Sinatraa's Utility Usage Is The Beating Heart Of The GOAT
Sinatraa is the GOAT candidate for many, many people. He has crafted an unreal storyline for himself of being the best in two games, and for good reason. Having won the OWL Grand Finals 2019 and MVP for that season, as well as the OWWC 2019 and MVP for that tournament as well, he has now picked himself up a second win in VALORANT with Sentinels, and yet another MVP for his very, very decorated wall. It is so rare to see players dominate across games in esports. Being at the top level in multiple games is a serious feat, but to be truly at the top of the top, just throwing other elite level players into a dumpster and setting it on fire in two very different games at once is the best argument for a greatest of all time that anyone could ever make.
But how does he do it? The biggest thing that every analyst says right now is that he uses utility better than anyone else - he gets the most out of it. We’ve heard this from talent on broadcasts, on podcasts, and in articles - even the brain-mushed denizens of Twitch and YouTube chat have had to agree it does look mighty fine when he presses buttons other than left-click.
Some say that because he comes from a game where thinking about macro and micro-strategy in terms of unique abilities, and their various interactions and cooldowns, is absolutely necessary to compete at the top (something many top OWL teams struggle with to this day), his brain is automatically more accustomed to operating at that wavelength. In CS, everyone can flash, smoke, or molly whenever they so choose. But VALORANT restricts these abilities to different characters and then gives them more flavour, which means a truly great player has to keep track of who can do what when and everything that comes with that, something sinatraa is used to doing at the very highest level.
The other absolutely amazing thing about sinatraa is that he throws himself into fights with the intention of getting traded by his teammates, going for the “entry” kills. This is his job. His entire role on every map (Raze on Split, Phoenix on Bind, Sova on Ascent and Haven) is based around going in first, knowing that just by virtue of pushing up aggressively and taking space on the map, he provides value for his team even if he doesn’t get a kill and dies.
After all, being on the most coordinated team in NA by far, dapr is always right behind him to use his distraction and information and get the traded kill, almost without fail. Because sinatraa entries, he can afford to use a lot of his abilities right out of the gate - he doesn’t save too much for late-round plays since his playstyle is so confident and explosive. But because he knows he can win a fair 50/50 duel most of the time, turning the odds even slightly in his favour by throwing out utility can enable him to absolutely destroy, even while risking his life more than any other pro player right now.
On Raze, this usually takes the form of him throwing both the Boombot and the Cluster Grenade out early, sometimes even at the same time through multiple angles, like pushing mid through Split, with one going B heaven and one going into ropes. If Sinatraa chooses to save anything, it is often the Satchel Charges, in order to get himself out of a sticky situation, should he by some miracle actually survive long enough to see the late round. More than other Raze players, Sinatraa loves to hold close angles with Satchel charges and deter opponents from swinging on him, as opposed to using them exclusively for movement.
On Phoenix, his flashes are almost without fail, used in the first moments of every round. He might save one if the team is faking a push onto a site, but if he does find himself in a late-round situation, usually they are both gone. He does like to use Hot Hands a little more offensively than other Phoenix players, forgoing the self-heal to push opponents out of favourable angles similar to how he uses Raze’s Cluster Grenade.
If he saves anything for a post-plant, it is usually the wall. The best part of his Phoenix play though is that his raw aim is so good, he only needs to flash for himself to make space and get value. If he ends up alone in a clutch situation, even without his utility left, he doesn’t even need a utility to force opponents into taking unfavourable 1v1s against him.
On Sova, he plays a little slower and more methodical. Sova’s entry tools are in his scouting and zoning with his shock darts, but these can be just as valuable in the late round, so sinatraa is less likely to risk his life as hard or as fast. But more than anything, he has been praised for his absolutely genius ultimate usage.
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Usually with Sova’s ultimate, especially against good players with good movement, tagging them with the drone or a recon dart will give you the best chance to secure a kill with his ultimate. However, sinatraa’s game-sense and knack for interpreting his teammates’ callouts with specificity, down to the exact spot that the enemies may be standing on, perfectly predicting their behaviour and positioning based on where the bomb is down, where his teammate is, and where footsteps were last heard, he is able to rinse through severely unfavourable situations from a safe distance like no one else.
Through all of this intelligent play that squeezes every last bit of value out of every piece of kit that sinatraa has at his disposal, he is also using more tools than most other players. Almost every single round he full-buys and fully spends the utility available to him, rarely if ever saving stuff for the next round. This means that with his incredibly high efficiency and downright bonkers actions-per-minute, a term borrowed from real-time strategy games that we do not often think about in tactical shooters, sinatraa simply must get more value than anyone else. Mathematically, he has to, and it looks beautiful.
Images via Riot Games
