Sinatraa’s rumored return to competitive Valorant paused as star-studded team bomb out of VCT Challengers LCQ

Earlier this month, former Sentinels Valorant streamer Jay "Sinatraa" Won excited fans across the world by confirming his VCT 2023 venture. Unfortunately, his nascent team, Untamable Beasts, couldn't make it past the VCT North America Challengers LCQ after losing a few matchups.

Won teamed up with a few popular esports/content personalities and joined Untamable Beasts to participate in the VCT North America Challengers LCQ 2023. He was accompanied by former Sentinels player Jared "zombs" Gitlin, Connor "PROD" Moran, ex-OpTic star Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen, and Coby “dizzy” Meadows.

---

Sinatraa's Valorant team exits the ongoing North American VCT Challengers circuit after loss

The ongoing LCQ phase for VCT Challengers Spit 1 follows a double-elimination format. Sinatraa's team participated in seven matchups against strong mid-tier teams and lost two of them, eventually leading to their elimination.

Untamable Beasts lost against two emerging North American teams, Nearest Airport and City Boys, who showcased incredible discipline and superior strategic executions against the star-studded roster.

Following their exit, Sinatraa took to his Twitter handle to announce the disappointing news and promised to come back stronger. His tweet was met with appreciation and encouragement from several in the professional community, including Hunter "SicK" Mims, an ex-teammate from Sentinels.

In one of his livestreams ahead of the tournament phase, Jay Won announced his plans to participate in the VCT Challengers 2023 Split 1 LCQ. Additionally, he promised to stream all of the matches, which he did, allowing fans to witness his entertaining, aggressive plays.

Disproving any fan theories, Sinatraa denied this participation being his return to competitive Valorant and tweeted:

"no it’s not my return to competitive lmao"

However, several fans pointed out that participating in a VCT tournament phase after a long hiatus automatically denotes a return. In 2021, Sinatraa was benched from Sentinels' professional Valorant roster after allegations of sexual abuse rose against him. He was further suspended from the Valorant competitive spectrum after Riot Games launched an investigation into the matter.

Open qualifiers for the North American VCT Challengers 2023: Split 1 commenced on January 9, kick-starting the exciting tournament for non-pro teams this year. Several teams battled it out to make it past the preliminary qualifiers and etch their names into the first official stage of VCT 2023.

At the end of the qualifiers, four Valorant teams managed to dominate their competition and qualify for the first Challengers split. Interestingly, this isn't the end for other open bracket teams who failed to qualify.

Presently, two more slots for the North American split remain unoccupied as these will be confirmed after the ongoing Last Chance Qualifiers.