EG continue their winning ways
Coming into ESL Pro League there has been an endless tirade of questions aimed at Evil Geniuses. Will they win a match? Do they know what they are doing? Why do they have so many coaches? The organization and team have become an easy target and in some people's minds embody everything that they believe in wrong with the NA scene. Needless to say, expectations were low for Sanzhar "neaLaN" Iskhakov and company, and now, with this win over Movistar Riders, EG has two wins to their name.
For the winless Movistar Riders, questions have also surrounded them as they headed into Pro League season 16. With Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia going to ENCE, there have been endless questions about whether Antonio "Martinez" Martinez is the rightful successor to the Spanish AWPer who was arguably a large part of Movistar's success. For both teams going into this, a win was much needed to attempt to stop the endless questions.
The two teams would first clash on Overpass where EG would take some early control of the T-side. The North American team was able to put together a small run of rounds and take the lead up to 7-3. It was some nice late-round executes onto the A site that gave EG the early advantage but Movistar wasn't going to give up too easily. The Spanish squad put up a stoic defence and brought the game back, only losing the half by one with the half-time score being 8-7.
Going onto the CT-side, momentum favored EG who looked crisp in their defense of Overpass. Movistar Riders could not string together more than one round at a time, and in the end were only able to put two more rounds on the board in the second half. EG were all smiles as they head into Movistar Riders' map pick of Nuke after winning Overpass 16-9.
On to Nuke and it started off in the same vein as Overpass, with EG coming out the gates on fire and not letting up for a single second. Using the CT-side to their advantage, EG was able to carve out an 8-1 lead early, and they did not look like they were stopping anytime soon. Every time Movistar got a kill there was an EG player ready to trade, and if things seemed to be going the Spaniard's way, an EG player would come up big with a multi-kill. As things headed towards half-time, it was hard to imagine how Movistar Riders were going to get themselves back into this but things did begin to turn. Movistar Riders were able to put rounds together and as they headed into the CT-side they were only down 9-6. Could things go to a final map?
In the second half things looked to be more competitive at first but once again EG ran away with the lead, taking a 13-6 lead. The three hit combo of Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte, Timothy "autimatic" Ta and Jadan "HexT" Postma was proving too much for the Spanish defense. Movistar Riders did mount resistance with great outside control taken by Martinez on the AWP but it was just not enough for EG who were able to get away with two many half-buy victories.
Movistar RidersEvil Geniuses| Movistar Riders |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alejandro 'alex' Masanet |
39 - 35 | +4 | 85.0 | 63.3% | 1.14 |
| Raúl 'DeathZz' Jordán Nieto |
27 - 33 | -6 | 71.8 | 75.5% | 0.90 |
| David 'dav1g' Granado Bermudo |
28 - 38 | -10 | 64.1 | 65.3% | 0.87 |
| Antonio 'MartinezSa' Martinez |
28 - 36 | -8 | 54.1 | 59.2% | 0.77 |
| Alejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo Cano |
22 - 39 | -17 | 58.8 | 53.1% | 0.65 |
| Evil Geniuses |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
48 - 24 | +24 | 102.2 | 75.5% | 1.60 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
44 - 32 | +12 | 84.8 | 79.6% | 1.34 |
 Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
32 - 27 | +5 | 81.8 | 75.5% | 1.15 |
 Sanzhar 'neaLaN' Iskhakov |
29 - 31 | -2 | 67.6 | 69.4% | 0.95 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
28 - 32 | -4 | 62.3 | 69.4% | 0.92 |
The win for EG gives makes them 2-2 in the group stage of ESL Pro League Season 16. The North American team will be taking on the Brazilian powerhouse of FURIA tomorrow at 01:30PM in an extremely tough matchup.
