Evil Geniuses’ Counter-Strike division hasn’t had much to celebrate in 2023, but following a May 20 loss against an unranked North American squad, the storied organization’s fall from grace is all but complete.
EG was downed in an ESEA Cash Cup against Eros—a squad that has only just returned to competitive CS:GO after three months without an HLTV official map played. The team was last ranked 237th before their remaining rank points decayed due to inactivity.
Eros would go on to fall to the eventual Cash Cup champs paiN Gaming in the semifinal, while EG was once again sent to lick their wounds.
Many have been critical of EG’s Counter-Strike strategy following their March 20 announcement to cut back on their academy program, which saw the entire EG White lineup cut from the org. While EG Black had shown some promise across smaller regional events, Evil Geniuses’ main roster continued to crumble on the server.
A further roster change in April, which saw the embattled squad turn to Danish rifler refrezh, did little to convince the wider community. If anything, fans were left confused as to why EG would pick up a European player despite possessing an entire second division from where the squad could promote from.
Refrezh has yet to recapture the form that saw him assist in Heroic’s back-to-back Champions Stage appearances at the PGL Stockholm and Antwerp Majors, averaging just a 0.94 rating over the past three months, according to HLTV.
EG did promote one player from their second division EG Black in wiz, but the 22-year-old AWPer has yet to truly light the server on fire for the squad since joining in Jan. 2023. His 0.92 rating over the course of 2023 is far from what pundits were expecting to see, especially given he was to fill the shoes of veteran Bulgarian sniper CeRq (1.00 rating in 2022).
Related: Evil Geniuses releases CeRq ahead of 2023 CS:GO season
While few expected EG to qualify for the BLAST Paris Major, the squad, at the very least, looked competitive in their losses to FURIA and Paqueta after a win against FalleN’s Imperial. But failing to qualify for ESL Challenger Katowice, as well as underwhelming efforts at CCT in Europe, have reset any momentum the team could have gained.
Evil Geniuses will return to the server for IEM Dallas on May 30, opening their tournament against FaZe Clan.
