Evil Geniuses have had an interesting time involved in the RLCS. After being in talks to acquire the up-and-coming Fibeon Esports squad captained by Reed "Chicago" Wilen, talks broke down after the owner of the organization tried to prevent the players from leaving. Instead, EG picked up RLCS squad eQuinox (formerly of FlyQuest) and outside of placing 5th-6th at RLCS Season 5 Finals, failed to accomplish much of note.
The team seemed to be headed in the right direction at DreamHack Pro Circuit Dallas, but EG felt that a season in the RLRS would be a negative for their brand and decided to cut loose Gabriel "CorruptedG" Vallozzi and Jason "Klassux" Klass. The team announced on Sunday that they would be rebuilding around star import Matthew "Drippay" Den-Kaat.
We've chosen to hold onto Matt's rights for the time being. EG invested a great deal to bring him to the US earlier this year and though the move didn't result in the team results everyone was anticipating, we still believe he can serve as the foundation of a top flight RLCS roster next season. We hope that can be EG's as we continue to explore options to remain in the RLCS.” - Phil Aram COO of Evil Geniuses
While Fnatic made a similar statement when they exited Rocket League, they did not hold on to any star players so we will elect to take their word at face value. Let's look at some potential landing spots for EG.
Spacestation Gaming
While Spacestation Gaming were one of the organizations to receive monetizable in game items, but the team most recently cut loose Matthew "satthew" Ackermann which would leave them with 2/3 members and a logical hole for Drippay to fill.
While EG would have to of course buy out the RLCS roster from SSG, Spacestation has shown an affinity to sell a roster and downsize before when needed. Considering there are two other teams that have recently qualified for the RLCS looking for org support (The Peeps and the Birds and the Bees), SSG would be in a prime position to sell while their roster has value and try to work with another RLCS squad.
The Peeps
Despite having good results with Arsenal, The Peeps in a twitlonger decided that they would like to move on from the young star player because of travel issues. While they are playing with Jamie "Karma" Bickford at DreamHack Valencia, it is possible that the opportunity to play with Drippay and have stable contracts could sway them to BleedBlue. The upside for EG signing The Peeps is their explosive playstyle and the fact that they are all really young meaning they have a long bright future ahead of themselves.
The obvious downside is that The Peeps get relegated and EG are working to get out of Rocket League after spending money on a new roster that could not stay in the RLCS. This is a bit more of an unstable move than picking up SSG, but has a higher ceiling for success since we have yet to see them in a full RLCS season. Maybe the addition of Drippay would really unlock their potential and they could break the trifecta of Cloud9, NRG, and G2 at the top of the ladder, or maybe they crash and burn. Only one way to find out!
Ghost Gaming
Ghost Gaming is another org much like SpaceStation Gaming (and Splyce for that matter) that has seen better days. While all evidence is anecdotal and circumspect, the org seems to be pulling investments back in esports such as CS:GO which could reflect on a reorganizational strategy and trying to consolidate assets in order to stay afloat. IN that case, a sale to EG would make a lot of sense especially if they felt they could save money by picking up another RLCS team or going cheaper and into the RLRS by picking up a top side down there.
Undoubtedly Klassux and CorruptedG are RLCS level pros and if they stick together and find a star third there is potential for them to make it back to the RLCS. Ghost could pick them up and a third and try to work their way back into the RLCS if they sell their current average team to EG. This is probably the most unlikely scenario because GG are not necessarily a bad team, but they are not particularly good either.
Would adding Drippay and dropping say Memory be a good move for EG? Maybe. If your goal is to stay in the RLCS and you feel this is the right core to build around then EG would accomplish their goal of staying in the tier 1 of RLCS and trying to be competitive for a regional title at least. Still, it's hard to see where this team would go.
Of course EG could try to do something unorthodox like headed to a different region, but that seems extremely unlikely. Whatever EG does make sure you come back to RealSport for the best analysis on the move and how it will impact the scene.
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