The organization “Evil Geniuses” wants to come across as particularly cool and evil. But apparently, there is no fun to be had in Seattle at the moment. According to an insider, the team has officially filed a complaint with ESL because they felt they were mocked too harshly in a Twitch stream. ESL casters had mocked the CS:GO team (Steam) of Evil Geniuses.
What kind of “particularly cool” team is this?
- Evil Geniuses (EG) is a US-based esports organization that competes in esports games such as CS:GO, DOTA, or LoL.
- The organization has been around since 1999 – it is based in Seattle. The team has a glorious history: in 2015, they won The International in DOTA. In 2018, they took the championship in Call of Duty. In the spring of 2022, they became the US LoL champions.
- Essentially, the organization wants to appear “casual” and “evil.” For example, in LoL they have made fun of the competition with Twitter clips: “ Evil Geniuses, indeed.
This was the incident: As reported by US journalist Richard Lewis (via richardlewis), an incident occurred in an official ESL CS:GO Twitch stream on February 24. In a segment meant to be funny, 4 casters made fun of several teams in the league. Among other things, they improvised lines that one would never hear at an Evil Geniuses bootcamp.
Among the lines that one would never hear at Evil Geniuses were phrases like (via twitch, from 6:41:15):
- “It’s a bit cold in here. Does anyone have more money we can burn?”
- “No, seriously guys. I think if we just sign 14 more players, we’re on the right track.”
- “Congratulations to everyone. We won a match!”
CS:GO – Evil Geniuses allegedly officially filed a complaint with ESL
What was supposed to be the problem? As Lewis reports, citing ESL sources, EG’s management was so angry about these remarks that they filed an official complaint with ESL. It is said that the team perceived the jokes as “damaging to the brand.”
In the segment, other teams such as FaZe or Outsiders were also mocked, but only Evil Geniuses officially filed a complaint.
This is the reaction: It is said that the casters were instructed by ESL to be more careful with Evil Geniuses in the future. The segment will also not be repeated.
What could this be about? Evil Geniuses has been having some issues lately:
- They have been accused of irresponsibly handling their LoL mega talent Danny, an autistic person, and endangering his health.
- They have also acquired a new sponsor, an oil giant – which has been criticized by parts of the community.
- Their CS:GO team is also not doing well at all. On March 20, the team even officially apologized on Twitter for the performance of the CS:GO team.
It seems like the “evil geniuses” from Seattle are currently on edge. On one hand, they can dish it out strongly, but on the other hand, they can’t take it.
The last time Evil Geniuses boasted in LoL, they immediately got the receipt for it:
