Evil Geniuses are Doing Academy and Amateur LCS Talent Right

Time Stamp: April 29, 2021 6:00 AM
Source Node: 834262

Evil Geniuses are developing NA Talent. For many, they see this and scoff. Well the main LCS roster only has two NA players right? And its Svenskeren and Deftly who has been around for a while. This isn’t wrong, but EG has stated numerous times they are committed to scouting, developing and training NA players to promote from within.

Even if one removes the aspect of internal promotion, EG is laying the ground work for how every LCS team should be managing their non LCS rosters.

Coaching:

Before even getting into the players themselves, Evil Geniuses have done an amazing job with the coaching staff. Peter Dun is the LCS coach of EG, but his job title doesn’t stop there. Unlike some coaches, he is working on all three EG teams, LCS, Academy and Prodigies. It must be amazing to be a young player and be coached by such a legend. And Coach Dun doesn’t half-ass it either. After losing to TSM in the Mid Season Showdown, he tweeted this:

Coach Dun even after losing a heart breaking series is committed to improving the lower level teams. There is not a single other LCS Head Coach that does that. In multiple interviews he has stated how his job with EG is just not a one year task. It’s about building a pipeline of talent, giving players chances and the opportunity to improve. Opportunity is what NA League of Legends needs and he is committed to giving it.

This isn’t even to mention the job being done by other people within the organization. Whether its Artemis, Turtle, Mash, Empyre, KimDynasty, Ido, Matt Elento, Andy Barton or Kelsey everyone has a job. Very few LCS team commit so many resources and such a wealth of knowledge to “lower level” leagues. And the results show this. Look at how EGA was performing in the Spring Split. Literally last place. But then they turn this around into a second place finish at Giant Slayer Gauntlet, a 5th place spot at Arena of Legends and 4th place at Proving Grounds. EGA had a complete turn around.

Even look at EGP, a 5th place finish at Proving Grounds for an Amateur team with no former LCS talent is insane. They also got 3rd at Giant Slayer Gauntlet and 4th in Challengers Uprising Season 2 Playoffs.

EG is the future of the LCS and NA competitive League of Legends.

Evil Geniuses Prodigies:

To be fair, EG Prodigies is a rebranded Zenith Esports. For those who don’t know, this is a legendary amateur organization who hosted talent like Akaadin, Allorim, Zeyzal, Niles and Contactz in the past. So EG did very little to nothing in terms of choosing the players. Actually, the full roster played with Zenith in 2020.

But acquisitions and mergers aside, EGP is a fountain of amazing talent. In the top lane, there is Srtty, a player known for his aggressive playstyle. In the JG, Tomio, a nutty player who can compete with anyone thrown at him. For the Mid Lane, Aspect, someone who can play anything from Zoe to Irelia to Lucian. Next is Shiro, the superstar ADC who can show you all 300 years in Samira. Finally, Mist, someone who is somehow able to keep up with all of Shiro’s insane plays.

EGP Head Coach Ido

To be honest, every single player here deserves way more credit then they get. It would not be surprising to see at least a few of these players in the next year or two be in the Academy system.

In particular, Shiro is the one that everyone talks about, and for good reason. His ADC stats are quite incredible with a 179 GD@10, 13.6 CSD@10 and 9.2 CSPM at Proving Grounds. Now, he doesn’t have insanely high DPM or Damage Share, but he is a 17 year old with immense potential and insane mechanics. Hell, he even recently has been playing some inhouse with CoreJJ. That is all that needs to be said.

Now this isn’t to discredit the rest of EGP. Every single player on the roster has shown their abilities and it’s going to be very exciting to see how they shape up in the rest of 2021.

Evil Geniuses Academy:

While EGA is all new talent, EGP is more of a traditional Academy mix. Academy doesn’t just need to be all new younger players. The reason it exist is to make better players and playing against all rookies isn’t the way to do it. You need a mix of old and new. Much like the NBA G League, there is a mix and it adds value. That is what EGA is.

A great example of this is their support Mystiques. He is a name that might be familiar to some LEC fans as he was on Excel back in their 2019 split. He actually has been in competitive LoL since 2013. So EGA matches him up with Shoryu, a younger ADC talent who has a couple of years of Academy experience under his belt.

Meanwhile in the Mid Lane there is Jojopyun. He is 16. Yes, 16. He is an incredible Mid Lane talent that was previously on Zenith and got his chance on EGA.

Look Top Lane as well. Tony Top was drafted by IMT at the 2020 LCS Scouting Grounds and they didn’t give him a contract. EG comes in and swoops up one of the best performers from the event who is also a young NA talent.

Tony Top courtesy of Riot Games

Now I would be remised to ignore Contractz who put some pep back in 100 Thieves step in 2020 before being dropped. EGA sees a player with a ton of veteran experience who is able to help guide and mold these younger players. And not only is he a veteran, but he still stomps almost every Jungler he has faced.

Contractz and Mystiques are the prefect combination for this roster. They are in the primary shot calling positions of JG and Support. Hence, they are able to be the rocks that Jojopyun, Shoryu or Tony Top can lean on. EGA is what you SHOULD see in academy. All new talent is fine and makes some sense, but all old talent makes none. Academy should be a mix and that is what EGA does well.

The Future:

Fans should expect some of these players to make LCS debuts in the future. Whether it’s on EG or if they pull a C9 and sell those contracts, these players are put in an amazing opportunity. This is what NA League of Legends should be and it’s so good to see that we finally getting there. Will NA ever be on the level of China, Europe or Korrea? Maybe not, but teams like EG are making the changes necessary to move in that direction. At the end of the day, we all want better League of Legends and we want to make our region proud. EG is working on it and that should be commended.

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