Evil Geniuses look to avoid losing permanent ESL Pro League slot
Evil Geniuses heads to ESL Pro League Season 15 with a revamped North American-based roster that evokes the good times of old with several former Major winners. However, the organization is a few losses away from potentially losing their ESL Pro League slot as a permanent Louve Agreement member making those good times of old, a little sadder. Evil Geniuses have finished in the bottom of their group for ESL Pro League Season 13 and Season 14, meaning that if they finish bottom of the group for a third time in four seasons, their slot will be subject to review.
The effects COVID-19 have proved to be challenging for the Seattle-based organization with underwhelming performances and rumors of divestment from the scene swirling. With the most notable investment in the team since acquiring the core from NRG, the team acquired Jake "Stewie2k" Yip from Liquid, Timothy "autimatic" Ta from T1 VALORANT and former G2 coach Damien "MaLeK" Marcel. The formation of the team was a constant work in progress and under scrutiny as it appeared they left it to the last possible second before roster locks. The team attempted to grab Valdemar "valde" Bjørn as their final member, however the Dane chose to stay with OG after being convinced by Nemanja "nexa" Isaković's arrival. With most other options eliminated, EG called upon Will "RUSH" Wierzba to round out the team. So far, the roster has underperformed, but there is hope yet that the team can help themselves and not finish at the bottom.
According to the Louvre Agreement, the "Partner Teams have a permanent slot in Pro League every season. The permanent slot shall be subject to review if Partner Team places last in their group in 3 out of 4 seasons." With Evil Geniuses only winning one match and finishing last in the groups over the last two events their proverbial backs are against the wall for not only this event, but for ESL Pro League 16 as well.
Should we genuinely expect that ESL would look to remove Evil Geniuses permanent Pro League if they do finish at the bottom of their group - no. The team just showed a significant investment into their CS:GO division, ESL has made recent changes incentivizing organizations to invest in the North American scene, and punishing one of the few major organizations committed to the region does not help build goodwill with the community. So while it is comical to believe that Evil Geniuses might lose their slot if they underperform this week, the actual likelihood of that occurring is near-zero.
