Evil Geniuses fought Team Liquid for six long hours to keep their top North American spot
Evil Geniuses is the great American champion of ESL One Cologne for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The team, led by Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte, fought a six-hour “marathon” to overcome Team Liquid and came out victorious at the end of five maps.
EG won 3 to 2, with 19-16 at Nuke, 9-16 at Vertigo, 16-12 at Inferno, 6-16 at Mirage and 16-12 at Dust2. The result yielded US$ 65,000 to EG’s coffers. Runner-up, Liquid earned US$ 30,000.
It’s worth mentioning that Evil Geniuses have won the last three regional championships which took place in NA, all of which were in an online format. Starting in June, they won against MIBR in the BLAST Premier Spring 2020 American Finals. Days later, they defeated Gen.G and won cs_summit 6 North America. And now, they’ve triumphed at the ESL One Cologne 2020 North America.
Although EG appear to be unstoppable it is difficult to say for sure where they should feature on a global CSGO power ranking, as all tournaments played until now have been regional. ESL rankings place them in position 13, whilst HLTV have placed them in the top 3 on a global scale. This is quite a discrepancy, so let’s analyse EG’s final match and see whether they merit HLTV’s high placing.
The Game
Nuke: Evil Geniuses 19-16 Team Liquid
Evil Geniuses played 7 maps in the competition, and there were 7 wins. Even though Nuke was EG’s choice, it was Team Liquid who started in full swing. With Grim inspired, the CT lead opened up 6-0. At the end of the first half, the champions of cs_summit 6 got a reaction, closing 9-6 for Liquid.
NAF led his teammates to win the pistol and the anti echoes opening up for a bigger advantage at the beginning of the second half. After Evil Geniuses managed to acquire money for armament they got their comeback leading with 15-14. However, Liquid managed to tie and took the map into overtime. During overtime, there was dominance by EG who made 4-1 and finally closed the first map at 19-16.
Vertigo: Team Liquid 16-9 Evil Geniuses
On the second map of the series, Vertigo, Team Liquid’s pick had a devastating start. In the first eight rounds, EliGE had already added 16 kills and made Liquid open 7 to 1. It was a very intense beginning, however, after that advantage, they slowed down. Even so, they closed the first half with a 13-2.
In the second half, Evil Geniuses showed a reaction, making 6 consecutive rounds. Stanislaw brought the game back, but Team Liquid calmed down and closed the game. No difficulties, 16-9 for Americans, and the series tied at 1×1.
Inferno: Evil Geniuses 16-12 Team Liquid
Evil Geniuses had an 11-game winning streak in Inferno and that prevailed when choosing their pick. However, they started the game off, taking 6-2 without showing any reaction. After a pause to talk to Coach Wilton “zews” Prado, they played several rounds in a row, managing to close the map with the advantage 8-7.
The second half started with EG opening 7-1 with tarik making a lot of contributions in the rounds. The player took down 3 opponents with a triple-kill spray. There was still time for Liquid to react, however, they were quickly held back by EG’s Brehze, who won a 1vs3 and closed the map on 16-12.
Mirage: Team Liquid 16-6 Evil Geniuses
With a disadvantage in the series, Team Liquid needed to win their map of choice, Mirage, to stay in the race. EliGE was inspired by the second map and this was no different. Winning a 1vs2 in the pistol round, he managed to open a good 5-1 advantage early on. However, in the last round of the first half, CeRq sought 4 eliminations to keep EG alive in a 9-6.
In the second half, playing from CT, Team Liquid didn’t give Evil Geniuses a chance. He faced 7-0 on the scoreboard, closing the map at 16-6 with great ease. The expectations were all for the last and decisive map of the series.
Dust2: Evil Geniuses 16-12 Team Liquid
All paths from the grand final led to Dust2. Stewie2Kstarted the map very inspired leading Liquid to make it 5-0. Evil Geniuses managed to bring it back by doing a few rounds in a row, but at the end of the first half, Liquid won by 9-6.
Everything was heading for a victory for Liquid, since they made a great half as terrorists. However, Ethan and tarik changed the whole course of the match. In a sequence of seven perfect rounds, Evil Geniuses closed the game on 16-12 and were crowned champion.
At the end of the match, tarik let out:
“It was so tiring, this whole series; it took so long, it’s hard to stay focused and energized”. “I want to give them props [Liquid], throughout the series they played very well, it was a difficult game and they just made a lineup change. It is very difficult to enter a series and play as well against a team like us. Congratulations to them for putting up a good fight. “
This week, the two teams will compete again for the ESL Pro League Season 12 North America. There will be seven matches in the first phase. After that, they will compete at IEM New York 2020 in October.
Evil Geniuses have displayed great skill and prowess. Their hard-fought victory was the result of six long hours of blood, sweat and tears. Considering all their toil, we are certain that EG’s third spot on HLTV’s power ranking is well-deserved.
Featured Image Credits: Evil Geniuses players raise the ESL One New York cup. (Image: Bart Oerbekke / ESL)
