Mason “Mason” Venne - #1/1.5 Carry

PLAYER STATISTICS

Outside of a brief appearance on Dignitas’ post-TI3 Dota 2 squad and the short-lived DeMoN-led team, Take Five, Evil Geniuses is Mason “Mason” Venne’s first professional appointment in Dota 2. Naturally, this has precipitated the set of questions you’d expect about an ex-pubstar’s viability in a cutthroat professional scene: how is he against players who aren’t weekend DotA-warriors? Can he stand up to the pressure of LAN? Is his hero pool deep enough for professional play? Will his “toxic,” I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude drag teams down with him?



Slowly but surely, Mason has been addressing each of these questions, showing that he belongs on a premier team. We’ve seen a wide variety of heroes from Mason, even if it feels like he plays Mirana more often than not. His demeanor, both in game and out, comes off as more level-headed these days. However, that’s not to say that there haven’t been some rough spots over the last few months. Though Mason stated that he was confident in himself as a player, and therefore wouldn’t see his performance waver on LAN, even the most ardent EG fans will begrudgingly acknowledge that on the first day of The Summit, nerves seemed to play at least some role in his uncharacteristically poor play.



There’s nothing especially innovative about Mason’s style. His mechanics are good, and his decision-making acceptable. Given space, he will dependably find farm and dish out the damage expected of him. But, realistically, he’s the weak point in EG’s armor, even if that’s more of a comment on the overall skill of Evil Geniuses than Mason’s individual capabilities. Compared to, say, XBOCT or Loda, Mason leaves a lot to be desired. Fortunately, what might otherwise be a major concern is ameliorated by the way Evil Geniuses typically distributes their farm.



Given that Mason is still in the first months of his professional career, some of this criticism may seem unfair. No one knows if Mason will fill the void that Fear’s retirement has left or if he’ll be nothing more than a footnote in the continuing story of Dota 2. This summer will likely decide the direction this narrative takes. It’s clear that Mason has the skills and the talent to go far. It remains to be seen if he has the will to do so.



SIGNATURE HEROES

Artour “Arteezy” Babaev - #2 / 1 Core-Mid

PLAYER STATISTICS

A-God. RTZ. Artour. Arteezy. “Literally Cancer.” Whatever you call him, the eighteen year old Canadian has seen his star rise astronomically over the last eight months. With a personality that’s as loud out of game as it is in, Arteezy has singlehandedly shifted the meta and introduced DotA culture to the glory of Yung Lean, Orange Juice, or whatever it is that seems to strike his fancy at any given moment.



More seriously, Arteezy has become synonymous with extremely efficient farming and unrelenting aggression tempered by excellent decision making. In an age in which bottle-crowing and wave-spamming have become the norm, Arteezy made the midlane matter again. When he’s on, it’s not uncommon to see Arteezy boast more than 10 CS a minute by the 20 minute mark. Granted, CS like that takes a concerted effort on the part of supports to commit to stacking the jungle and ancients, but Arteezy has redefined the art of efficient farming. In more games than not, it’s Arteezy, and not Mason, who ends the game atop the net worth chart.



Though he has shown himself to be competent with gank-oriented mids like Invoker and Puck, Arteezy is still best when he’s on a hard farmer and, rather than ganking himself, waiting for [so] smart rotations from Zai and PPD. It’s a pocket strat for some teams, but for Evil Geniuses, it’s their bread and butter. All of this contributes to the impression that Evil Geniuses lives and dies by the midlane.

SIGNATURE HEROES

Sahil “Universe” Arora, #3 Core - Offlane

PLAYER STATISTICS

One of the few active Dota 2 professionals who can boast of having participated in every single iteration of The International, Sahil “Universe” Arora began his professional DotA career back in 2011, appearing at The International as part of Online Kingdom with fellow American, Fear. After stints on Dignitas and, for just a moment, Quantic Gaming, Universe reunited with Fear and returned to Evil Geniuses as part of the post-TI3 shakeup. Now, he is the most senior member of Evil Geniuses, bringing years of experience to an otherwise young squad.



