valens: "We've discussed... promoting the entire EG Black squad"

In a promotion for Evil Geniuses' new sponsorship with Thunderpick, EG's Director of Athletics, Soham "valens" Chowdhury, took to Twitter to answer questions about the team ahead of IEM Dallas 2023. As expected, many of the questions focused on Evil Geniuses' poor performance in 2023, but a number asked for insight on the team as a whole, their tournament schedule, and the team's growth.

We have compiled some of the most interesting questions and responses from the thread below.

PRLiN: Why can't we win?

Other teams are in great individual form, and we had some hiccups in transitioning our more inexperienced players into a more "timeless" playstyle. That being said, we should have (and are) helping our veterans simplify their playstyle as well: sometimes you just need to frag out.

kai: How do you plan to incorporate other EG rosters into EG main?

We've discussed both promoting players up (like HexT and wiz) and promoting the entire EG Black squad. Each has its pros and cons, but I like to keep all options on the table. Current form + factors related to thriving in the tier 1 circuit are both very important to consider!

Kira: would the team consider roster changes if things don’t go well in Dallas?

Of course we will. Our standard process is that we evaluate our roster at the midpoint and end of each season, and merit + your (potential) contributions to our team are the main factors.

fusioN: What is your plan to fight for championships in the future?

You can't skip steps (unless you buy a championship-ready roster). Our plan is to surround 1 to 2 players that we will build around with the type of personalities, players, and skill necessary to thrive in the tier 1 circuit. It's good to try to cater to everyone, but not smart.

Colin "koi" Thor: Who's been one of the players you've seen the most growth with so far over the past few iterations of the program?

Axed has shown great flexibility with working with various players and personalities through changes in EG Black. Player-wise, I have seen the most growth in HexT for his resiliency in accommodating both EG and EG Black's playstyles (while giving his two cents).

B1(UWU)3-: Is there a reason for such a low amount of tournaments played? As big tournaments are very commonly played, but t2 tournaments are avoided.

If we're not playing in an event it's either because we're not in that region or it conflicts with other events. We played in a couple of EU CCT events while being in EU just recently, for example. In fact, playing in these kinds of events has been very helpful to our growth!

Gato Bostero: Have you ever thought of a Latino player for the project?

There are increasingly more great LATAM players, and we have had interviews with a few!

Garrett "Level1Boss" Sandeen: Do y’all use in-house stats that find values in certain player actions over others and, without spilling all of the beans, what’s the one player action you wish would get more credit?

Our in-house CS stats have made a ton of progress this year. I find stats around correlated to "win conditions" much more important than ones correlated to "winning". For example, winning "fair" duels in neutral areas of the map is very important, both statistically and when using the eye test.

Neutral zones are areas such as "underpass" on mirage or "T red" on nuke where neither side has control of it from round start-- you have to take it. "Fair" duels mean that the enemy was looking at you and had similar HP.