Evil Geniuses take down Movistar Riders to claim second win in EPL

Evil Geniuses secured their second win at ESL Pro League Season 16 after defeating Movistar Riders 2-0. The Spanish squad struggled to make an impact on the T side of Overpass (9-16) before fading away on their pick of Nuke (8-16). The North American squad can still secure a top 3 finish in Group C but will need several results to go their way across the last two days of play.

This is the fourth consecutive defeat for Alejandro “⁠alex⁠” Masanet‘s men at this edition of EPL who are already eliminated from playoff contention and now sit at the bottom of Group D with only one map against Liquid to their name. The last match for Movistar Riders will see them lineup up against Eternal Fire, the other struggling team in the group.

The action between Movistar Riders and Evil Geniuses got started on the latter’s map pick of Overpass. Vincent “⁠Brehze⁠” Cayonte opened up the match with a 4k on the pistol round which gave the North Americans the early advantage on the T side. The 24-year-old started off well, but it was Timothy “⁠autimatic⁠” Ta to shine the most for Evil Geniuses as the American rifler registered a 1.52 rating during the first half.

Movistar Riders came back from a 3-7 disadvantage thanks to their ability to defend the A bombsite, with Raúl “⁠DeathZz⁠” Jordán Nieto performing well around the mid area. The Spanish squad salvaged a 7-8 scoreline going into the break.

Evil Geniuses‘s breakthrough came early in the second half after alex‘s men took the second pistol round, but failed to build on that success. The North American Deagles halted the Spaniards around the toilets position to kickstart a period of defensive dominance for neaLaN‘s men. Evil Geniuses squad only dropped one more round on their way to a 16-9 victory.

Things only got worse for Movistar Riders as they struggled to make an impact on the T side of Nuke. Evil Geniuses were comfortable on their opponents’ map pick, and the North American CT aggression initially worked wonders, with neaLaN‘s men cruising to a 9-1 lead. Facing elimination, the Spanish squad managed to stabilize and take five consecutive rounds to reduce the deficit to 6-9.

Evil Geniuses claimed the second pistol round courtesy of a crucial triple-kill by Brehze, kickstarting a short streak that put the North Americans on the brink of victory with a 13-6 scoreline. autimatic was on fire, and together with Brehze and Jadan “⁠HexT⁠” Postma, powered his squad to a 16-8 victory to take the series.