wiz on EG's Blueprint project: "I've gotten a lot of resources that I've never had before"

After an up-and-down start to his first tournament with the main Evil Geniuses roster, Jerric "⁠wiz⁠" Jiang talks about his debut at an international level.

Evil Geniuses began their BLAST Premier Spring Groups campaign with an unexpected win against Heroic, the number-one team in the world. Their performance surprised many in the community, with even wiz admitting the result was somewhat unexpected for the team.

The North Americans faced Vitality in their second test of the tournament with much less success, being condemned to defeat following a brutal 16-1 loss on Inferno.

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After EG's defeat at the hands of Vitality, HLTV spoke to wiz to get his thoughts about both games and his general thoughts on the Blueprint project.

I wanted to first touch Thursday's game against Heroic. How does it feel to beat the number-one team in the world?

Yeah, it feels pretty good to beat the number-one team in the world, especially in my debut game. Personally, honestly, we didn't really expect it, but I think the team had a really good atmosphere and chemistry that day. We just played our game, and then we won against them.

What would you say the deciding factor for your win was?

I think the deciding factor was probably a combination of reading the game from neaLaN and the mid-game communication from everyone all around. Everyone was also hitting insane shots that day too. I know Brehze, HexT, autimatic, and everyone just contributed in different ways, and that's why we won.

How does it feel to step up from your previous level to now playing tier-one teams?

It's a lot of responsibility to step up to this level because teams here play very differently compared to what I'm used to. They're a lot more disciplined, a lot more drilled, and better at punishing your mistakes. So for me, I think I need to work a lot harder than before to get used to it.

Today you played against Vitality And fell short, but are there any positives you can take from today's game?

I can't say much about map two. They kind of stomped us, but toward the end of the map one, I think we kind of found our groove a little bit. We started talking a bit more, coming up with more ideas, and being more confident. But overall, I guess in terms of positives, we had a slow start, but we managed to come back a little bit.

What do you think went wrong on Inferno?

On Inferno, I think our communication wasn't there. We kind of lacked initiative and also they were just hitting their shots individually. They were just a better team overall today, and we couldn't really match it.

Okay, so you meet Heroic or Astralis in the next round. Are you ready for them?

Whoever we play, Heroic or Astralis, we're definitely ready for a rematch, for sure.

On a more general note, how is it to work under the Blueprint project?

Yeah, I think overall the Blueprint project has been positive for me. I've gotten a lot of resources that I've never had before and a lot of people who are helping me. So overall yeah, really great thing for sure.