How Evil Geniuses upset the champions of VCT Stage 1 Masters Reykjavik 2022
Toppling the kings.
Evil Geniuses may have just pulled off one of the biggest upsets inVCT NA Stage 2 Challengers. In Week 4 againstOpTic Gaming, EG came out swinging, taking down the reigningMasters Reykjavik championsin a hard-fought 2-1 series.
The team looks revitalized after the recent additions of former Akrew in-game leaderCorbin “C0M” Lee and Vincent “Apoth” Le. In Stage 1, the old EG roster notably failed to pick up even a single win in their group, finishing bottom of Group A.
Their win over OpTic puts EG at the top of Group B in Stage 2. EG even put an end to OpTic’s eight-map win streak on Bind, taking the map 13-8. OpTic then bounced back on Split, sending the series to Ascent.
EG wasted no time in showing how far they’ve come in the past couple of months. Initially down 7-11, EG rallied to win six straight rounds and take the map 13-11.
Evil Geniuses take Ascent with zero duelists
EG’s agent composition on Ascent was notable because of its complete lack of duelists, the first time they had fielded this particular composition on Ascent in the group stage. Instead, the team’s lineup featured three initiators inFade, Sova, and KAY/O, in addition to Omen andChamber.
The agent lineup was remarkably similar to whatKorean powerhouse DRX also runon the Venetian map, with the main difference being EG’s choice to play Omen overAstra.
OpTic once again putVictor “Victor” Wong on Yoru, but EG clearly came prepared to play against the interdimensional duelist.
With three initiators, EG had an incredible amount of information to play off on defense. The combination of Fade’s Haunt and Sova’s Recon Dart proved particularly valuable in retake situations, eliminating OpTic’s element of surprise by quickly identifying Yoru’s location after his Gatecrash teleport.
On Round 23, OpTic attempted a B site execute with Yoru’s and Fade’s Dimensional Drift and Nightfall ultimates. In theory, Victor should have been able to exit Dimensional Drift without the EG players hearing him because of Nightfall’s deafen debuff, but a well-placed Paranoia flash from Apoth on Omen caught him out on B Stairs.
In the final round, an early Recon Dart from C0M’s Sova revealed multiple players at B Link, allowing C0M to spray Austin “crashies” Roberts down with an Odin from A Short and heavily tag two more players. The Recon Dart was combined with a KAY/O flash as well, preventing OpTic from destroying the dart.
Kelden “Boostio” Pupello was a particular stand-out on Chamber, posting a 219 Average Combat Score (ACS) and four first bloods. The 21-year-old is also tied for second place in terms of first kills per round in the group stage, alongside Sentinels’Tyson “TenZ” Ngoand Ghost Gaming star Marc-Andre “NiSMO” Tayar.
With the win over OpTic, Evil Geniuses havesecured their spot in the VCT NA Stage 2 playoffs. The final week of matches will now determine who clinches Group B’s top seed going into the playoffs. EG play FaZe Clan onJune 11.
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