Keine drei Monate nach dem Wechsel zu Team Secret kehrt Saahil 'UNiVeRsE' Arora zum zweiten Mal zu den Evil Geniuses zurück. Er ist damit nicht der einzige Rückkehrer, denn auch Ludwig 'Zai' Wahlberg wird ab sofort wieder für EG spielen.
Welcome home, @UniverseDota (and @zai_2002)! https://t.co/TEhqf4eWyD
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) 13. Juni 2016
UNiVeRsE und Artour 'Arteezy' Babaev verließen den TI-Gewinner kurz vor dem Roster-Lock, um sich Team Secret anzuschließen. Nach einer Reihe von sehr schwachen Auftritten bei der ESL One Manila, dem EPICENTER-Turnier und aucb beim Manila Major entschied sich der US-Amerikaner, zu EG zurückzukehren.
Auch für die Evil Geniuses lief es seit den Abgängen von UNiVeRsE und Arteezy nicht. Bei den Finals der WePlay Dota 2 League Season 3 erreichte das Team zumindest einen dritten Platz, doch in Moskau und vor allem beim Major in Manila verpasste EG eine Platzierung unter den besten vier Lineups des Turniers.
Sam 'BuLba' Sosale, der erst Ende März von Digital Chaos zum TI-Champion gegangen war, wird UNiVeRsEs Platz bei Team Secret einnehmen. Zudem trennt sich EG von Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling, um Platz für zai zu machen. Nach eigenen Angaben verliert das Team damit die Direkteinladung zum diesjährigen The International und wird somit am Open Qualifier teilnehmen, der noch diesen Monat beginnt.
Wohin es Aui_2000 verschlagen wird, ist derzeit noch unklar.
By now, it’s no Secret that plans didn’t go quite as they were expected to. Sometimes, though, these things happen for a reason, and regardless of the path that took us here, we’re very happy to announce Saahil „Universe“ Arora’s return to Evil Geniuses‘ Dota 2 division. Along with him comes another long-time friend of the team and organization: Ludwig „zai“ Wålberg, who will be playing in the 4 position, with Clinton „Fear“ Loomis taking the 1 position.
While we’re very excited to welcome these two players back to the team, in doing so we also had to make the difficult decision to part ways with two other individuals we have great respect and appreciation for: Sam „BuLba“ Sosale and Kurtis „Aui_2000“ Ling – both of whom played invaluable roles in our TI5 championship run, as coach and player, respectively. As has already been announced, BuLba will be joining Team Secret, but unfortunately as a result of these changes Aui’s path is less straightforward.
This was without a doubt the hardest part of the decision to move forward with these changes. Kurtis is a great player and a great person, and he deserves better than to be removed from the same organization twice within a year. That’s not how we like to do things around here, and it’s not something we’re at all proud of or take lightly. After discussing the situation with him extensively, we’ve come to a good resolution that will compensate him appropriately for the lost time and opportunities that this situation takes from him. It’s about as happy an ending as you could hope for in a bad situation. We’re parting ways on good terms, and we wish him the best.
Now, as far as TI6 goes, we’re making these changes with the full understanding that in doing so, we will forfeit our direct invite to the tournament. In just a few days, zai will be joining us in the United States, and we will begin preparing to conquer the TI6 qualifiers and defend our title. This will undoubtedly be a difficult process, but we’re excited for the challenge and we hope that you’ll be there with us as we restart our journey back to the top – this time, on the long road, but with the right players and people in place.“
Lineup Evil Geniuses:
Saahil 'UNiVeRsE' Arora
Peter 'ppd' Dager
Sumail 'SumaiL' Hassan
Clinton 'Fear' Loomis
Ludwig 'Zai' Wahlberg
Lineup Team Secret:
Sam 'BuLba' Sosale
Clement 'Puppey' Ivanov
Artour 'Arteezy' Babaev
Johan 'pieliedie' Åström
Jacky 'EternalEnvy' Mao
Saahil '
Sumail '
Ludwig '
Clement '
Artour '