Conventional wisdom ascribes much of Evil Geniuses’ ascendance into the highest echelons of professional Dota 2 to the prodigious skill and talent of Arteezy, but such an essentialist analysis ignores Universe’s contributions to the team. Arteezy may be the most efficient farmer in the world, but to put that skill to use, he needs a lot of space. That’s where Universe excels. In the early game, Universe is uniquely capable of drawing attention away from Arteezy and Mason, letting the two of them farm unhindered. Even when death is a certainty, Universe always seems to hold his opponent’s focus for just a few seconds more, taking the pressure off his teammates just that much more. Say what you will about him, the man can take the heat.



In the late game, Universe’s superhuman sense of initiation has snatched victory out of seemingly unwinnable situations more times than I can remember. For my money, no one else secures three, four, or five-man Vacuum-Wall combos with the kind of frequency Universe does. From beginning to end, Universe is a standout player in a team full of standouts.



SIGNATURE HEROES

Ludwig “Zai” Wahlberg - #4, Support

PLAYER STATISTICS

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the glory of the big names on Evil Geniuses, but in some ways, Arteezy and Universe are simply means to an end. The truly defining features of Evil Geniuses’ brand of Dota happens not in the off or midlanes, but in the space between them. As most pros will tell you, the quality of a team’s support duo is the backbone upon which all other success is built. A truly excellent pair of supports, ones that play like they have some sort of telepathic connection, are worth their weight in gold. Zai and PPD are such a pair.



At just sixteen years old, Zai is among the youngest players currently playing Dota 2 professionally. Like his teammate PPD, he is one of the many exiles from HoN who switched to Dota 2 in the waning months of 2013, and, with PPD, began playing for tier two European teams before being offered the opportunity to try out for S A D B O Y S.



In general, when the draft demands it, Zai plays the more mechanically challenging supports (Visage and Enigma, for example), while PPD takes the less demanding heroes. There’s a certain elegance to this, for it allows PPD to take a more global view of the game in accordance with his role as captain, while Zai can focus on his micro-intensive heroes. A bit like his Swedish comrade-in-arms Jerry “EGM” Lundquist, Zai tends to fall on the greedier side of supports. Trusting PPD to handle the strategic challenges while Zai tends to the tactical ones makes the duo one of the most potent in all of Dota 2. This isn’t an unbreakable rule, of course, and one of Zai’s most played heroes is Wraith King, arguably the least micro-intensive hero in the game.



Though Visage is quite weak in the current metagame, there was a time when Zai’s Visage play warranted a first ban. These days, opposing teams typically use one of their first bans to take Enigma out of the pool. At the finals of The Summit, DK consistently refused to ban Zai’s Enigma and were summarily punished for their decision. One week later, at the DreamLeague finals, neither Alliance nor Mouz made that mistake and were rewarded for their caution.

SIGNATURE HEROES

Peter “PPD” Dager, #5 - Support, Captain

PLAYER STATISTICS

Another transplant from the ever-dwindling HoN circuit, Peter “PPD” Dager entered the Dota 2 scene in late 2013, playing the support role on the tier-two European teams Super Strong Dinosaurs and Stay Free. It didn’t take long for his play to pique the curiosity of Evil Geniuses, and by the end of February 2014, he had already become a full-fledged Dota 2 pro.



Though certainly capable of playing micro-intensive supports like Visage and Enchantress, PPD tends to prefer less mechanically demanding heroes like Earthshaker, Crystal Maiden, and, most famously, Treant Protector. With the attention this opens up, the Evil Geniuses captain can take a wider, more strategic view of the game, determining optimal rotations, keeping track of enemy item progression, and ensuring that the jungle stays stacked for Arteezy and Mason.



Of course, before all of the above comes into play, PPD shows off his real skill in the draft. One might expect that in transitioning from HoN to Dota 2, the most challenging aspect of the change in game would be acclimating oneself to the virtually limitless permutations of hero combinations possible in Dota 2. Perhaps it is something about his outsider perspective that has made PPD seem almost prescient in his capacity to forge synergistic compositions. His innovative drafts have helped guide Evil Geniuses to greatness and have revived heroes the meta had long since forgotten. Thus, in many games, the match is in their favour even before the horn is blown.

SIGNATURE HEROES