IEM Rio Major profile: Evil Geniuses

Evil Geniuses are turning a malfunctioning roster into a promising project and their qualification to the Major is another step in the right direction — how far they can go and how soon remains to be seen.

Evil Geniuses is one of just two North American teams that qualified for the IEM Rio Major, but unlike Liquid, the Sanzhar "⁠neaLaN⁠" Iskhakov-led squad is not considered among the favorites to reach the playoffs. Instead, Evil Geniuses's aim at the Major is to continue on their upwards trajectory to get back to the top. The team qualifying for the Major can already be considered an achievement for an organization that until a few months ago struggled to win matches at tier-one events, and it stands as an important milestone in the organization's comeback.

The addition of neaLaN, Jadan "⁠HexT⁠" Postma, and Daniel "⁠Vorborg⁠" Vorborg in the second half of 2022 has given Evil Geniuses a new identity, and ever since their arrival to the squad, the team's performance and tournament results have improved. The North Americans first showed a glimpse of their potential with wins over Eternal Fire and Movistar Riders at ESL Pro League Season 16 before going 3-0 at the Americas RMR. The North American organization is a long way from the heights it reached in 2019, when it dethroned Liquid and briefly held the No.1 spot in the HLTV rankings, but the bleeding of the past years could at least be subsiding.

Evil Geniuses is a historic organization, but it only came back to Counter-Strike in 2019 by acquiring the NRG roster after a seven-year hiatus from the game, so it doesn't have a rich history at CS:GO Majors with only one appearance at PGL Stockholm 2021.

Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta is the most experienced individual on the roster with four Major appearances to his name. He also has the distinction of being one of only six North American players to ever lift a Major trophy, having done so at ELEAGUE Major 2018 in Boston. The 26-year-old has consistently been the standout performer for the squad in 2022 and has carried this form throughout the RMR as he powered Evil Geniuses to qualification for the Major.

Coach Vorborg's also brings some experience to the table from his time with Copenhagen Flames, during which he helped the Danish squad qualify for the last two Majors, even reaching the playoffs at PGL Antwerp 2022.

The rest of the team's experience comes from Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte and Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov, who have played together since 2017 and attended three Majors with Evil Geniuses and NRG. Their best finish to date came at StarLadder Berlin 2019, where they reached the semi-finals after losing to Astralis. Brehze and CeRq were the top performers for NRG at that tournament, but the duo is now nowhere near the form they showed in Germany.

The veterans must come back to form

CeRq and Brehze were two of the hottest players in North America back in 2019 and crucial pieces in the Evil Geniuses war machine when it claimed the title of the best team in the region. The duo was at the forefront of the lineup that claimed trophies at StarSeries i-League Season 8 and ESL One New York, as well as several other deep runs at Big Events. If Evil Geniuses wants a shot at the Legends Stage, they will need the duo fulfilling that potential.

The Bulgarian AWPer has not reached the standards he set three years ago and has fallen down from a 1.13 rating in 2019 to a 1.00 rating in 2022. His form has improved since the new roster was assembled and showed it during Evil Geniuses's run at the RMR with an impressive performance against FURIA. "I definitely think that CeRq is on an upward trajectory," autimatic said after the first day of play in Stockholm, when CeRq impressed in the first two best-of-ones of the tournament. "We've put in a lot of effort into making sure that everyone is comfortable, including him. He's working really hard to make sure that he can take on as much responsibility and have as much impact as possible."

The player himself talked about his struggles in recent times: "Last year I was in this hole where I kept changing stuff around and I wasn't getting comfortable," he stated to Dust2.us. "Now I'm just sticking to one thing and building confidence. It's been good in practice."

The AWPer is the most important role in the team and failing to utilize the most expensive gun in the game can often be a significant setback — both in terms of firepower and economy. Evil Geniuses's chances of advancing into the Legends Stage in large part go through CeRq continuing this upwards trajectory, but he's not the only one in the squad looking to get out of a slump.

Brehze is in a similar situation, and just like his Bulgarian teammate, the American has shown signs of improvement since the new lineup was formed. The 24-year-old attributes his recent improvements to the team's newfound identity in the off-season: "We have an identity right now. I think in the past year and earlier this year too with the lineup, we did not find our groove," the rifler said after defeating 9z to qualify for the Major. "I think we are progressing really fast, we have our own style that we are figuring out right now and it's working so that's what I am attributing to my play."

