Evil Geniuses Accepted into VALORANT Partnership

Prominent North American esports organization Evil Geniuses has secured a Valorant partnership with Riot Games. This will allow Evil Geniuses to compete in the Americas international Valorant league next year following a major restructure of the Valorant competitive scene in 2023.

According to recent reports, Evil Geniuses have secured a partnership for the Americas Valorant league 2023. With that, Evil Geniuses joined NRG, Sentinels, 100 Thieves, Cloud0, LOUD, FURIA, MIBR, Leviatan, and KRU, as the 10th team that got accepted into the partnership program.

Evil Geniuses have secured the partnership despite not achieving much since the team formed its Valorant division in February 2021. EG have not won a single big event in 2022, while their success was limited to qualifying for VCT 2022: North America Stage 2 Challengers.

Notably, Evil Geniuses have not attended a single international event despite being one of the top esports organizations in the region.

Moreover, they have not once reached the top level of competition in the region, struggling to deliver in VCT North America Challengers.

In March, Evil Geniuses qualified for VCT 2022: North America Stage 1 Challengers, but ended the tournament in last place with a 0-5 record. Notably, Evil Geniuses have improved ahead of the second stage Challengers, where they finished the group stage in third place and reached the knockout stage.

Unfortunately, EG weren’t able to make a deep run and got eliminated from the second round of the playoffs after losing to OpTic Gaming and NRG.

Since then, Evil Geniuses have attended VCT 2022: North America Last Chance Qualifier, where they placed last and failed to reach VALORANT Champions. Most recently, Evil Geniuses also attended Proving Grounds 2022: Unleashed, yet placed fourth behind Susquehanna Soniqs, City Boys, and Dark Ratio.

Even though Evil Geniuses has a long history of competing in FPS titles, their Valorant division has failed to deliver. But regardless of their lack of success in 2022, EG was accepted by Riot Games as one of the partnered teams for the next season.

Seeing Evil Geniuses get accepted into a partnership program has left many fans wondering about Riot Games’ selection process. That is mainly due to the fact that Evil Geniuses got accepted while other highly successful teams from the region weren’t.

The list includes the VALORANT Champions 2022 finalist, OpTic Gaming, who are reportedly out of contention for the Valorant franchised league. Although yet to be officially announced, reliable sources have stated that OpTic are not one of the 30 partnered teams for the inaugural franchised league.

Unlike Evil Geniuses, who have achieved little to nothing this season, OpTic quickly rose to become one of NA’s top Valorant teams. OpTic formed its Valorant division in February 2022 and instantly found success.

In March, OpTic placed second in VCT 2022: North America Stage 1 Challengers and won VCT 2022: Stage 1 Masters – Reykjavík a month later, claiming the first major title of the year. In June, OpTic would again slip at the final hurdle in the domestic league, finishing VCT 2022: North America Stage 2 Challengers in second place, but the team again showed up in the Major.

Despite not managing to emulate their success from Reykjavik, OpTic finished VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters – Copenhagen in third, proving themselves as one of the top Valorant teams. And they further cemented themselves as such with a runner-up finish at VALORANT Champions 2022 earlier this month.

Due to the team’s lack of success with their current roster, it’s likely that Evil Geniuses will look to rebuild its Valorant roster ahead of the next season. This will now be much easier to achieve, knowing that many of the top teams from 2022 have not been accepted into the partnership program, resulting in a plethora of free agents looking for a new home.

That includes highly successful teams of TSM and OpTic, giving EG more than enough options to rebuild its roster and form a new powerhouse.