Nobody expected Evil Geniuses to do so well at The International 11, not even their former captain, the legendary Clinton “Fear” Loomis, who is working as an analyst at the prestigious Dota 2 event.
Like most people in the Dota 2 esports fandom, he described them as the “most underrated team” heading into TI11’s early stages—which isn’t something people say about them often, but things were looking grim.
Despite topping the Dota Pro Circuit in 2021, EG performed poorly at The International 10 that year, crashing out in the second round of the Lower Bracket and finishing 12th.
They shuffled their roster after that, parting ways with Daryl “iceiceice” Xiang and Tal “Fly” Aizik to bring in Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko and former OG superstar Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka. But it didn’t work.
Evil Geniuses finished 11th in the Dota Pro Circuit 2021-22—and that’s after kicking JerAx to bring back Fly. It was enough for them to scrape into TI11, but only just, and the consensus was they’d only be making up numbers.
However, the opposite has happened at the tourney.
EG turned up in a massive way, blitzing through groups with 14 wins and four losses, topping Group A, which included tournament favorites PSG.LGD, OG, and more.
But despite their blistering form, Fear doesn’t think the North American organization will take home the Aegis, and the ones who will stop them will be their historic rivals, Team Secret.
“EG showed up to play here, but do I think they’ll make it to the Grand Finals? No,” he said. “I think Team Secret will stop them in their tracks—maybe in the Upper Bracket Final.”
Fear doubled down on his belief in Secret, claiming they’re a shoo-in for the Grand Final, although he didn’t say if he thinks they’ll win, nor who their opponents will be.
The playoffs kick off on Thursday, Oct. 20, starting with the Upper Bracket Round One showdown between Evil Geniuses and Thunder Awaken, followed by Team Secret and PSG.LGD.
If EG and Secret win those matches, they’ll face each other in the Upper Bracket Round Two—the loser of which will drop down to the Lower Bracket Round Four.
That means Fear’s prediction might happen earlier than he expected. But, depending on how the event pan out, they could meet again in either the Lower Bracket Final or the Grand Final. Either way, destiny awaits.
