As we ride through this break in the Counter-Strike scene we grow nearer to answers about what teams will maintain their form, improve their form, reconnect with their form, and lose their form.

One team in particular, Evil Geniuses, has struggled to maintain any consistency over the last six months and their first several events out of the break could be very important in deciding whether or not a change is coming.

The lineup swapped from NRG to EG following decent success with the former and immediately found themselves hoisting a trophy at ESL One New York. With that brand new jersey and the high of a tournament win, EG traveled across the world to DreamHack Malmö where they faced a last-place finish.

Photo: ESL

The trend would continue as the team picked up a victory at StarSeries StarLadder Season 8 in Belek, Turkey with a 2-0 over fnatic. Another extreme drop in performance saw EG eliminated at IEM Beijing in the group stage.

Things continued in a similar fashion through the remainder of the year with some highs and lows including a third-place finish at both ECS Season 8 finals and EPICENTER 2019.

Many have pointed to travel and an intense schedule as the main concern for EG’s inconsistency. With the break giving the team time off to refresh and then the claim that the team will be more strict with which events they attend, the last excuse is being targeted.

Tarik “tarik” Celik is desperately needed to improve after a disappointing string of events and a decline in performance. Although Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte is the team’s star, having tarik and Ethan “Ethan” Arnold to bolster the level of the squad and fill in any gaps would help to make up for a dip in Brehze’s form (which correlates pretty well to swings in the team’s overall performance).

While I don’t think tarik has to put up the best numbers in the server, it’s hard to argue he hasn’t been the weakest link on the lineup. He’s even discussed his drop in form openly in posts to Twitter.

Photo: DreamHack

Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov is an important piece of the puzzle for EG and they’ve done a great job of making good use of him alongside Brehze. Continuing to find ways for the Bulgarian AWPer to have a big impact is key to the squad’s success.

Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz has shown he’s capable of leading top-level teams and even showing up as the star in some of their matches. I can’t say there’s too much for stanislaw to change in his approach, but with a lack of practice and time for adjustment due to travel he’s being let off the hook for now.

EG is still a force to be reckoned with, but has a lot of room to grow in terms of consistency. If the North American mix (and a Bulgarian) can’t figure it out by March I wouldn’t be surprised if they chose to seek a fix outside of the lineup.

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