Sonic: "At the end of the day you are an employee... and in business there's really no friends"

Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore had the opportunity to catch up with NRG's newest addition, Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek, at Fragville 2025. The South African journeyman spoke about his experience at his first Frag, his exit from Wildcard, and his new prospects in NRG.

The full interview can be found on YouTube below, with select excerpts transcribed underneath that. All questions and answers have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

This is your first Frag LAN ever. How are you enjoying your first Frag, though?

I like it, it reminds me a lot of South Africa, where we had a tournament called Rage. It was a similar setup, except it was BYOC. I'm not a stranger to this environment, but it's been a while since I've been in it. I'm having fun. It's a great opportunity for NA players to play against more high-quality competition.

This is your first event with NRG, having joined around 24 hours before leaving for Fragville. How are the early days working with nitr0 and daps on NRG?

It's a lot of fun. It's a bit more light-hearted than Wildcard. stanislaw likes to run things more structured, and this team has more of a loose style. nitr0 isn't very stringent in his calls. It's a lot more free-flowing, allowing individuals to make their own plays. It does require experienced players. I think that might be one of the reasons NRG struggled in the past.

Very early days on NRG, that move was made possible by you reaching the end of your time on Wildcard. It was a chaotic end to your tenure with that squad.

Going back to April, when we first dropped the report about you being replaced by Peeping, that was the kick-off point for a lot of issues with the team. Were you surprised you were getting replaced on Wildcard?

Yeah, that article came out of left field. No one really knew about that, not enough people who should have known. The only real reason for that happening was due to the new VRS rules, and that we wouldn't have been an American team anymore. Ultimately, I understood and had discussions with Wildcard about moving on to another team.

Then, we went through some iterations of rosters, decisions were made. I made a deal with Wildcard, we discussed things amicably, redrew the contract, and now I'm here in NRG.

Fortunately for you, one of the big changes Valve made recently was the fact that South African players now count towards whatever minority region they're in. Is that a relief for you now that you don't have that anchor around you, being one of the few South African pros?

I think that makes me more of a valuable player because what teams are looking at nowadays is bringing in two European imports with two Americas players. That means I can be, funnily enough, a wildcard for that team, meaning I can make the team North American. You can bring in strong European firepower and experience, couple it with American talent, and bring me in, and you have a strong team. It's beneficial to me.

Do you echo stanislaw and phzy's sentiment that the changes in Wildcard were made without player, coach, or IGL involvement?

No comment.

One thing I was curious about, you mentioned at Fissure that one of the reasons you were staying was to help the squad retain their VRS slot. Who do you feel you did that for? The players or the organization?

This is a valuable lesson for a lot of young players. At the end of the day, you're an employee of the organization you represent. Maybe the organization will say they'll look after you, but at the end of the day, the only person you can trust is yourself. In that sense, the decision I made there was for my teammates.

I had a lot of respect playing with them and for them. We've been a band of very good teammates for about two years. One might say I don't owe them anything, but for myself, I felt like I did owe them something. I don't want them to be left with nothing. For the issues we encountered, I can't blame them. I just wanted to help them out.