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North American esports organization Evil Geniuses announced the departure of their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive coach Wilton “zews” Prado. The Brazillian strategist has parted ways with the team on Wednesday, June 2.
Disagreements of the team’s direction
Evil Geniuses and zews have parted ways by mutual consent over the difference of vision of the team’s direction. The team nor their former coach have stated what they have disagreed on.
Zews joined Evil Geniuses in April 2020 as a replacement for Chet “Chet” Singh, who left for 100 Thieves. Zews led Evil Geniuses to three titles during his first four months at the team, including BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 American Finals, cs_summit 6 Online: North America, and the ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America.
After that streak, Evil Geniuses started to struggle, finishing third at both ESL Pro League Season 12: North America and the Intel Extreme Masters XV – New York Online: North America. Things didn’t get better in the final months of 2020, with Evil Geniuses finishing last in BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Regular Season and third-fourth at Intel Extreme Masters XV – Beijing Online: North America.
Zero Improvement in 2021
Evil Geniuses’ poor form continued into 2021. During their trip to Europe, EG struggled to impress, finishing fifth-sixth at BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020 and DreamHack Open January 2021: Europe.
To that, EG added a ninth-12th place finish at Intel Extreme Masters XV – World Championship and a 21st-24th place finish at ESL Pro League Season 13.
EG tried to improve with roster changes, starting with the departure of Ethan “Ethan” Arnold in February, who got replaced by former Complexity player Owen “oBo” Schlatter. More roster changes followed in April when EG replaced Tarik “tarik” Celik with Michał “MICHU” Müller.
Yet, they still failed to find any serious traction in their competitive endeavors.
Their only notable accomplishment of the year was a semi-finals appearance at Snow Sweet Snow #3 at the start of April. Evil Geniuses, however, soon returned to their old ways with a seventh-eighth at Funspark ULTI 2020 and cs_summit 8 at the end of the month.
It seemed like no matter what Evil Geniuses do; they weren’t able to achieve positive results. That was particularly obvious in their last two tournaments – Funspark ULTI 2020 and cs_summit 8 – where EG haven’t won a single match.
EG weren’t inside the top-20 in the world rankings since April. They’re now ranked world no.38, according to the latest ranking update.
Evil Geniuses Return to Action at IEM Summer
Evil Geniuses will return to action on Thursday, June 3, when they face off against Team Spirit at Intel Extreme Masters Season XVI – Summer. It will mark their first S-Tier tournament since ESL Pro League Season 13, in which they finished second-last with a 1-4 record.
Odds for Evil Geniuses vs. Team Spirit Match
Odds courtesy of BetOnline Sportsbook:
- EG +168
- Spirit -185
- EG +3.5 Rounds -102
- Spirit -3.5 Rounds -132
- Over 26.5 Rounds -109
- Under 26.5 Rounds -125
Evil Geniuses enter their opening IEM Season XVI – Summer match as +168 underdogs. That makes a lot of sense, considering their streak of poor results.
Still, this is a best-of-one fixture between two rosters who haven’t met before. The departure of their coach surely won’t help EG and their cause, but like it’s the case with any online CSGO Bo1 match, you never know what to expect.
Evil Geniuses are desperate to achieve something this tournament and prove they’re not as bad as they seem to be. Will the added motivation be enough for EG to stun Team Spirit is anyone’s guess, but we can expect the North American side to give their all.
Intel Extreme Masters Season XVI – Summer
IEM Season XVI Summer will run from June 3-13 with 16 teams in attendance and a $250,000 prize pool. EG will begin the tournament in Group B alongside Heroic, Imperial Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, OG, Fnatic, Virtus.pro, and their Thursday’s opponents Team Spirit.
The tournament will feature two double-elimination format (GSL) groups. The opening group matches will be played as best-of-one (Bo1), while the following matches will be Bo3.
The top-three teams from each group will advance into the playoffs. There a single-elimination Bo3 format will be in place to determine the finalists.
IEM Season XVI Summer final is scheduled for Sunday, June 13, with the top two teams competing in a Bo5 series.