SonicFox
SonicFox
,
Dominique "SonicFox" McLean (born March 2, 1998) is an American Fighting Games player currently representing Echo Fox.
Information[edit]
SonicFox is a four-time EVO champion, having won Injustice: Gods Among Us in 2014, Mortal Kombat X in 2015 and 2016, and Dragon Ball FighterZ in 2018. He is also a two-time Injustice 2 Pro Series Champion in 2017 and 2018. Despite his apparent dominance in these games, he has left his mark in other games like Dead or Alive, Skullgirls (winning the EVO 2015 side-tournament), Under Night In-Birth, Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite and Soulcalibur VI.
In addition to being capable of quickly picking up any fighting game, SonicFox is well known for wearing furry clothing and displaying a carefree attitude at tournaments. He is said to always have fun playing fighting games, and became notorious for easily brushing off losses and bouncing back stronger.
Early Career and EVO Debut (2014)[edit]
SonicFox first started attending Fighting Game Tournaments from the age of 13, with his first game being Mortal Kombat where he quickly garnered a reputation as an aggressive Mileena and Sonya player. However it wasn't until Final Round 17 in 2014 where he first gained major attention from the NRS community. At the event (now sponsored by Revolution Gaming) he beat both 16-Bit and Waffles in the Injustice: Gods Among Us and the Mortal Kombat finals respectively, winning both Tournaments and being one of the first players to win two Netherrealms Fighter Tournaments at a Major event.
At EVO 2014 SonicFox made his debut at the Mecca of the FGC and was touted as a potential contender for the Injustice: Gods Among Us crown. SonicFox managed to progress all the way to the Winners Finals where his Batgirl would lose to NRS veteran Pig of the Hut's Zod in 2-3 games. Despite this he carved past MIT 3-0 to setup a rematch against Pig of the Hut for the title. SonicFox dominated the proceedings, outmatching his opponent in nearly every game to reset the bracket, and eventually win the whole tournament without losing a single game in the final to Hut 3-0 in the first set and 3-0 in the second.
Mortal Kombat X (2015-2016)[edit]
After the release of Mortal Kombat X SonicFox sought to continue his form into the new game. With ESL announcing the new MKX Pro League and Netherrealms supporting the competitive scene monetarily, everyone was looking to gain a share of the new Prize Money on offer. With new sponsorship from Critical Reaction, he immediately followed off from his Injustice success winning the ESL Fatal 8 exhibition and would subsequently win the first Season of the new MKX Pro League, defeating MIT and REO in the finals respectively. Coming into EVO 2015 all eyes were on SonicFox to see if he would retain his NRS Crown, he would go on to win once again coming from the Losers Bracket, defeating A F0xy Grampa in another reset to claim his 2nd EVO Championship.
More major wins would follow including back-to-back ESL Pro League titles at the Season 2 and Season 3 finals, as well as CEO 2016. SonicFox had all the momentum going into EVO 2016 but Tekken Master, a relatively unknown player from Bahrain gave him a run for his money for the first time in an EVO final. Shortly after Tekken Master reset the bracket and took the lead in the following set, SonicFox famously took off his Fur-Hat (an iconic symbol for him) and proceeded to take the match to a deciding game, switching from his Erron Black to Alien he managed to win the game and the Tournament once again, gaining his 3rd straight EVO Championship and cementing his status as the best MKX player in the world.
Continued Success and Legendary Status (2017-Present)[edit]
With the release of Injustice 2 in 2017 also came the launch of the Injustice Pro Series circuit. With support from Major esports organisation Echo Fox, SonicFox continued to dominate, winning a total of five IPS Premier events which culminated to the Grand Finals in Los Angeles where he beat Semiij in the final to win a whopping $120,000 (his largest career win to date) while only losing a single game to his Final opponent in the Winners Finals.
There were moments of vulnerability though, earlier in the year he failed to make an NRS EVO Grand Final for the first time in his career, losing to Semiij in the Losers Bracket after being knocked out of Winners by eventual Runner-Up HoneyBee, finishing 5th-6th overall. A similar placement followed at the ELEAGUE World Championship, where he lost to ForeverKing in the Losers Bracket.
After these losses SonicFox set about finding success in other Fighting Games, eventually picking up Dragon Ball FighterZ and deciding to fully commit himself to the game in preparation for EVO 2018 while having Injustice 2 as his side game. He immediately started to get high placements for DBFZ, finishing 2nd at Final Round, 1st at Combo Breaker, 1st at DreamHack Austin and 2nd at the Summit of Power. He also set about competing in the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour, winning the 2nd SAGA event at VSFighting 2018 which automatically qualified him for the World Finals (to be played in 2019). Coming into EVO 2018 DBFZ was the most signed up for tournament at the event. Despite focusing on Dragon Ball for most of the year, SonicFox still achieved 3rd place in the Injustice 2 tournament losing to Tweedy in the Losers Final. But his attention would fully shift to the next tournament in his attempt to win DBFZ in its debut year at EVO. He subsequently made it to the Winners Finals where he faced his rival GO1 in a highly anticipated game. SonicFox beat him 3-0 to secure a place in the Grand-Final, only to meet GO1 once again. After GO1 reset the bracket SonicFox requested to switch sides in compliance to the tournament rules. SonicFox then emphatically beat GO1 3-0 to win an unprecedented 4th EVO championship and become a FGC legend on arguably one of the biggest stages in EVO History.
After his newest EVO Crown, SonicFox has since picked up Soulcalibur VI where took little time to make Finals at major tournaments, eventually winning Canada Cup 2018. At the same time he would manage to qualify for the 2018 IPS Finals and go on to retain his crown, beating Rewind in the Grand Final to scoop $40,000 in Prize Money.
Achievements[edit]
| Date | Placement | Tier | G | Tournament | Team | Result | Prize | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-11-13 | 1st | Premier | 
|
Injustice 2 Pro Series Grand Finals 2018 |
|
  
