X
Skip to content

Eternal Fire Academy vs Evil Geniuses Prediction, Preview, Odds & Picks

EG Kicks off Season with a Defeat and a New Coach

Evil Geniuses find themselves in a North American derby with Liquid for a shot at their first EPL victory after scoring a very disappointing loss against Cloud9. Now, as a partnered organization, Evil Geniuses have lost their last 15 consecutive games at ESL Pro League, a streak which dates back to March 2021. Their last win came in the event’s 13th season where they defeated Astralis 2-1 with Tarik “tarik” Celik, Owen “oBo” Schlatter, and Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz still part of the lineup.

Their losing streak commenced a long time ago, and since then, Evil Geniuses have invested heavily into their Counter-Strike division. The organization famously launched their Blueprint project back in June which brought on EG White and EG Black in a bid to create a fluid 15-man lineup, before entering the women’s scene with the signing of EG fe last month. Their most recent addition is geared towards their coaching staff.

Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov, player for EG
Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov, player for EG

French native CSGO coach Damien “maLeK” Marcel has changed his look to a strategic coach role with Evil Geniuses, after being almost four months out of team and with his competitive future rather uncertain. MaLeK was EG’s head coach in 2022 but he was then placed into the inactive roster around May after the lineup that included Jake “Stewie2K” Yi failed to attend the PGL Antwerp Major. It was later stated that maLeK and Stewie2K had trouble communicating during his stint with EG, according to an ex assistant coach Paolo “EVY” Berbudeau.

Now that maLeK is back in EG, he’ll work with all the three male CSGO rosters and also the female team playing under the North American brand. He has plenty of experience in Counter Strike, having also worked with teams like Envy and G2 Esports. The announcement of MaLeK’s return came just a couple of days before EG’s main lineup started their ESL Pro League season 16 run, which means that they haven’t had a lot of time to make big changes, as they showed against Cloud9.

The Turkish squad gave FURIA a Scare

İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş, player for Eternal Fire
İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş, player for Eternal Fire

Even though they almost took down one of the Brazilian representatives in FURIA, Eternal Fire will be lamenting their woeful CT sides in their map losses, taking only three rounds on the favored side of Nuke and no rounds on their Inferno defense. It was also the opinion of the analysts that a win here was needed for the Turkish squad to have realistic chances of playoff qualification. Unless we are talking about Cloud9, Team Liquid, and FURIA, making it out of the group stage is going to be a tough challenge.

Now looking back at Eternal Fire Academy, the highlight of their series against FURIA would be the entirety of map 2, where they managed to bounce back after a very intense game. FURIA started strong on Vertigo, grabbing the pistol off the back of an impressive 3k clutch from Andrei “arT” Piovezan and running out to a 6-1 lead. At this point MAJ3R came alive and took the game by the scruff of the neck to haul his team back into contention, driving his team to seven rounds in a row; the 31-year-old had 19 frags before anyone else on his team managed 10. FURIA did manage to pick up a convincing final round, but still lost the half 7-8.

Eternal Fire dropped the second pistol of the map after securing a 4v2 advantage, and despite planting the bomb to secure a strong force-buy in the following round they also lost that to put themselves firmly on the back foot. At 10-8 a 1v2 AWP clutch from Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş secured his side their first CT round, but the Turkish squad lost all five players in winning the next to scupper their economy.

The end of the map became scrappy with both squads force-buying and trading rounds back and forth, the score line eventually settling at 15-15 after FURIA squandered several series points. It seemed FURIA had run out of gas once overtime arrived as they looked far less decisive than they had in earlier stages of the series, allowing Eternal Fire to grab a 19-17 win to force Inferno. The Turkish team should head into this match with at least some confidence if they want to have a clear shot at taking down the Geniuses.

Eternal Fire Academy vs Evil Geniuses Game Information

  • Date: Friday, September 23
  • Time: 10:00am ET
  • Eternal Fire vs Evil Geniuses Live Stream: ESL_CSGO – Twitch

Eternal Fire Academy vs Evil Geniuses Prediction

Timothy "autimatic" Ta, player for EG
Timothy “autimatic” Ta, player for EG

Funnily enough, this is going to be the closest match of all 3 of the day, and I don’t mean that in a positive way. Both teams are looking like the weakest of group D, and their chances of making it into the playoff stage are basically non-existent. But generally speaking, these kinds of matches end up being the most exciting ones to watch as both teams have their pride on the line.

EFA at least managed to pick up a map, even though it was against a weaker team compared to EG’s. Still, they seem much better overall, which makes me feel confident that they won’t struggle against the North American squad.

There are still plenty of games left to be played in this tournament, so make sure to check out the rest of our esports picks. Also, don’t forget to bet on esports at BetUS Sportsbook & Casino. We’ve plenty of CSGO odds for you to consider.

Did you find this article interesting?

Comments (0)

Featured ESPORTS Picks

Related News