They are the premier North American team, the juggernaut from across the Atlantic. Evil Geniuses is one of the dominant teams in Dota 2, but they still lack an ESL One title. Twice they came within striking distance of the trophy, and twice it was snatched from them by Chinese teams. Now they are returning to ESL One and Frankfurt to once again mount the stage where their journey ended in a 0-22 shutout. Can ppd lead his team to the title and revenge over Invictus Gaming and Vici Gaming in the Commerzbank Arena?
The roster
Nothing is forever, not even the Evil Geniuses roster. Last year at the Commerzbank Arena, Arteezy, zai and Mason stood alongside drafter ppd and famous Disney offlaner UNiVeRsE. Now the team travels to Frankfurt with a completely different face. Old man Fear had already been back with his team at ESL One New York, with youngster Suma1L and former Cloud9 support Aui_2000 strengthening the blue brotherhood in the ESL One circuit for the first time.
| Support | Peter “ppd” Dager (C) |
| Support | Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling |
| Offlane | Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora |
| Mid | Syed “Suma1L” Sumail Hassan |
| Carry | Clinton “Fear” Loomis |
Recent performances
Aside from the recent upset loss at the X-Games in Austin, Texas, EG has been one of the best teams in the Dota 2 world for quite some time. In nearly every international tournament, they’ve made it far - including the win at DAC 2015 against Vici Gaming. The team is confident and experienced enough to look past their loss to London Conspiracy and instead at the tasks ahead. Most of the teams playing at ESL Frankfurt are ones they’ve beaten in the past, making it seem quite possible that they’ll finally travel back to America with the trophy.
| Placement | Tournament |
| 5th/6th (0-1 vs. London Conspiracy) | joinDOTA MLG Pro League Season 2 |
| 2nd (1-3 vs. Team Secret) | Summit 3 |
| 1st (3-0 vs. Vici Gaming) | Dota 2 Asia Championship |
Patch 6.84
Current record on patch: 10-11
| Most picked | Most banned | ||
| 5x |
     |
13x |
 |
| 4x |
  |
12x |
 |
| 3x |
    |
9x |
 |
EG’s approach to the game is broken up into different layers, and giving individually strong players like Suma1L and UNiVeRsE play-making capabilities is one of their main priorities. That, coupled with supports to protect Fear’s farm, is their recipe for success. Once they get into the later stages of the matches, good teamfighting with a tanky presence is the name of the game. Burst in the backlines, sustaining and disruptive forces in front - that’s how EG has dominated for months.
Sure enough, EG is one of the favorites to win it all. Similar to Alliance, they might come to Frankfurt with anger stored up, trying to make an example out of the tournament. For [A] it was the failed TI qualifiers, for EG the motivational spark might arise from the London Conspiracy loss. Despite that, the blue nation is capable of stepping up against any opponent and making it an interesting and intense fight. However, on their quest for the title they will have to overcome their three big opponents for sure, plotting for vengeance. iG defeated them at ESL One Frankfurt, VG got the better of them at ESL One New York and Team Secret took The Summit 3 from them. Time to dish out some sweet revenge on a World Cup stadium pitch!
For more updates about ESL One Frankfurt 2015, follow @ESLDota2 on Twitter and check out our other team previews below!
