Cover-Credits:
Evil Geniuses (EG) has had a bit of a rocky ride in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2021-22. The big jolt at the Stockholm Major 2022 where it finished last made it finally decide to make some changes. The departure of Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka made way for Tal "Fly" Aizik to return as the captain of the team. However, OG's former captain Johan "N0tail" Sundstein said in OG's Monkey Business Podcast 24 that he does not think the players at EG will enjoy playing together following this change. Though N0tail pointed out that they might get better, he speculated that all the players did not get to change the roster in their own way.
N0tail feels that EG’s recent roster change was not ideal for every player on the team
Despite the unexpected return of Fly, the reason seemed clear - the team was looking to return to its old mantra of success under his leadership. However, in EG's first series after this roster change against nouns, where the team was expected to have the advantage, EG lost by a score of 2-1.
In the OG podcast, N0tail shared his thoughts about the change following this seemingly unsuccessful start. Although N0tail emphasized he was unfamiliar with the team dynamics, he suggested EG would have changed more had each player on the team been given more freedom.
“I am sure they (EG) will find something more jelly, something better together but I also got the vibe overall that they might not enjoy playing in their roster - all of them but what do I know? I am not their manager, I don’t really know anyone from their team so I am just speculating that if they had the freedom to do all roster changes that each [player] wanted to do, it wouldn’t look like this but I could be wrong.”
[relevant sections begins at 30:50]
EG played its second series of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Tour 3 where it defeated Wildcard Gaming 2-0. In the post-match winner’s interview, Fly came forward and mentioned that his return came about because the team needed a captain. Additionally, he mentioned that the team had cleared the air regarding any problems, and the team was now going through a rebuilding process.
Furthermore, following JerAx's departure post the Stockholm Major 2022, Andreas Franck "Cr1t-" Nielsen, the squad's position four player, explained that the team did not have a captain among its players, which is why it parted ways with JerAx.
As it appears, EG believed that its performance dropped primarily as the result of a messed up team composition where it lacked a natural captain. With Fly back on the team, it will be interesting to see if the team is able to regain its lost mojo and once again consistently achieve top results as the community has been accustomed to seeing.
