Evil Geniuses

Evil Geniuses, sometimes known simply as EG, is one of the oldest and most established organizations within the esports community. The club doesn’t restrict its efforts to just one esports game, like many others do, but instead plays a wide range of titles in order to gain more experience, versatility and revenue streams. The esports currently played by EG include Dota 2 and Call of Duty among others. This article deals with EG’s Dota 2 team.

Evil Geniuses: Early beginings

Evil Geniuses entered Dota 2 after the end of The International 2011. The team’s first roster was made up of the following 5 players: Fear, MiSeRy, DeMoN, PlaymatE and Pajkatt. With this lineup, EG had only a few notable results in 2012. Other players that joined the EG roster and had the chance to prove their worth in the first few years of the team’s presence in Dota 2 were Lacoste, Maelk, BuLba, UNiVeRsE, Bdiz, SexyBamboe, Jeyo, Fogged, MSS, mason and Arteezy.

With most of its early lineups, EG had decent and even excellent results, getting multiple top 3 finishes in 2013.

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Glory Days

At the start of 2014, 3 formidable players joined Evil Geniuses, bringing the team’s skill level and results to a whole new level. These players were ppd (captain), Zai (position 4 support) and Arteezy (carry). After they joined, EG quickly went from good to great, winning no less than 8 tournaments in 2014, including Monster Energy Invitational, The Summit and World Esports Championship. The team also got an excellent 3rd place finish at The International 2014.

After the departure of mason, Arteezy and Zai (the last two went to Team Secret at the start of 2015), Fear rejoined the team as a player and two other players were brought in. One was Aui_2000 and the other one was a very young prodigy who would come to amaze the world with his performances in the mid lane. His name was Sumail and thanks in part to his exceptional individual skills, Evil Geniuses had a phenomenal year in 2015. With ppd as captain and every player on the roster playing his role to perfection, EG won Dota 2 Asia Championships 2015, Dota Pit League Season 3 and then The International 2015. They also had numerous other top 3 placements in high-level events, but these 3 achievements definitely stood out.

The International 2015

By the time TI 5 started, EG’s roster had been well trained and had great cohesion. Sumail and Aui_2000 had been playing for the team for more than 6 months, Fear was everything he needed to be as the position 1 carry, UNiVeRsE was probably the strongest offlaner in the world at the time, and ppd was really good as the team’s captain, crafting winning strategies and outplaying opponents at every stage of the game, from the drafting phase to the late game fights.

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Having won the lower bracket Final, EG qualified for the Grand Final and got another chance at beating CDEC and winning the Aegis of Champions. With everyone on the team playing the best Dota of their lives, Evil Geniuses won the Grand Final with the score of 3 – 1, creating some memorable moments along the way. The last of those 4 games was basically won in Roshan’s Pit, thanks to a scene that has come to be known as the “6 million dollars Echo Slam”. Practically, EG’s Ancient Apparition’s Ice Vortex + Ice Blast, combined with UNiVeRsE’s ultimate, killed 4 of CDEC’s members while they were trying to kill Roshan, giving EG a decisive advantage which couldn’t be undone.

The decline

Soon after winning The International 2015 and 6.6 million dollars that came along with this victory, EG started to decline quite heavily, winning just 4 more tournaments over the next 3 years. The team has tried all kinds of strategies and roster changes in these years, but to no avail. Still, the North Americans have remained one of the best Dota 2 teams in the world and they’re without a doubt a top 10 team right now. Furthermore, at The International 2016, the claimed 3rd place after having a rather modest season. So not everything has gone bad for EG over these last 3 years. It’s just that the team hasn’t performed to the standard that had been by ppd and the 2015 roster.

Current situation

Evil Geniuses is currently sitting at number 9 within the Dota Pro Circuit rankings table, with 1335 points. The team has won a single Dota Pro Circuit LAN event this season, namely GESC: Indonesia Dota2 Minor. EG’s main objective at the moment is to get a top 8 finish at the end of the season so that it can get a direct invite at The International 2018.

EG’s current roster is made up of the following 5 players: Arteezy, Fear, Sumail, Cr1t- and MiSeRy, with the last one being the team’s captain.