Evil Geniuses 2021 Roster Spotlight
Despite top tier LCS teams robbing headlines a majority of the offseason, teams like Evil Geniuses have managed to make their own share of important signings this year despite high key departures. With Impact joining the roster, Evil Geniuses have a stable workhorse in the top lane that will be utilized by Head Coach Peter Dun to the most optimal conditions. When comparing EG this year to the roster from a year prior, Evil Geniuses have managed to get more consistent in the top and bot lane in the key acquisitions of Impact and IgNar.
This year’s EG lineup has multiple players with a propensity to make plays selflessly, and signing stable veterans like Impact and resigning franchise staples such as Svenskeren will surely be pillars to their success this coming season. In order to avoid mid-table obscurity like last season, EG will have to develop winning conditions early on and rally around the dominant style of Impact or the playmaking craziness of Jiizuke and IgNar in order to routinely secure victories.
New year, new project
After a dismal 2020 season that saw their entire project with Bang and Jiizuke uprooted for the Huni experiment halfway through the year, it was time for EG to make some much-needed adjustments. Those changes had to start from the top and they did with the signing of former MAD Lions Head Coach Peter Dun in early November.
This change became the start of a whirlwind of moves that saw EG act decisively in the free-agent market. Within three weeks of his introduction, upper management at EG completely gutted the roster (besides Jiizuke) as they made their first signing just 21 days later with IgNar. From this point on, it was obvious that EG was trialing rosters on the side since Huni and Bang were already shown the door.
Resigning Svenskeren and Jiizuke became pivotal to the final pieces of the puzzle shortly after. With Bang leaving a vacancy open for AD carry, Peter Dun saw an opportunity for Deftly to make his emergence once again into the LCS in a perfect environment to shine. Deftly has been a fostered talent over the years as he got his shot early on with the inaugural roster of Golden Guardians back in 2017.
With four years of competitive LoL experience since then, he finds himself alongside a playmaking support and jungler who he shares prior synergy with that will give him every opportunity to stand out. When Deftly isn’t being relied upon to carry the result, this team will still be heavily reliant on Jiizuke and Impact to take advantage on a consistent basis.
In that regard, Impact is a clear upgrade to Huni or Kumo when judging last season just based on his solo lane stats alone. With the early game laning aside, Impact remains one of the most consistently dominant players in LCS history and his streak of winning teams within the region has been no fluke. Pairing alongside seasoned veterans like Svenskeren and countrymen like IgNar will give Impact new forms of seeking victory as his Head Coach made it clear that he is looking for his solo laners to carry hard and carry early.
While players like Jiizuke and IgNar have deficiencies in lane or other parts of the mid-game that gatekeep them from being considered ‘elite’ LCS talent, having these kinds of personalities on a team together could bode well for their success later on. This Evil Geniuses lineup possesses a lot of intangibles in veteran ability and synergistic prowess that other rosters like CLG, Immortals, and Dignitas simply do not possess.
For that reason alone, Evil Geniuses have the makings of a roster that can achieve a top-five finish in the league when the season is all said and done. If Impact, Svenskeren and Jiizuke deliver MVP caliber years, this roster could very well defy the odds and maybe compete for a spot at the World Championship, but that all depends on the week to week growth that happens as a team through a full-length season.
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