Soniqs Announce New Valorant Roster

North American esports organization Soniqs announced its new Valorant roster, which will represent the brand in 2023. Featuring top talent, Soniqs’ new lineup has caught the attention of the Valorant competitive scene, forming a strong core that will compete for Ascension spots.

On Wednesday, Soniqs unveiled its new Valorant roster for the 2023 season. As announced, the new-look lineup will consist of Dylan “runi” Cade, Iyengaran “IyeN” Raju, William “shonk” Kittrell, and the newly-signed Bryce “PureR” Lovell, Kevin “mina” Nguyen and Michael “nerve” Yerrow.

Of the five members, lyen is the longest-serving player on the roster, as he joined Soniqs in April 2021 and is the only remaining player of the old core. Runi and shonk, on the other side, have been with Soniqs since April 2022, when they got re-added to the active roster, and will seemingly remain with Soniqs ahead of the 2023 season.

The most recent additions in PureR, mina, and nerve all joined the North American esports organization on November 11, finalizing Soniqs’ new Valorant roster. The trio joined as replacements for Kyran “dizzyLife” Crombie and Ethan “Crunchy” Laker, who left the team in October.

PureR is the highlight of the newly acquired members as one of the most talented players in the region. PureR started his Valorant esports journey in October 2020 with XSET, who he was a part of for most of his playing career.

With XSET, PureR has achieved a lot of success, helping the organization establish itself as one of the top names in the NA esports scene. Even though XSET failed to qualify for the VALORANT Champions 2021, PureR led his team to runner-up finishes at VCT 2021: North America Stage 2 Challengers 1 and Stage 3 Challengers 1, as well as a top-four finish in the Stage 3 Playoffs.

Unfortunately, XSET couldn’t show up at VCT 2021: North America Last Chance Qualifier, which they finished in fourth place, and thus missed out on the season-culminating event.

After leaving XSET at the end of the 2021 season, PureR has enjoyed a short stint with Gen.G, but after failing to find much success, he left the organization in May.

Notably, even though PureR was officially announced as Soniqs’ new player on Wednesday, he has already played with the team in August during NSG: Summer Championship, MCT – MEL Valorant Premiership – Season 3 Playoffs, and Proving Grounds 2022: Unleashed.

On the other side, nerve and mina have yet to debut for Soniqs. Nerve joined Soniqs as a free agent who has been out of action since September when he played for The Pig Pen.

Nerve and mina were both previously a part of the Cosmic Divide. Even though the team has achieved some success in lesser events, Cosmic Divide never broke into the upper echelons of the Valorant competitive scene.

With a new-look lineup, Soniqs are ready for the 2023 Valorant season, where they’ll look to improve upon the team’s showings in 2022. Although a prominent esports organization, Soniqs haven’t achieved much in 2022 nor competed in the NA VCT.

The team’s most notable accomplishment came in August when Soniqs placed third at Proving Grounds 2022: Unleashed. The team also attempted to qualify for the VCT but failed miserably.

In January, Soniqs crashed out of VCT NA Stage 1 Challengers open qualifiers in ninth-16th and fifth-sixth place. Likewise, they couldn’t show up in Stage 2 open qualifiers, which they finished in 13th-16th.

Next season, Soniqs will compete in NA Challengers scene alongside TSM and The Guard as two other big-name organizations who didn’t earn a spot in the partnered league.