"Gradually our expectations for ourselves improve": NAL champion Soniqs, supr, ready to show further improvement at SI

_{Image via Ubisoft}

Soniqs’ regional prowess came completely out of left field. 

They gutted their 2020 roster, leaving only Seth “supr” Hoffman. They picked up the promising, but completely unproven ex-eUnited core. In their first stage as a team, they blazed out to second place in the NAL. Without a Major to compete for following the postponement of SI 2021, they sat and waited for Stage 2 to begin. They slumped a tad bit in the second stage, but still notched a third-place finish. Stage 3 was the same – a third-place finish. 

However, the NAL Finals were all theirs. Soniqs only dropped one map, to Oxygen Esports, and were crowned regional champions. Additionally, they were the only team to finish in the “top four” and technically qualified for every international Major in 2021, had they all been played. 

The international events, so far, have proved the problem. 

Twice, Soniqs have bombed out in the group stage. In the Mexico Major, they only managed one map win – an overtime victory over Team oNe. They finished last in the group. In the Sweden Major, they started slow, and only managed one map victory again – this time in regulation, with an overtime push to boot. However, they were still out in groups, only placing above a Jeremy "HysteRiX" Tan-less Invictus Gaming International. 

You could make an argument that Soniqs are peaking early and that they haven’t been completely ready for international competition yet. They need time to gel, they need some time to get their relatively young core to get up to snuff. You could also argue that it’s concerning that NAL was won, on LAN, in best-of-threes, by a team that has yet to notch multiple map wins in an international group stage competition – for both the team and the region it’s from. 

Supr described the Soniqs’ first international experience in Mexico as “eye-opening”. 

“Not necessarily even the playstyles of the other regions because obviously, that’s jarring, we went in there [Mexico] and we had CYCLOPS in our group,” supr said. “[it was eye-opening] Just how much better, when you go to those tournaments, those players are.”

The Mexico Major showed Soniqs how far they have to go. The Sweden Major, they feel like they got closer, despite technically sporting the same record. They faced off against BDS again and took them to overtime. They were up 5-4 on NiP before eventually falling 7-5. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but progress is progress, especially when you can learn a lesson from your loss. Supr says the Sweden Major lessons were instrumental and directly led to Soniqs’ performance in NAL Finals. “Gradually our expectations for ourselves improve,” he said.

Supr also has high expectations for the region in general. He says he thinks NA teams will put in the work to iron out the kinks and expand their map pools before SI. At this point, with around two months of downtime and three international events from the previous year to build on, the excuses for the region’s performance are wearing thin.

One thing that’s been on the minds of Soniqs fans is the possibility of supr retiring after the event. He’s getting up there in age (he’s in his thirties), and he admits it’s something he’s thought about. “Going into the year, I was planning to retire after this year, no matter the result,” supr said. He credits being able to fill the IGL role again, and his teammates for rejuvenating his love of the game. “...professional esports has been pretty much my life, longer than anyone else here…the hints towards retirement were definitely real, it was something I was planning, but at this point, I would say that I’m leaning more towards I’ll be playing next year as well.”

Supr also states that if he has it his way, there will be no changes to the Soniqs roster in 2022. North America’s most consistent team will more than likely remain exactly the same for another calendar year. 

With a model of consistent results in the region, the Soniqs are out to break through the group stage barrier at the Six Invitational. If they remain as consistent as they have been regionally, we’ll see them in international competitions in the next year as well.