|
3 : 1 |   Rewind
|
$40,000 |
| 2018-08-05 | 1st | Premier |
|
Evolution Championship Series 2018 |
|
  
|
0 : 3 3 : 0 |
   GO1
|
$15,456 |
| 2017-09-17 | 1st | Premier |
|
Injustice 2 Pro Series Grand Finals 2017 |
|
|
3 : 0 |  Semiij
|
$120,000 |
| 2017-08-13 | 1st | Premier |
|
Summer Jam XI |
|
|
3 : 1 3 : 1 |
 Semiij
|
$9,064 |
| 2017-05-28 | 1st | Premier |
|
Combo Breaker 2017 |
|
|
3 : 1 |   Tekken Master
|
$11,955 |
| 2016-07-17 | 1st | Premier | 
|
Evolution Championship Series 2016 | 
|
   
|
1 : 3 3 : 2 |
  Tekken Master
|
$34,278 |
| 2016-06-11 | 1st | Premier |
|
ESL MKX Pro League Season 3 Finals |
|
|
5 : 3 |   A F0xy Grampa
|
$75,000 |
| 2016-01-24 | 1st | Premier |
|
ESL MKX Pro League Season 2 Finals |
|
 
|
5 : 0 |   Scar
|
$60,000 |
| 2015-07-19 | 1st | Premier |
|
Evolution Championship Series 2015 |
|
|
3 : 2 3 : 0 |
A F0xy Grampa
|
$36,972 |
| 2015-07-11 | 1st | Premier |
|
ESL MKX Pro League Season 1 Finals |
|
|
3 : 1 |  REO
|
$60,000 |
| About achievementsComplete Results in any Tournament | |||||||||
Trivia[edit]
- Is the most successful NRS player of all time, as well as the most successful Skullgirls player of all time (winning Combo Breaker for three consecutive years).
- Has a rivalry with Perfect Legend which culmunated to a first-to-ten grudge match on Mortal Kombat X, after beating him 10-0 SonicFox then beat his rival three more times without losing a single game in the process at Summer Jam IX for a 13-0 record[1].
- Is the younger brother of Kwiggle.
- Is a known Furry and regularly attends tournaments sporting his trademark Fox Cap and Tail as well as his full SonicFox costume.
- Came out shortly after his EVO 2018 Dragon Ball FighterZ win in a tweet.[2]
- After winning the Injustice 2 Pro Series 2018 Grand Finals, he donated $10,000 of his winnings to Rewind to help fund his father's cancer treatment.[3]
- Won the "Esports Player of the Year" award at The Game Awards 2018.[4]
Media[edit]
Gallery[edit]
SonicFox in his full fursuit at EVO 2018
Notable Matches[edit]
Injustice: Gods Among Us[edit]
Mortal Kombat X[edit]
- ESL MKX Pro League Season One Finals: Grand Finals - cR SonicFox VS YOMI REO
- Evo 2015 - MKX Grand Finals: CR Sonicfox vs PND A Foxy Grandpa
- Mortal Kombat X - ESL Pro League Season 2 Finals - Grand Final - cR SonicFox vs UA Scar
- Mortal Kombat X - MKX - ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals - Grand Finals - cR SonicFox vs PXP | A Foxy Grampa
- MKX: CR SonicFox vs Tekken Master - EVO 2016 Grand Finals
Injustice 2[edit]
- Injustice 2 | Pro Series Finals | $120,000 GRAND FINALS | Sonicfox vs Semiij
- Injustice 2 Pro Series Finals 2018: SonicFox Vs Rewind (Grand Finals)
Dragon Ball FighterZ[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ http://shoryuken.com/2015/09/01/sonic-fox-defeats-perfect-legend-10-0-3-0-at-summer-jam-9/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/SonicFox5000/status/1026304623550726144
- ↑ http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/25342091/fighting-games-sonicfox-pledges-10k-rewind-father-cancer-treatment
- ↑ https://kotaku.com/sonicfox-steals-the-show-at-the-game-awards-1830927795
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