During a stream following the VALORANT Sentinels roster announcement on X, Amine “johnqt” Ouarid explained the reason why he chose to extend with Sentinels. The Moroccan player explained that he had received several offers from both VCT Americas and VCT EMEA, for IGL roles as well as non-IGL positions. The off-server context mattered as much as the sporting one as he wanted to stay in Los Angeles, and his green card process, now close to being finalized, was made significantly easier by SEN.

On the market, interest was real and fairly diverse. That interest came as much from his game reading as from his mechanical ceiling. Above all, he said he did not want to stagnate and was already considering stepping slightly away from full-time main calling to focus more on fragging and mid-round initiative, the “johnQT quality taps” version of his game. That shift does not close the door on leadership, he wants to return to IGLing later, once he’s fully explored this phase of raw impact and round-to-round initiative.

On the external options side, he confirmed talks with Fnatic, though nothing reached the official stage. That framework still shows how wide his range of possibilities was serious trials that remained informal. In that equation, quality of life and project coherence ultimately outweighed the appeal of a new jersey.

The final decision followed from that

Sentinels felt like the right team, and he genuinely likes everyone at SEN. Internally, Adam "kaplan" Kaplan were ready to take him in any role, which is a strong signal of trust in his versatility and in their willingness to let him influence rounds without boxing him into a single label.

The club’s concrete support in helping him stay in LA sealed it. From a competitive standpoint, the announced core gives him a genuine playground with Marshall "N4RRATE" Massey takes the Duelist role, Kyuhlee “kyu” Kim handles Initiator role, Yassin "Reduxx" Aboulalazm cover Controller, and Gabriel "cortezia" Cortez plays Sentinel. Around that base, johnqt can flex depending on the game plan apply early pressure, steer the mid-round, finish on trades, or take situational leadership when needed. That is exactly the experimental space he was looking for, while keeping the door open to a return to IGL duties later.

In the end, this offseason is less the story of a bidding war than of balance: between individual progression, living environment, and team identity. Sentinels gave him the combination he wanted a group he likes, a malleable role, crucial support, and as he slipped in at the end of the stream, a jersey he actually likes wearing.