North American organization Soniqs has moved VALORANT players Iyengaran “Iyen” Raju and Ethan “Crunchy” Laker to the bench, multiple sources told Dot Esports on March 7.
The team will be rebuilt around Bob Tran and Jason “JSUNG” Sung, who is the sole North American on the Australian roster.
Soniqs bowed out of both the NA VALORANT Champions Tour Challengers One open qualifiers following defeats to Knights on Jan. 30 and Luminosity on Feb. 6. Both teams went on to qualify for the event.
Soniqs has made multiple changes this year. Kyran “dizzyLife” Crombie was moved to the bench on Jan. 25. He had been a part of the roster since the organization’s introduction to VALORANT in April 2021. Both Crunchy and Iyen were a part of the original roster, too.
The team had played at a consistent level in North America with victories against teams such as Rise, Akrew, and Andbox. But Soniqs failed to reach the highest level of competition and couldn’t prove themselves among the best, such as Cloud9, Sentinels, and more. This was due to Soniqs failing to qualify for the VALORANT Champions Tour circuit.
Most teams that fail to qualify for the circuit will compete in smaller tournaments that are separate from the international VALORANT events.
Soniqs will have to sign three players to its starting lineup to rebuild the roster prior to upcoming tournaments or the next VCT stage, which is set to begin on May 5 and conclude on June 27. Prior to this event, the first VALORANT Masters tournament of the year will take place in April.
