end of Kaplan’s more than three-year run with SEN City. He was the leader when the team won the Masters tournament in Madrid in 2024, and Moore thanked him for his contributions. However, SEN struggled to achieve success, particularly after finishing 13th-16th at Champs 2025 and then placing 9th-10th at the Americas Kickoff tournament in 2026.

Moore discussed the decision with Tarik “tarik” Celik in a live stream, explaining that the organization was parting ways with Kaplan because of disagreements within the team.

According to the contract, Kaplan had the ultimate authority over player decisions. Moore stated they will not grant any future coach that level of control, saying, “He had the right [to make decisions], which we will never give again.”

After Sentinels’ amazing run at Champs last year, I heard that Kaplan really wanted to change things up. Apparently, he thought it would be best if zekken didn’t play Duelist anymore and wanted to find someone else to be the in-game leader instead of johnqt. But the rest of the team, and especially Moore, weren’t having it! They really wanted to keep zekken as part of the team and didn’t agree with the decision.

So, Kaplan made the call to let zekken go, which was a tough one. Now zekken’s playing for MIBR, and johnqt got taken off being the in-game leader. This rookie, Kyu, is now calling the shots instead. Apparently, even the rest of the team wasn’t really happy about these changes, according to what Moore said on stream with Tarik.

Now, Sentinels is looking to rebuild, starting with the coach position.

Sentinels VALORANT to rebuild: “TenZ can show up any time.”

Rob Moore was quick to confirm their plans to rebuild.

Now that Kaplan has left, the organization is free to make any changes to the team they see fit. Moore also stated that the coach no longer has complete control over decisions.

First, johnqt will be taking over as the in-game leader (IGL) again. The team also announced they’ll be releasing at least two players, and it’s expected those players will be Kyu and reduxx (Yassin Aboulalazm).

Moore is open to the possibility of bringing former Sentinels players back to the VALORANT team. He specifically stated that if Zekken becomes available, he’ll be the first person he contacts.

Fans are excited about the possibility of Tyson “TenZ” Ngo returning to pro VALORANT. Sentinels coach Derek Moore said he’s open to signing TenZ whenever he’s ready, leaving the decision up to the player.

Sentinels didn’t make it to the Masters Santiago tournament. Their next VALORANT matches will be in VCT 2026: Americas Stage 1, starting on April 10th.

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2026-02-23 11:11