2020 LCS Team to Watch: Evil Geniuses
If the previous offseasons were regarded as large shake ups in the LCS regarding roster changes, then this year must be regarded as the largest one yet. So far, almost any team on paper looks as if they can compete for playoff spots. However, other than the obvious favorites Team Liquid, who will be looking to make another dominate run domestically, who should we be watching?
Evil Geniuses is making a return to the LCS, and their Spring 2020 Roster is filled with a few familiar names that are nothing scoff at.
Sources: @EvilGeniuses will acquire the League of Legends Championship Series slot previously owned by @echofoxgg after being selected by Riot Games as the league's newest member.
— Jacob Wolf (@JacobWolf) September 26, 2019
Evil Geniuses return to League of Legends for the first time since Sept. 10, 2014.
Evil Geniuses 2020 Spring Roster
- Top lane: Colin “Kumo” Zhao
- Jungle: Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen
- Mid lane: Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro
- Bot lane: Bae “Bang” Jun-sik
- Support: Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam
Svenskeren and Zeyzal are are both former teammates who helped lead Cloud9 to multiple LCS final appearances, and the semifinals of worlds 2018. Jiizuke is coming from Team Vitality from the LEC, and is one of the better mid lanes from his home region, and is extremely talented. As for Bang and Kumo, neither have proved themselves on the LCS stage yet, though Bang is accomplished in his own right as a former World Champion from his time in Korea with SKT.
Bang is a player that will be the most interesting to watch, since he hasn't really played to his full potential in North America. It isn't clear if the internal issues within 100 Thieves were a factor to his poor performance last year. Perhaps in a more stable environment, Bang can return to form and EG's bottom lane can perform.
Another big part of this team is their MVP candidate jungler. Svenskeren was a monster for a large part of the year last season and hopefully he can replicate his success. Even going back further to the 2018 World Championship, aside from one glaringly bad misplay, he was tearing it up there too. It is clear that Svenskeren is talented, and since his departure from TSM, he has done nothing but perform.
The 2020 LCS season will be a fun one. With teams like Cloud9, TSM and Evil Geniuses looking quite strong and ready to challenge Team Liquid, who knows what will happen? Perhaps there will be a new first seed from the LCS at worlds next year.