by Evil Geniuses managed one of the biggest upsets of the 2020 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) on Saturday when they handed the reigning LCS champions, Cloud9, their second loss of the split.
After a shaky start to their LCS 2020 Summer campaign, Evil Geniuses opted to make some changes to their LoL roster by?signing the ex-Golden Guardians mid laner Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer?as a replacement for Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro. The removal of Jiizuke from their active roster also allowed EG to field Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon for the first time since they acquired the 2017 LoL World Championship grand finalist from Dignitas in May.
With two LoL esports veterans joining Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen, Bae “Bang” Jun-sik and Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam on the Evil Geniuses LCS roster, the expectations were high, so it was painful to see them lose to Team Liquid on Friday. But things took a sudden turn for the better in EG’s second match of the week, where they faced a Cloud9 side who had lost only one match out of 10 played.
Even though the bout was billed as heavily one-sided, Evil Geniuses managed to hold their ground and went back and forth with Cloud9 for the first 24 minutes of the game. While Cloud9 managed to keep themselves ahead of EG throughout the early-mid game, it all came crashing down for Yasin “Nisqy” Dincer and his crew at 31-minute mark when Evil Geniuses won a decisive teamfight near the dragon pit and made one final push into C9’s base to end the game.
The newcomers played a crucial role in EG’s upset win that night. Goldenglue showcased his old form on Zoe and ended the game with an impressive 6/2/7 record. The North American LoL esports pro also managed an impressive 28% damage share (21.3k damage) with only 21.7% gold share.
While Goldenglue did not disappoint, it was Huni who took the spotlight. The 22-year-old Korean star locked in his signature Gangplank into Eric “Licorice” Ritchie’s Sett and proved to the world he is still an elite-level player by ending the game with a 4/1/8 record and an outstanding 34.5% damage share (26.3k damage) with only 24.1% gold share.
Evil Geniuses now sit tied for fourth place with a 6-6 record, while Cloud9 share top spot with a surging Team Liquid outfit who have won seven matches in a row.
Considering Goldenglue signed only a six-day contract with Evil Geniuses that expires on Wednesday, July 22, it is still unclear whether EG will offer him a chance to extend his stay until the end of the season. However, after his phenomenal performance over the weekend, it seems highly likely the “Vault Boy” will remain with his new team for a while longer.
Evil Geniuses’ next LCS match is scheduled for Friday, July 24 at 18:00 PDT, when they will hope to improve their record with a win over bottom-ranked Immortals.
