With the exciting new era of VALORANT just around the corner, eyes are already drifting toward the second tier of competition. While the partnered teams duke it out in the top-tier international leagues, those craving regional competition will be satisfied by the deep Challengers ecosystem that’s set to begin in January 2023.
Already teams are looking to build teams that can compete for Ascension spots, especially in North America where the well of talent runs deep, and the Soniqs organization is striking first with some eye-catching pickups.
Soniqs’ 2023 VALORANT roster will consist of Bryce “PureR” Lovell, Kevin “mina” Nguyen, Michael “nerve” Yerrow, Dylan “runi” Cade, and William “shonk” Kittrell.
The highlight of the newly formed roster is the PureR pickup. PureR, a primary duelist, was a driving force for the success XSET found in 2021 VCT competition. While XSET’s 2022 accomplishments without PureR in the lineup were certainly extraordinary, the team was still a steady NA contender throughout all of 2021 thanks to him.
Mina and nerve join from Cosmic Divide, an orgless team that’s been heavily present in NA’s second and third-tier competitions over the past two years. Mina has primarily taken on the Chamber role as of late, while nerve has played controller. They join runi and shonk, who are staying with Soniqs after joining this past April. Runi and shonk played on a Soniqs roster that went for a mix of NA and Australian talent this past year, but the group wasn’t able to make it past the open qualifiers for NA VCT.
Soniqs appears to be the first organization competing in NA VALORANT to lock its roster in ahead of the 2023 season. Other organizations like TSM and The Guard are expected to be competing in the NA Challengers scene next year.
