Evil Geniuses defeat Cloud9 3-0 advancing to Lock In finals

In a volatile series, Evil Geniuses have taken down Cloud9 in a 3-0 sweep in the League Championship Series Lock In semifinals. With that win, EG have advanced to the finals, where they’ll play the defending champions, Team Liquid, on Sunday.

In their series, Evil Geniuses controlled the first game incredibly cleanly and played the second game almost just as well, with a quick 2-0 to start the day. Cloud9 managed to turn things around for Game 3, getting off to an impressive start through Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya in the top lane, but failed to capitalize well enough to start a reverse sweep.

Cloud9 overreached in a mid-game skirmish, giving away a big chunk of gold, allowing Evil Geniuses to scrap their way back into a healthy position. A few chaotic teamfights later EG had a full comeback and the 3-0 series victory.

In an interview from earlier in the Lock In tournament, Evil Geniuses mid laner Joseph “jojopyun” Joon Pyun shared confidence in his team. “I think all of us are just individually really good,” said Jojopyun. “Even from the first day we played, we had good chemistry and everything. Everyone had the same play style in mind, too.”

Evil Geniuses have so far completed a perfect run at the 2022 Lock In tournament, going 4-0 in groups, 2-0 in their quarterfinal series against Golden Guardians and now 3-0 against Cloud9 in the semis. They’re three games away from going undefeated in the pre-season tourney, with only Liquid in their way.

Other than 100 Thieves and Team Liquid, who were the first and second seed at the tournament, Evil Geniuses was clearly the next favorite headed into the tournament, with each LCS team having them as their first choice to dodge in the group stage.