Evil Geniuses have been one of the best teams in the League of Legends Championship Series this year and enter the Worlds 2022 conversation as North America’s No. 3 seed. With a mix of veteran and young talent that started the season strong, Evil Geniuses will have to play through a difficult play-in stage against the likes of Fnatic and DetonatioN FocusMe.
EG will have their work cut out for them, but they have just a good chance as any other team to make it through play-ins.
Despite having a relatively weaker LCS summer split, Evil Geniuses were the kings of the spring. They ended third this split, but this is a team that has made it to the international stage at the Mid-Season Invitational and ended the summer split in first place. Evil Geniuses are favorites to make it out of the play-in stage at Worlds 2022 and could do some real damage in the group stages.
Evil Geniuses starting roster breakdown
Top: Jeong “Impact” Eon-young, signed December 2020
Jungle: Kacper “Inspired” Słoma, signed November 2021
Mid: Joseph “Jojopyun” Joon Pyun, signed November 2021
Bot: Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki, signed May 2021
Support: Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme, signed November 2021
How they got here
Evil Geniuses returned to the LCS in 2020 with a middling roster that made it to playoffs but was not able to make a large mark. When 2021 came around, Evil Geniuses decided to change the game. Amidst a sea of imports and super teams, Evil Geniuses decided to go a completely different route and believe in young, North American talent. At the beginning of the 2022 season, Evil Geniuses signed Danny and Jojopyun, two young talents from the amateur scene to work with their group of veterans. Suffice it to say, EG’s investment paid off.
Evil Geniuses’ first big outing was the Lock-in Tournament before the start of the 2022 LCS season. Despite adding these young rookies, Evil Geniuses were able to place second, losing to a veritable super-team in Team Liquid.
The regular season was tougher for the young team. They came out with a 9-9 record and dropped games to teams like Counter Logic Gaming and Golden Guardians. Coming into the 2022 spring playoffs, it seemed that EG were a tier underneath the top three of Team Liquid, Cloud9 and 100 Thieves. However, that narrative changed during the tournament.
Evil Geniuses were set to face Team Liquid in the first round of the upper bracket and narrowly lost in a five-game series. After getting sent to the losers bracket, the team would only lose one game on their way to the spring split championship. On their way, Danny was able to get one of the best highlights the LCS has ever seen: stealing a Baron and getting a pentakill.
BARON STEAL AND PENTAKILL, @DannnyIoI ARE YOU SERIOUS?! #LCS pic.twitter.com/6Mt4VOhH2X
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) April 23, 2022
Evil Geniuses made it to the knockout round of MSI and maintained their momentum going into the summer and were able to get the first seed in coming into the summer playoffs. While Evil Geniuses ended up falling to the tidal wave of Cloud9 that came crashing through the shores of the LCS like a tsunami, they have a great chance of performing at worlds.
Players to watch on Evil Geniuses
There are more than a few standout players to watch on Evil Geniuses. However, the one at the top of the list is undoubtedly Inspired. The former jungler for Rogue has made his mark as possibly the best jungler in the LCS. In a meta where teams are playing strong early-game junglers that fall off after the mid-game such as Vi, Sejuani and Wu Kong, anytime Inspired is in a game, he can make better use of these champions than most others can. His triple kill on Vi in the regular season against Cloud9 says it all.
HOW CAN YOU DOUBT INSPIRED?!@inspiredlol | #LCS pic.twitter.com/PR2lwlDZcI
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) August 14, 2022
For the sake of entertainment, there might be no one more entertaining than Jojopyun. The young upstart has constantly trash talked and backed it up. Excelling on carry mid laners such as Ryze, Viktor and Sylas, he has been able to keep up with the best that North America has thrown at him in lane. His first Worlds experience will no doubt be something to look forward to for fans of North American talent.
How can Evil Geniuses succeed at Worlds 2o22
A lot of Evil Geniuses’ success will depend on Inspired for the most part. While Jojopyun and Danny are strong mechanical players, EG are not necessarily the most lane-dominant team. Evil Geniuses depends on Inspired’s pathing to make sure their strategies work. Whether they are playing topside to get Impact ahead or getting Danny and Vulcan ahead bottom, it will depend on Inspired’s jungling to make it all work.
A lot of Evil Geniuses’ potential lies in how their youngest members will perform on the world stage, which is why Inspired’s role is so important. But how Danny and Jojopyun perform will be what puts the LCS third seed in the promised land. The two rookies will have to perform at the highest level. At the end of the split, it was clear that the pressure of competition was affecting the young players. Danny took a mental health break right before the final against Cloud9, and Jojopyun made uncharacteristic mistakes throughout the series.
If Evil Geniuses are able to put these young stars in a position to carry, North America might do better than everyone thinks at Worlds 2022.
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