A day after OXY, Sentinels have taken the 2025 Champions MVP from NRG, who are now down to three players.
Sentinels have signed Brock “brawk” Somerhalder from NRG, the organisation announced on X on Tuesday at . The American initiator joins OXY, in-game leader johnqt, Reduxx and cortezia, which gives Sentinels five players for the 2027 VCT season less than 24 hours after they signed OXY from Cloud9.
The signing ends a two-year run at NRG that brought the biggest title in the game. brawk was named MVP at VALORANT Champions 2025 in Paris, where NRG beat Fnatic 3-2 in the grand final.
“The best spots to win another trophy”
NRG said goodbye first, two hours before Sentinels made it official, calling him a “World Champ, Odin King, and an indelible part of NRG’s legacy”. A minute later brawk explained that he had chosen not to re-sign:
This might seem like a surprise to some, but I have decided not to re-sign with NRG. This was probably one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make in esports. […] Being a pro player sometimes requires very tough decisions and my goal as a player is to put myself in the best spots to win another trophy.
He also thanked NRG as “the first partnered [team] that took a chance on me”.
From the second tier to world champion
brawk spent years in North America’s second tier before NRG called. He played for Complexity, Ghost Gaming, Moist Moguls and Moist x Shopify, and was part of the Shopify Rebellion Black core for a few weeks before NRG signed him in February 2025. At Ghost Gaming in 2022 he arrived together with johnqt, so the move to Sentinels reunites him with his new in-game leader.
His first season in VCT ended with the trophy. NRG finished seventh to eighth in Americas Stage 1, came second in Stage 2 and then won Champions in Paris. brawk, mostly on Sova, had the highest ACS on the team in Paris.
His numbers since
NRG stayed among the best teams in the Americas in 2026. They finished third at Kickoff, Masters Santiago, Stage 1 and Stage 2, second at the Esports World Cup and fifth to sixth at Champions in Shanghai. Masters London was the low point, as NRG went out in the Swiss stage.
| Event | Maps | K-D | ACS | ADR | KAST | FK-FD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions 2025 | 17 | 275-236 | 220 | 144.7 | 76% | 26-23 |
| Americas Kickoff 2026 | 16 | 215-199 | 193 | 131.0 | 71% | 22-18 |
| Masters Santiago 2026 | 18 | 231-269 | 177 | 126.1 | 70% | 16-22 |
| Americas Stage 1 2026 | 23 | 375-294 | 223 | 146.6 | 79% | 35-19 |
| Masters London 2026 | 8 | 108-123 | 188 | 130.6 | 70% | 13-13 |
| Americas Stage 2 2026 | 22 | 332-292 | 216 | 148.0 | 76% | 35-29 |
| Champions 2026 | 12 | 177-162 | 207 | 134.8 | 75% | 21-10 |
Across the six VCT events of 2026 that adds up to 1,438 kills and 1,339 deaths over 99 maps, a +99 K-D. The two Masters events were his weakest, with a negative K-D in both, while Stage 1 was his best: 223 ACS and 79% KAST over 23 maps.
Sentinels for 2027
Sentinels missed every international event in 2026 after winning Masters Madrid in 2024. They finished ninth to tenth at Kickoff and in Stage 1, and went out in the Stage 2 play-ins. Two of the players from that season, Jerrwin and JonahP, left at the end of October.
| Player | Status |
|---|---|
| johnqt | In-game leader, since 2023 |
| Reduxx | Stays, since 2024 |
| cortezia | Stays, since 2025 |
| OXY | Joined from Cloud9 on 3 November |
| brawk | Joined from NRG on 3 November |
Head coach Ewok and assistant coach GUNTER remain with the team.
What is left at NRG
brawk is the second NRG player to leave in two weeks. keiko, who replaced s0m after the 2025 title, left on 22 October, and NRG now have three players on their active roster, all of them part of the team that won in Paris.
| Player | Champions 2025 winner |
|---|---|
| mada | Yes |
| skuba | Yes |
| Ethan | Yes |
Head coach bonkar and assistant coach mitch are still in place, as NRG look for two players for the 2027 VCT season.
