Evil Geniuses overwhelm Eternal Fire to secure first win in Malta

Evil Geniuses took home their first win in ESL Pro League since Season 13 with a commanding 2-0 victory over Eternal Fire. The North American squad made light work of their Turkish opponents, moving past Engin “⁠MAJ3R⁠” Küpeli and company 16-9 on Overpass before turning things up a notch with a 16-4 thrashing on Dust2 to hand Eternal Fire a 0-3 record in Group D.

Timothy “⁠autimatic⁠” Ta looked considerably more comfortable in his game versus the Turks, averaging an impressive 1.41 rating across the two maps — a huge jump compared to his 0.50 rating versus Liquid on Thursday. Eternal Fire, meanwhile, will lament their poor showing in today’s game, with Ahmet “⁠paz⁠” Karahoca being the only member of the Turkish squad sitting in the green with a 1.01 rating.

With this defeat, Eternal Fire are now close to being knocked out of playoff contention altogether. The Turkish roster will be unable to do any better than a bottom-three finish should Liquid defeat FURIA in their 19:30 game later on Friday. The victory also marks the first time Evil Geniuses have beaten a European opponent in over 476 days, the last time being versus Heroic at IEM Summer 2021.

The series kicked off on Evil Geniuses‘ pick of Overpass, with the North American squad looking tuned in as they ran up an overpowering 6-2 lead to start their T-side. The Turks, spurred on by a strong individual performance from Ismailcan “⁠XANTARES⁠” Dörtkardeş, did wake up, though, adding a few scrappy round wins to bring the deficit back to a more manageable 5-7. Evil Geniuses were able to maintain their hold on the game in spite of Eternal Fire‘s recovery, however, posting two of the remaining three rounds to lead 9-6 by the side swap.

Evil Geniuses‘ lead was further extended once the second half got started, the North American roster laying down the law as they went on a five-round spree to go up 14-6. Much like the first half, Eternal Fire slowly began to find their footing, winning three crucial rounds in a row to keep themselves in the fight. Alas, any chance of a Turkish comeback was quickly put to bed, as Sanzhar “⁠neaLaN⁠” Iskhakov gunned down four on the A site in the final two rounds to lock in a 16-9 victory — their first map win of the tournament thus far.

Evil Geniuses put up a strong defensive line to get Dust2 underway, neaLaN and co. finding five rounds on the trot before Eternal Fire could find a way to break through. The Turkish roster’s lone round win in the sixth did little to change the course of the game as they continued to be pulled apart at every turn as the half progressed, with Evil Geniuses sitting firmly in the driver’s seat at 12-3 up by the interval. Vincent “⁠Brehze⁠” Cayonte and autimatic‘s strong form from Overpass carried over to Dust2, the pair being their team’s difference-makers as they combined for 31 kills by the end of the half.

Evil Geniuses didn’t break a sweat once on the T-side, clinching the second pistol round of the map before converting the following two rounds with ease to reach match point, 15-3. Another single round win by the Turkish side only delayed the inevitable, as Evil Geniuses put the final nail in the Eternal Fire coffin with an eco-round win to take Dust2 16-4 and the series 2-0.

Evil Geniuses will be aiming to get their second win of the group stage on the board as they square up against the Spaniards of Movistar Riders on Saturday at 12:30 . Eternal Fire, on the other hand, are still on the hunt for their first victory of the tournament; they battle it out versus Liquid on September 24 at 16:00 .