Evil Geniuses acquire NRG roster
After reports and leaks swirled yesterday regarding the alleged transfer of NRG's team to Evil Geniuses, the organization have announced the acquisition of the roster ahead of their debut at ESL One New York.
The return of Evil Geniuses to Counter-Strike is a long time coming, with the organization having been a common face in the scene during the latter of days of 1.6. All the way back in 2014, the organization originally tried getting into CS:GO with the signing of ex-iBUYPOWER, however the "indefinite" ban of many of the players due to the North American match-fixing scandal torpedoed their return at the time.
With the acquisition of NRG's roster, Evil Geniuses return to the scene in a big way, with NRG recently having climbed to fourth place in the HLTV Rankings after a strong performance at the StarLadder Major Berlin.
Interestingly, according to Evil Geniuses COO Philip Aram, the transfer was "not initiated" by Evil Geniuses, suggesting that NRG are focusing on their Overwatch and Call of Duty franchises.
Along with the acquisition of the roster, Evil Geniuses have also acquired NRG's EPL license, and their spot at DreamHack Masters Malmo, IEM Beijing, CS:GO Asia Championship 2019, and the yet to be announced first 2020 Major.
One wrinkle in this acquisition is the fate of NRG's ECS spot. Per ECS' rules and their previous stances on the issue, the licenses are non-transferrable. However, with ex-Luminosity being able allowed to play in Luminosity's spot this could suggest the rules have been relaxed.
Evil Geniuses' roster is now:
Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte
Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov- Ethan "Ethan" Arnold
- Tarik "tarik" Celik
Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz- Chet "ImAPet" Singh (Coach)
Evil Geniuses are set to make their debut in CS:GO in less than 5 hours as they are set to take on FaZe in their opening matchup at ESL One New York 2019.
