HexT: "In North America you can be really lazy and not really face any consequences"

Coming off a respectable 2-3 finish in Group D of ESL Pro League Season 16, Evil Geniuses have their sights set on qualifying for IEM Rio. The squad are now one step closer to achieving that goal after a convincing 16-7 victory over Nouns, putting the Geniuses at a 1-0 record in the Swiss group stage. Shortly after Evil Geniuses' win over Nouns, young Canadian rifler Jadan "HexT" Postma spoke with Dust2.us' Liam "Slevo" Slevin about the team's expectations heading into the RMR, what it has been like to compete in Europe, and how Daniel "Vorborg" Vorborg has been providing immense value as a coach.

Tell me how you're feeling after your first win in a Major qualifier.

I'm feeling pretty relieved. I'm just glad that the game's over and that we actually came out with the W because the first game is always a lot of jitters and whatnot.

Does it make it a bit easier to come up against a team like Nouns where you recognize a lot of the names on the server?

I would say yes and no. For me in my past, I didn't have very much success beating them on my past team. Everyone on this team is really confident and hasn't really played against them before so we kinda just played our own game and it worked out well.

You guys just missed out on playoffs at EPL but put up solid results against Eternal Fire and Movistar Riders. Tell me a bit about that run, and does it help your confidence heading into this RMR?

Yeah I mean, the guys haven't really won a series against a European team in a long time, and I haven't won a series against a European team at all, so winning against a European team and a "top five" team definitely gave us some confidence to play against lower level teams.

You came into the team around the same time as neaLaN. Tell me a bit about his leadership style coming over from EU.

He puts in a lot of hard work. In terms of leadership, I don't really know what to say. He's just a really good IGL and he really knows what he wants.

CeRq is a player that people in the community have questioned in terms of form, but we always hear how he's putting in the effort and always grinding. From your time in the team so far, what have you seen from CeRq in terms of motivations and the way he's been playing?

He definitely really wants to win, he definitely puts in a lot of work and a lot of effort. He plays a lot of FACEIT pugs and he never really stops playing the game. I think one thing he does need to do is stay on the same settings, and then he'll find some consistency. Other than that he's doing really good.

We spotted maLeK walking around, and we know he's been working with the three coaches. Has there been any crossover with maLeK working with you guys at all, or is it strictly with Vorborg while Vorborg works with you guys?

maLeK has been working with us. He's been giving his input and his strategic ideas on everything we've been doing and I think it's been helpful so far.

What has it been like working with Vorborg as a coach?

I don't know what I was expecting when Vorborg came in, but he definitely brings a lot of in-game knowledge that I was not expecting. He also has a lot of answers to my solutions when it comes to in-game, out-of-game, pretty much everything, so I mean that helps a lot and I'm pretty grateful for it.

What has your experience been like playing and scrimming in Europe so far?

The only thing I have to say is that I definitely need to think about my game more because in North America you can be really lazy and not really face any consequences, so I definitely have to think about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it and how that fits in with the team and how they're playing.

What were the realistic expectations you guys set coming into this RMR?

As long as we qualify, we've met our expectations. None of us are really expecting to not make it; I mean that'd be kinda weird.

Evil Geniuses certainly have their work cut out for them and will hope to continue to build off their impressive performances. The Americans will face off against FURIA at 12:00PM later today in a 1-0 matchup.