In what is the first inter-regional transfer of two active Pro League players, the Susquehanna Soniqs have announced the signing of Santino “Gomfi” de Meulenaere and Alex “SlebbeN” Nordlund from European team GiFu eSports. Having let John “Avian” Ackerly and Jason “GhxsT” Luu go exactly a month ago, fans had been anticipating the GiFu duo to move to the United States of America as their replacements for a long while.
The Soniqs as a roster were formed in June 2018, with team captain Seth “supr” Hoffman bringing together players that were looking to make a comeback to the Pro League after having been dropped by their respective teams. After a narrow failure to qualify to the Pro League in Season 8, a few roster shuffles that saw supr leave and return, the roster was signed by the Soniqs in the March of 2019.
SlebbeN and Gomfi will be replacing the now-departed Avian and GhxsT (extreme left and right, respectively)
This time securing qualification to the Pro League, the Soniqs finally made their return to top-tier competition with a roster comprising supr, Avian, GhxsT, Scott “Neptunez” Webber, and Lauren “Goddess” Williams -- the first female Pro League player in the world. However, compared to their strong run in Season 9 of the Challenger League, their Pro League campaign so far has been far from smooth sailing.
The team currently sits in last in the North American Pro League, tied on points alongside Team SoloMid (TSM), but where TSM has been nearly indomitable in Best-of-Three games, the Soniqs have not been able to get a chance to try their hand at anything besides a Best-of-One. Going to the Allied Esports Minor with a stand-in for Goddess, they were unable to make it to the Best-of-Three playoffs, and then also did not participate in the Six Major Raleigh online qualifier.
SlebbeN and Gomfi join the Soniqs from GiFu eSports (formerly mousesports)
Now, though, they will be hoping that the Belgian-Finnish duo of Gomfi and SlebbeN will help power them up the table and onwards to future success. The two join the Soniqs from Finland-based GiFu eSports, who themselves are struggling immensely this season, only having scored one point so far.
Gomfi had become the first non-Finnish player to join the then-ENCE eSports roster back in May 2018, replacing Otto “pannari” Heikkinen, and SlebbeN would join six months later, having the far more unenviable task of replacing Aleksi “UUNO” Työppönen. However, both would clearly be quality players, with Gomfi helping ENCE make it back to the Pro League, and SlebbeN being one of the few bright spots in the team’s Season 9 Pro League campaign that saw them finish in sixth.
SiegeGG spoke to team captain supr to find out more about this move and the new goals for the Soniqs:
This is the first-ever international transfer of active Pro League players. How did you pull everything off?
GhxsT was one of your best performers in the first half of the season. Why drop him?
Is the team, including SlebbeN and Gomfi, staying in a team house?
How is the organisation helping the two with the transition from their home countries to the USA?
How has your team been changing roles or adapting to accommodate your new players?
What do you expect from DH Montreal?
Anything to say to your fans?
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Catch the Susquehanna Soniqs in action with their new-look roster next weekend at DreamHack Montreal, where they have been placed into Group C alongside FaZe Clan and Team SoloMid. Meanwhile read our previous interview with supr prior to the start of Season 10 of the Pro League and the Allied Esports Minor.
As a result, the roster we will see in Canada will be:
Seth “supr” Hoffman
Lauren “Goddess” Williams
Scott “Neptunez” Webber
Alex “SlebbeN” Nordlund
Santino “Gomfi” de Meulenaere