TenZ

TenZ
TenZ in November 2023
Current team
Team	T1 (Content Creator)
Personal information
Born	Tyson Van Ngo (2001-05-05) May 5, 2001 (age 25) Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
Career information
Games	CS:GO Valorant
Playing career	2019–2024
Role	Duelist Initiator Controller
Team history
Counter-Strike:
2019–2020	Cloud9
Valorant:
2020–2021	Cloud9
2021–2024	Sentinels
2024–2025	Sentinels (Content Creator)
2026–	T1 (Content Creator)
Career highlights and awards
2x VCT Masters Champion (Reykjavík 2021, Madrid 2024) VCT Masters Grand Finals MVP (Reykjavík 2021) VCT Americas Kickoff Champion (2024)
Twitch information
Channel	TenZ
Followers	4.60 million
YouTube information
Channel	TenZ
Subscribers	2.83 million
Last updated: September 29, 2026

Tyson Van Ngo (born May 5, 2001), professionally known as TenZ, is a Canadian online streamer and professional Valorant and former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player.

He began his esports career in October 2019 as a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player for Cloud9. In April 2020, he transitioned to Valorant, playing for Cloud9. He took a break from professional Valorant in January 2021 to focus on full-time streaming career on Twitch. Later in April, he was loaned to Sentinels. He went on to win the VCT Stage Two Masters in Reykjavík later that year. In June 2021, his Cloud9 contract was bought out by Sentinels, where he would remain until the end of his professional career in September 2024.

Career

TenZ's professional career began in July 2019 when, at the age of 18, he joined the Cloud9 team in the first-person shooter title Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). He was seen as a rising North American prodigy. He had previously stood in for some organizations. However, after the team failed to perform at a high level, TenZ was benched in October of that year.

TenZ began full-time content creation in January 2020. However, in April 2020, following the public beta release of Riot Games' first-person shooter Valorant, TenZ announced his decision to retire from CS:GO and opted to transition into Valorant, thereby becoming Cloud9's first professional player in the title.

In January 2021, TenZ announced his departure from professional Valorant to focus on a career in content creation. However, his hiatus was short-lived, as Cloud9 agreed to loan TenZ to Sentinels in April 2021, following the suspension of Sentinels player Sinatraa. During the first two stages of the 2021 Valorant Champions Tour (VCT), TenZ competed remotely from Canada. Sentinels went on to win the first international Valorant tournament, the VCT Stage 2 Masters Reykjavík after sweeping Fnatic in the grand finals by a score of 3–0; TenZ was named the grand finals MVP. On June 2, 2021, Sentinels bought out TenZ's contract, reported to be valued between US$1.25 to $1.5 million.

After their first international trophy on May 30, 2021, TenZ and Sentinels would not win another trophy for almost 3 years.

On April 18, 2023, Sentinels head coach Adam Kaplan announced that TenZ would be temporarily benched due to illness and a hand injury.

On March 24, 2024, TenZ achieved his second international trophy, winning VCT Masters Madrid alongside Sentinels by defeating Gen.G 3-2. With this win, he is the second Valorant player to win two Masters trophies, and the only player to do so under the same organization. (Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov was the first to do so with Gambit and Fnatic.)

On September 14, 2024, TenZ announced his retirement from professional Valorant after four years of competing.

On May 9, 2026, T1 signed TenZ as a content creator and influencer. TenZ openly stated that he is listed as an available emergency substitute for T1’s roster.

On October 28, 2026, TenZ played radiant ranked with xccurate, considering returning to professional play, possibly with T1’s main roster.

Personal life

TenZ was born on May 5, 2001, is from Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and is of Vietnamese and French descent. He moved to Los Angeles in January 2022.

TenZ was engaged to Kyedae Shymko, a content creator. The couple announced their engagement in August 2022. They jointly announced an amicable end to their relationship in February 2026.

TenZ stated in an interview that he had ADHD, but he did not fully address the disorder until he took a break from competitive Valorant.

TenZ also revealed in a video published on the official Sentinels YouTube channel that he is protanomaly colorblind, and as a result uses yellow instead of red as his enemy highlight color in Valorant.

In April 2025, TenZ was unveiled as a global brand ambassador for Dutch peripheral manufacturer Wooting. The agreement formalised several years of on‑stream use of Wooting’s keyboards models and will feature collaborative content and limited‑edition products.

Awards and nominations

Ranked Performance

Over the course of Valorant ranked (2020-2026), TenZ has peaked Radiant (the highest rank in Valorant) 30 out of 39 times out of all 39 Acts. Additionally, the other 9 times he did not peak Radiant, he peaked Immortal (the second-highest rank). People who are ranked "Radiant" make up ~0.03-0.05% of the total ranked player base, while people who are ranked "Immortal" make up ~1-1.5% of the total ranked player base. TenZ was the first person to hit the highest rank named "Valorant" (name of the highest rank during the public beta phase of Valorant) in North America. (Victor "food" Wong was the first person to hit the renamed rank of "Radiant" when competitive mode officially launched in June 2020) TenZ has only peaked Radiant #1 once in his entire ranked career since the release of the "Radiant Cap," (the rank "Radiant" became restricted to the top 500 players per region) which was launched in Episode 2, Act 1.

References