Evil Geniuses Mid-Season LCS Changes: Are any Necessary?

Evil Geniuses had a pretty solid year in the LCS. They placed fifth losing to TSM in a pretty tight series. But for EG, fifth isn’t good enough. EG want to be a top-tier org in the LCS and is willing to make tough, but fair changes. A great example of this was last year when they brought on GoldenGlue and Huni. Or in the offseason, deciding to go again with Jiizuke and getting rid of Bang and Zeyzal.

Now in a previous article, it was stated that EG will most likely keep their roster, but how about some hypothetical scenarios? If Evil Geniuses were to make changes, this is where they should be looking and at who.

Deftly:

This is probably the most talked-about player who fans think EG should change. Frankly though, Deftly is doing fine. Sure, he choked during the TSM series and frankly that will tank his stock. But to be fair to Deftly, one bad series should not be his life or death. Deftly was statistically one of the best ADCs in the LCS Spring Split. He had the least amount of deaths and solid laning stats. He was also consistently Top 3 in DPS for the role.

Now stats are not everything, but what they do is help paint a picture. Deftly has the mechanics and skills to contest with top ADC players. Add this onto the fact that IgNar often leaves him on an island playing Solo Lane ADC, it makes it even more impressive.

But pretend the TSM series was the end of him. The choice for the replacement is either Shoryu or Shiro, both from EG Academy and Amateur respectively.

Shoryu Courtesy of Riot Games

EG are a brand that has stated numerous times that they want to develop talent and promote from within. Now for most teams, this is fluff piece BS, but for EG this is actually true. EG have done an incredible job turning around EGA from a lower-tier Academy Team to a Proving Grounds contender. EGA have also taken down numerous academy teams and is just oozing with raw talent.

The decision for which one comes down to this. Do EG want the more experienced and safer pick? If so, then it’s Shoryu from Academy. He was on Team Liquid Academy before and is one of the key reasons EGA is now an upper half Academy team. But if EG want raw untamed talent that they can mold like clay, but much risker, they go with Shiro. It can really not be understated how amazing Shiro is and he deserves to be an Academy or even LCS tier ADC. He is really that good.

Overall either of these choices would suffice but Deftly deserves a second chance.

Svenskeren:

Remember when Sven won Honda MVP in 2019? He was a monster on the rift and making big plays left and right. Now, well, he seems like a shell of that. Svenskeren did not have a bad split, but he did not have a Svenskeren level of play split. Honestly, since joining EG it feels like he has never reached the C9 level that he was at. This year Sven had numerous egregious plays of bad positioning but was saved by better than average objective control. His stats are all pretty much mid-tier. He is good, but he isn’t impressing the way he once did.

Courtesy of Riot Games

Frankly, once again, EG probably shouldn’t make this change and if they do, it should be after this year. Sven is just an average tier jungle who used to be a god-tier one. If this keeps up, it warrants a change. But it is also worth noting that the JG meta was not that good this Spring Split. It was essentially Olaf, Lillia, Mundo, Hecarim and Udyr. Not much room for outplays and flashy stuff. Hopefully, fans see returns of champs like J4 who Sven is notorious for performing well on.

As for replacements, if there was one it would obviously be Contractz from Academy. Contractz has been on an absolute tear dominating the stat line in recent Academy events. He really impresses with KP, GD@10, XPD@10 and CSD@10. Contractz was a surprise hit for 100T in the Summer Split last year and his aggressive and exciting playstyle would be a blast to watch once again the LCS.

TLDR:

EG are looking good and frankly, its current roster will most likely stay as it is. Is there a chance EG makes a big import move? Potentially, but it doesn’t seem like the direction the brand is heading. Their lower-level teams are both performing beyond expectations and EG is reaping the benefits. They have a strong pipeline of raw talent that will only get better over time. Other teams need to watch out or they will be buying those player’s contracts.

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