In the post-match interview on stream, the team’s coach spoke in-depth about how they had to cope with the visa issues in Tour 1.
Evil Geniuses is at the top of the NA DPC standings winning all four series so far. They just lost one game, against The Cut, but are one of the favorites to not only qualify for the Stockholm Major, but also win the Tour 2 DPC.
After their 2-0 victory over 4Zoomers yesterday, Dota 2 fans were in for a rare interview by the team’s coach, Kanishka 'Sam' "BuLba" Sosale. We got some rare insights into the team’s performance in the season so far, the problems they have faced to reach here as well as his thoughts on NA Dota 2 and other regions as well.
The 2022 DPC Tour 1 was a rough start for Evil Geniuses. After making a few core roster changes, the team did not perform as well as expected, losing to Wildcard Gaming and Black and Yellow. While a 5-2 score is nothing to scoff at, the expectations from EG in North America have consistently been high.
Bulba talks about the various problems the team had to deal with during this phase in the post-match interview after their match versus 4Zoomers. Most of them included travel issues for Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko who joined the team in November last year. However, securing visas in 2022, amidst the various travel restrictions due to COVID has been a difficult journey for the team.
“The first season was really hard. I felt really bad for Egor [Nightfall] because getting a visa in 2022 and it's pretty hard right now because of COVID. Getting him over and being able to just play with us in a good enough setup was really difficult for us.
Because from him playing from home, the ping was really high. We had to find some last minute options which were not optimal but it was the only situation we had.”
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Nightfall missed the second leg of the first DPC season. Evil Geniuses had to quickly get a stand-in for the team. Arif "MSS" Anwar took on the role of the offlaner for Evil Geniuses.
“It was definitely a rocky season. We kind of recovered, we had to use a stand-in. We didn't really know what was going to happen. It was a huge headache and stress for everyone on our team,” the team's coach remembered.
But finally we found a solution. We were able to get him finally over in to the US. When I heard that news, I was pretty happy. He was pretty hype to come to America and play. It's more than just Dota, you know. This was a cool experience for everyone to go to different places and stuff. That's something I took for granted definitely during COVID.”
The State of NA Dota
Evil Geniuses has been one of the orgs that have always been the face of NA Dota 2. But NA Dota overall, is not in a very good place, says Bulba.
“The reality is that a lot of these new players that are coming right now, NA it's just been hard to find new talent. A lot of the new players that are coming to NA DPC are international players. The reality is that the number of Dota players in all regions, NA is the lowest compared to SEA, Russia, Europe, China and others.” Evil Geniuses Bulba continued.
Evil Geniuses has won all their games so far this season but one. While they won the series versus The Cut, they gave up a game, their only one of the season.
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“It's really cool to see the CUT team come up. I know a few of their players, they work pretty hard. I think I've also grown a lot respectful to how they are and reality is they are also working as hard as us, or even more. It's good to get that kind of status check.”
Continuing on his praise for up and coming new players, Bulba talks about the Gamers Galaxy Dubai LAN which saw some of the best Dota 2 teams compete on LAN after a long time. It was the first Dota 2 LAN of 2022 and saw BOOM esports win the title.
“I'm cheering for a lot of those teams as underdogs. I was super happy to see BOOM win that tournament, that was a lot motivating for me. It's not just the way they play Dota, it's also their personalities." said Evil Geniuses Bulba.
I was super happy to see BOOM win that tournament, that was a lot motivating for me. It's not just the way they play Dota, it's also their personalities.
Which team(s) influence Evil Geniuses playstyle?
The current DPC format is much more localized for the majority of the season. Teams mostly play within their region, until it’s time for the Majors where the fans get to watch some international Dota 2 again. The first Tour did not have a Major and teams had to contend with Regional Finals. The Gamers Galaxy Dubai LAN was the first International Dota 2 event of 2022 and featured some of the best Dota 2 teams in action.
“We watch all the regions. I try to watch as many regions. I think all of the regions have really good teams. Especially, EU, CIS and China, those three look pretty hard. The Chinese region especially looks really hard to even get into the top four. “
The Chinese DPC has been put on hold due to COVID. There is a tentative return date, however, it depends on the COVID situation in Shanghai.
“The thing about this format is that it used to be where we just play international tournaments like that year when there was just Chongqing Major, Kuala Lumpur Major and stuff. But now you play among your region a lot and then you go play in the international region. So that's kind of cool to see all the regions clash and the ideas on the international stage.
So you never really know, usually the winner is the one that writes the history., I think we look at all the regions to see what's good and what they're doing”
Evil Geniuses will next face Quincy Crew on April 9. Currently, there are three undefeated teams in the NA region with EG, Quincy Crew and TSM yet to lose a single series.
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