Another great display of young talents at the 2022 LCS Spring Playoffs by the Evil Geniuses.

A quick rewind

The stage has been prepared for the “2022 Mid-Season Showdown”. The unfairly underestimated League of Legends squad Evil Geniuses blasted past multi-time champion franchise Cloud9 today in what many fans thought to be a competitive matchup in the lower-bracket semifinals, securing them a trip to Houston.

Following a strong 3-0 victory over C9, EG has their sights set on the organization's first regular season playoff-finals. With crazy fast mobility and map awareness, EG was able to successfully deploy all of the tools that C9 denied them, resulting in the latter team's demise.

Match recap

The selection of “Nocturne” and “Ryze” by EG signaled the team's intention to divide the map in half during the series' first game. They'd have to get through early stages of the game consisting of heavy poking from the C9 to get to that position.

The remedy to this poke was to pick apart Summit, C9's top laner. Impact made way for “Inspired” and “Jojopyun” to openly use their ulti's into the top lane and nullify C9's growing drake count by continually forcing out Summit's summoner spells.

C9 decided to completely rethink their pick for game two, skipping the poke bot lane in exchange of a hyperactive carry one. As the game progressed, their composition became increasingly focused on the game, which became cloaked in certainty as EG yet again gained control of C9's early blunders.

Any C9 member could not take the overwhelming quantity of bursting damage in the grip of Jojopyun's Viktor. Within the first 21 mins of the match, the EG mid-laner had gotten six kills and nearly three finished items, including a stacking Dark Seal. C9 attempted to establish a win scenario through drakes once more, but EG's teamfight talents were too great, and ADC Danny was awarded another career pentakill.

Zeri made it past pick and into Danny's hands for game three, giving EG's ADC another chance to push the champ to the edge. Danny had plenty the freedom to shoot from distance without ever being engaged, earning himself another pentakill with “Inspired” and “Jojopyun” once again choosing “Nocturne” and “Ryze”.

C9 Demise

Despite securing a crucial Baron after killing Danny, C9 appeared unorganized in teamfights yet again. EG marched right into an unprotected C9 base with Danny leading the way, knowing they had just clinched a position in the Mid-Season Showdown. EG's mid laner takes home the prized Player of the Series award, with a combined KDA of 24/10/23.

This fresh edition of EG, shunned during the regular season for their performance, may soon be a part of the organization's first regular-season playoff finals. For the time being, they must focus on their impending rival in the lower-bracket final match: Team Liquid, who were defeated by 100 Thieves just last evening. If they defeat the team that has dominated the LCS for seasons, EG will face the current LCS champs in 100T in the grand finals.