A new direction

The year started with Evil Geniuses signing three experienced players of which all were arguably past their peak in CS:GO. Once that project failed, the organization learned from its mistakes and instead focused on bringing some new blood into the squad.

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neaLaN on EG offer: "I didn't expect it at all"

neaLaN and EG Black prospect HexT were signed in August to replace Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip and William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba to breathe fresh air into a stale lineup. The Khazak's signing, in particular, came as a surprise to many as the 22-year-old captain had very little tier-one experience with K23 and none at all in charge of North American teams. "I didn't expect it at all," neaLaN told HLTV ahead of his debut with the team at BLAST Fall Groups. "I was surprised that they invited me, but maybe they knew I was playing in FPL and that I have good English."

Evil Geniuses finished in last place at BLAST after playing part of the event with RUSH as a stand-in and had to wait until ESL Pro League Season 16 to show progress. neaLaN's men didn't make the playoffs in Malta, but they did get back-to-back victories against Eternal Fire and Movistar Riders, two struggling teams that made roster changes right after the event.

Their rise continued at the Americas RMR, and that's where neaLaN truly showed his leadership skills by captaining Evil Geniuses back to the Majors despite having significantly less experience than his predecessor, Stewie2K. "neaLaN does not have a lot of tier-one experience, but you wouldn't be able to tell," autimatic stated in regards to his IGL. "He has a lot of concepts that he's brought over from CIS and a lot of small plays. He has brought a lot to the team, so I think it was a good addition."

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autimatic: "neaLaN does not have a lot of tier-one experience, but you wouldn't be able to tell"

The North American squad's qualification series was against 9z, and HexT was the star of the show. He topped the scoreboard as he pushed Evil Geniuses to the Major over the South American side. The Canadian rifler did not have an overall standout performance at the RMR, but he showed glimpses of his potential despite struggling against more established squads such as FURIA and Liquid.

HexT's inconsistency will tone down with more tier-one experience, but as Brehze points out, the 20-year-old already plays an important role in the team: "Jadan [HexT] is a pretty integral part of our team. He's everything you expect from a young player: he has high energy, really nice aim, keeps the mood high, and when he's fragging like that he makes us unstoppable."

HexT was promoted to the main team after an impressive stint with the squad previously known as Carpe Diem, which was acquired alongside Party Astronauts by Evil Geniuses as part of the organization's "Blueprint Project." The initiative aims to create a fluid 15-man roster in order to nurture North American talent and provide the organization's future crop of players.

The new project also brought a new restructuring of the management behind the CS:GO division. Soham "⁠valens⁠" Chowdhury took the step from Head of Data Science to manage the new program while Vorborg joined the organization as the main lineup's coach to replace the recently departed Damien "⁠maLeK⁠" Marcel. The Frenchman returned to Evil Geniuses's backroom staff with a different role as strategic coach to bring even more support to the lineup.

Aims for the Major

Evil Geniuses are not expected to be world beaters at the Major, but they have the tools to leave a mark in Rio with a young in-game leader, two capable riflers, an exciting academy prospect, and an AWPer on the upswing. The potential is there for the North American squad to reach the Legends Stage and their opening match against IHC is a perfect opportunity for the squad to build momentum early on, although the journey could just as easily get twisted in a stacked field and end up with the North Americans out early. Brehze was very careful about not setting expectations too high right after their qualification run at the European RMR: "We are going to take it one game at a time, but obviously we are happy to make it and we're going to play every game to win."

The caution in setting expectations was justified after Evil Geniuses's failure at BLAST Fall Showdown where the squad suffered a surprise first-round elimination at the hands of eventual winners, Fluxo. The online event was a good occasion for the North American squad to gather more experience and prove that their run at the RMR was not a flash in the pan. Instead, Evil Geniuses failed to capitalize on the situation and left the tournament leaving fans with more doubts about their current level. Majors are always demanding for all teams involved due to the high level of play, but it is particularly so for those trying to upset their way to the top. EG will have to replicate the form they showed at the RMR more consistently if they want to advance to the second phase of the tournament in Rio.

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