Evil Geniuses started off week one with a rough 0-3 performance. Generally, everyone seemed to know that the record was not indicative of the performance with EG being close in all three games. That being said, EG needed to step it up if they wanted to make a run in Summer Split. Alas, this weekend came and EG went a very solid 2-1. Let’s talk about it.
Jiizuke is Good:
It is quite amazing how fans seem to hate on Jiizuke. Everyone has seen the int performances out of him, but ask any player in the league about Jiizuke. There will always be an aura of respect around him. Jiizuke’s laning is only rivaled by Perkz in terms of stats. In Spring, he was second in almost every laning metric for Mid Laners. Alas, stats don’t mean everything. Jiizuke had a terrible Week 1 and deserved some of the flack. But fans should also not ignore that everyone, with the possible exception of Bot Lane, didn’t play great last week.
This week though, Jiizuke stepped it up in the first two games and put some respect on his name again. Versus Immortals, he had a standout performance on Lee Sin. With 76% KP and 27% damage share, he was always in fights and creating plays. Sure, he had that int at the start of the game, but the rest was pretty clean. Jiizuke also played great versus Team Liquid. EG were peak Akali abusers this weekend. Jiizuke blew up Tactical and dominated Jensen in lane. It was just simply put, a good performance.
Jiizuke is not always going to have things go his way, but the aggression and angles he brings to the team can not be understated.
Danny > Deftly:
Deftly was an all around solid ADC last split. His stats were middle of the road in about everything. But what stats didn’t show is that he was never able to play in clutch situations. If EG needed someone to step up in a team fight, it probably wasn’t Deftly. Danny on the other hand showed how broken Ezreal is while also showing how well he can play.
Take a look at the TL game for example. Danny had 38% of the damage share for the team with 71% KP. Meanwhile, Tactical had only 27% of the damage share and 65% KP. Sure, Ezreal inflates damage stats with his absurd poke. But it just goes to show how well he piloted it versus one of the better Bot Lanes in the LCS. Even in the 100T game, he only died once, showing that he is able to position well in these fights. The 100T game was not lost through Bot Lane.
Danny is performing well and deserves to be in contention for Rookie of the Split. He isn’t perfect, but is performing way better than most people thought he would. It becomes more impressive when one learns that he is 17 and skipped Academy. Danny is a beast.
Still Worried About Sven:
Svenskeren has been the most underwhelming part of EG all year. He hasn’t been taking over games, but he hasn’t performed awful. He has lived in this awkward middle ground limbo. This week Sven looked better, but some issues still remained.
Positive things first: Xin Zhao is a pick that Sven should play more. It fits his play style of wanting a champion that can go in and provide engage/utility for the team. Despite the two deaths early versus TL, Sven was able to use it to come back and play solid for the rest of the game. That said, those two early deaths and the Udyr game happened. Sven straight up looked lost in the 100T game. Udyr is just not the style of champion Sven performs on. Sure, he play it, fans should not doubt that. Is it his style though? No.
At the end of the day it’s only six games in. This isn’t advocating for Sven to be benched or for fans to freak out, it is just to express some concern that a lot of the issues Sven had are still happening. Fans should hope that he is able to turn it around in time for playoffs. And frankly, the meta is shifting over to a style that benefits him more. J4 got some buffs. Udyr is falling out of the meta. Rumble is getting nerfed next patch. Movement speed items are also getting nerfed. It would not surprise anyone at all to see more engage/tank champs coming through.
The Future:
EG has a relatively easier week coming up versus C9, CLG and GGS. One can hope that EG shows some more signs of consistency and tries to build comps more befitting of the members of the roster. It is also going to be interesting to see if they keep Impact on carries, something that was not addressed here. This EG roster can beat anyone if playing great and at the very least are super fun to watch.