Evil Geniuses (EG) have been one of the major names in esports since the early Counter-Strike/Call of Duty days almost two decades ago. The North American Organization was once considered the crown jewel of esports in the region but has been reduced to crumbles in the past few years. Things fell apart for EG even though they won the recent 2023 Valorant Champions. The organization had rosters for every Esports in the world at one point. Currently, their standing on the scene has been reduced to rubble.
Contents
- The Road to Glory – Evil Geniuses win Dota 2 The International 5
- What Happened to Evil Geniuses Afterward?
- And The Domino Effect Took Place
The Road to Glory – Evil Geniuses win Dota 2 The International 5
It wasn’t always this way for the Evil Geniuses. They rose to the top through their first ever Dota 2 The International 5 win in 2015. They were underdogs heading into the event as they had lost their star boys Artour “Arteezy” Babaev and Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg to Team Secret in the roster shuffle.
The odds were completely stacked against them but they pulled through. EG confidently sailed through the Group Stages to make the main event. In the main event, Evil Geniuses started out winning against their fellow NA competition Complexity and went on to face EHOME from China who they won against 2-1. However, they lost against Wildcard entry CDEC and got knocked to the Lower Brackets.
EG went on to face LGD Gaming, another Chinese Team in the Lower Bracket Finals who they defeated comfortably. Once again, they were up against CDEC in the Grand Finals and they managed to pull through with a victory. Under the leadership of Peter “ppd” Dager and the insane mid-lane capability of Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan, they won and etched their names forever in Dota 2 history.
What Happened to Evil Geniuses Afterward?
After the Dota 2 The International 5 win, Evil Geniuses brought back a few known names. However, that was not enough as the organization in its entirety was unstable. Every performance from then on out was mediocre with a few gems in between and some qualifications to top tournaments here and there. That is another reason why the whole roster then opted out of the organization and shifted to Shopify Rebellion. However, that would not spell the end for EG as they held onto their hopes.
Evil Geniuses went on shift to South America but even then they wouldn’t taste the success they wanted. Eventually, they had to shut down their Dota 2 division, leaving the scene in its entirety.
And The Domino Effect Took Place
When one pillar falls, so do the rest. After the loss of their Dota 2 division, all the other Esports sectors of the organization were unstable. Evil Geniuses, down the line, got out of Esports titles altogether. Most notably, they got out of League of Legends, Rocket League, Fortnite, Overwatch, PUBG, and Rainbow Six Seige. The organization started to crumble from within which eventually led to them losing their Counter-Strike roster as well.
The only Esports title EG is operating at today is Valorant. They are a franchised Tier 1 team and they do not have a single player in their roster besides world champion Alexander “jawgemo” Mor. All of the other champions left for better financially stable Americas teams like NRG, Leviatan, and 100T respectively. Evil Geniuses’ financial situation was bad even though their roster won the 2023 VCT Champions.
So much so that their Valorant roster was trapped in contract jail for these past few months. Jawgemo is the only known member to be on the roster for EG Valorant as of now. Because they won VCT Champions, it would be a while before they exit the stage of Valorant altogether. As long as the title is netting their profits, there should be no reason to exit the scene.
However, if they do go away from Valorant as well, it would mark the end of Evil Geniuses, one of the pioneers of Esports teams all over the world.
