What to expect from Evil Geniuses v. MIBR

Evil Geniuses have had a fairly strange run at ESL Pro League Season 18 all things considered. Despite their sole win being against Rooster thus far, they have performed above expectations and really made their previous opponents, MOUZ and ENCE, sweat at times. The same can broadly be said for MIBR, with the Brazilians raising their fair share of eyebrows by playing incredibly well against MOUZ and ENCE in their initial series. While their most recent performance against MOUZ was less of a blockbuster, Bruno "BIT" Lima's boys have shown real good things.

As such, this meeting between EG and MIBR is really about two squads looking to evolve past being labeled as mediocre and show they can make more than trivial runs at events. While many will likely expect an MIBR win, there may be more to this match than meets the eye.

EG needs more from their stars

For the sake of this analysis, we're going to discount Rooster, as the third best squad in Australia is not a real competitor for a team of EG's resources. With that in mind, looking at EG's matches against ENCE and MOUZ a few trends emerge. In particular, while Jadan "HexT" Postma has performed well this tournament, we need to see more from his confederates, especially against a team with the firepower of MIBR.

• autimatic desperately needs to break the 0.90 rating barrier he's been stuck under to be effective against MIBR

• junior needs to go into second gear in order to stack up against saffee

• Jeorge has the potential to be the X-factor if he can find comfort against an opponent he has faced before in ECL

Showtime for MIBR

MIBR need to win this match in a decisive fashion to make good on all the potential they've shown in EPL thus far. While we can wax lyrical on EG's almost-wins in this event, MIBR are clearly the better team on paper and in the server at the moment, and for them showing they can brush aside a lower caliber team in an elimination match is extremely important.

• saffee needs to keep up his strong AWPing performance

• exit and drop can't afford to both go missing

• insani's insane promise needs to come to the forefront tomorrow

Previous Matchups

These two lineups faced off online in CCT North Europe Series 6. EG emerged victorious in an incredibly scrappy series so there's not too much certainty in studying this series to divine the future.

Likely Vetoes

EG come into this series with a better win rate on most maps, but they're also an older team so it could be a red herring.

• MIBR may ban Overpass

• Evil Geniuses will likely Anubis

• EG pick Ancient

• MIBR pick Mirage

• Decider might be Vertigo

Admittedly these are both fairly new squads so it is anyone's guess where the veto will head when they face off tomorrow at 06:30AM.