Mortal and Sid Reflect on the Past-Present-Future of Team SouL in BGMI

Krafton’s release of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) was probably one of Indian esports’ biggest developments in 2021. The mobile battle royale took the Indian gaming community by storm. Its success was evident by the fact that BGMI ended up winning the ‘Best Game’ award on Google Play’s Best of 2021 awards. On the competitive side of things, the biggest BGMI tournament to date - iQOO Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021 (BGIS), secured a peak of over 460,000 concurrent viewers and a total watch time of 15.29M hours, making it clear that the title is here to stay.

One of the earliest adopters of the game as a competitive title was Team SouL, owned by S8UL Esports, who announced its BGMI lineup on 7^th July 2021, just six days after the official launch.

Team SouL with over 141,000 followers on Instagram and almost 860,000 subscribers on YouTube is already a huge brand in Indian mobile esports. Their initial star-studded lineup featured some of the biggest names in BGMI, an attempt to restore the old legacy under a new title, and though the project failed to produce results it did create a lot of buzz.

Roughly three months after the announcement, cracks started to appear in the lineup. The team was not performing up to the lofty expectations that it had set for itself and was forced to undergo a lot of roster changes. From October onwards, Team SouL started trying out different lineups, changing its team every tournament, leading up to BGIS 2021. Unfortunately, due to the absence of a stable roster, they failed to qualify for the main event despite receiving a direct invite.

Stepping into 2022 with a new BGMI competitive season on the horizon, Team SouL is starting with a clean slate. To discuss what lies ahead while also reflecting on their actions of the past, AFK Gaming caught up with the team’s manager Siddhant “Sid” Joshi along with owner Naman “Mortal“ Mathur, one of the most popular gaming personalities from India.

New Year, New Me: Upcoming BGMI Roster and Goals for 2022

Team SouL might have not caught a lot of attention in the recently concluded BGIS 2021, but it still managed to make waves outside of it. A mystery lineup under the banner of SouL was recently spotted playing in scrims hosted by Upthrust Esports which made many in the mobile community very curious. This lineup was aggressive which is completely opposite to how the team operated last year, and the team dominated their opponents on the server.

Talking about this unknown team which has already impressed a lot of fans, MortaL explained that he had a discussion with Sid and Aman "AMAN" Jain, while also having a personal chat with Animesh “Thug” Agarwal to decide Team SouL’s goals and aspirations heading into the next season.

“We came to a conclusion that SouL needs a new lineup which is very aggressive and whose approach is solely taking kills, that’s all, without bothering about placement,” states Mortal. Once this decision was made, AMAN started scouting players for the new lineup and came up with a list of six or seven candidates that fit their profile. Immediately, Mortal and Sid began discussing the right combination of four or five players to try out for their team.

Though the names of two new players have been revealed since MortaL spoke to AFK Gaming, the remainder of the roster is still shrouded in a veil of secrecy. The first members of Team SouL’s BGMI roster for 2022 are Sahil “Omega” Jakhar and Akshat “AkshaT” Goel, making their way over from Chemin Esports.

While the complete lineup is yet to be revealed, what this team needs to achieve in 2022 is already set in stone. With a new roster scrimming under their banner and turning heads, SouL’s future looks promising and on that note, Mortal aims for them to lift at least one trophy this year. While agreeing with his vision, Sid has set out a lot more ambitious goals for himself and the team.

“My personal goal for 2022 is complete dominance in everything that we do, be it content, esports, or anything else. I will not be happy with a minimum of one trophy this year. There are 12 months in a year, many events are going to take place and we are going to win a lot of trophies, winning just one will not work,” says Sid while adding that he has been with SouL for about six months now and his hunger for victory is on a whole different level this year.