Evil Geniuses Part Ways With Four LoL Coaches

Evil Geniuses announced the departure of four members of their League of Legends coaching staff on Thursday, October 27. The news sees the entire Evil Geniuses’ coaching staff leave the organization, despite the team’s success in the 2022 season.

Evil Geniuses announced the departure of its entire League of Legends coaching staff on Thursday. The decision sees Connor “Artemis” Doyle, Sebastian “ZzLegendary” Demontigny, Gabriel “Turtle” Peixoto, and Earl “Rigby” Han all leave the North American esports organization, despite winning EG’s first League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) title.

“With the conclusion of our 2022 League of Legends season, today we say farewell and thank you to members of our League of Legends coaching staff,” read the announcement.

“This past season, you helped us accomplish what many said was impossible by bringing EG its first LCS championship. We wish you the best in the future and will always appreciate your contributions to Evil Geniuses.”

The announcement comes just a week after Evil Geniuses already parted ways with its head of coaching staff and former head coach Peter Dun, who left the team on October 18. The 35-year-old was with the organization for nearly two years.

As former head coach of MAD Lions, with who he placed third in the LoL European Championship (LEC) Spring Playoffs and qualified for the organization’s first LoL Worlds, Peter Dunn played a key role in Evil Geniuses’ rise to the top of the NA LoL esports competitive scene.
Rigby, who recently served as EG head coach, joined the organization in January 2022 as an assistant coach from Afreeca Freecs.

Turtle has been with the team since December 2020 and has served as coach, head coach, and assistant coach, while Artemis joined EG in December 2019 and has since served as an assistant coach, performance coach, and strategic coach.

Evil Geniuses’ announcement comes shortly after the conclusion of the organization’s most successful season in League of Legends. Evil Geniuses made its first appearance in NA LoL competitive scene in 2014 but exited the industry ahead of the 2015 season despite successfully qualifying for the NA LCS season.

In 2019, Evil Geniuses re-entered the North American league by acquiring Echo Fox’s LCS slot and made its comeback in the 2022 LCS season. In the first year, Evil Geniuses placed second in the LCS 2022 Spring regular season and finished the playoffs in third.

In summer, success was harder to come by, with Evil Geniuses finishing the regular season in sixth and playoffs in fifth-sixth, effectively missing out on LoL Worlds. Evil Geniuses again failed to reach Worlds in the 2021 season, despite finishing LCS 2021 Lock-In and LCS 2021 Summer regular season in third place.

But things started looking up in 2022, marking EG’s most successful season in the organization’s history. The North American squad reached the finals of the LCS 2022 Lock-In and won its first LCS title in Spring, with a 3-0 sweep of the reigning champions, 100 Thieves.

Moreover, Evil Geniuses showed up at the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational, where they reached the semi-finals, losing only to the eventual champions, Royal Never Give Up. In Summer, EG would add its first regular season title; however, it had to settle for a third-place finish in the LCS 2022 Championship.

The solid season, unfortunately, ended with an abysmal performance at LoL World Championship, where Evil Geniuses crashed out of the group stage with a 1-5 record. Nevertheless, reaching the LoL World Championship itself was a major achievement for the organization.

It’s currently unclear what are Evil Geniuses’ plans for the future or who will replace the outgoing coaches. Moreover, it’s unclear whether Evil Geniuses will look to make any roster changes.

Jeong “Impact” Eon-young is the only player on EG’s roster whose contract will expire ahead of the next season, suggesting that EG might keep most of its roster intact. But with most organizations looking to make major roster changes, it’s not beyond the realm of possibilities that EG will look to do the same.