Evil Geniuses vs G2 Esports: EG's historic return to the international arena

The first international LoL tournament kicks off on Tuesday, May 10. The first games of the Mid-Season Invitational 2022 will pit the top two contenders in the tournament, Evil Geniuses and G2 Esports, against each other.

The Mid-Season Invitational 2022 is a LAN tournament in the cybersports discipline of League of Legends, featuring the winners of the spring splits of 11 separate Riot leagues, with LCL not sending a representative this spring due to the cancellation of the LCL spring split. It was also announced on April 21 that the LPL representative would compete online from China due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all teams will compete at 35ms to level the playing field. The tournament prize money is $250,000.

The Evil Geniuses team in League of Legends emerged in 2013. The organization played 2 splits in the EU LCS before moving to North America in 2014. After experiencing difficulties in North America, Evil Geniuses announced their departure from League of Legends and sold their place in the league to team Winterfox. EG returned to the NA LCS in 2019, acquiring the Echo Fox franchise seat, bringing the brand back after a 5-year hiatus.

Back in the big LoL, Evil Geniuses were only happy with the 2020 Spring Split bronze, and all of 2021 can just be forgotten... But! In the off-season, the EG organization strengthened the roster. Inspired Forest came from Rogue, right after the World Cup, and Jojopyun, an EG Academy pupil strengthened the mid position. Cloud9 brought in Vulcan's assistant.

The replacements paid off quickly as Evil Geniuses became the LCS Spring Split champions, defeating 100 Thieves 3-0 in the final. For the first time since 2013, EG will be represented in an international LoL tournament, and the North Americans have a good chance of showing their worth.

While the Chinese sit online, G2 Esports clearly intends to return the "power" to their devices. For a second, the Spanish organization in LoL has a glorious history. They have reached the finals twice in the Mid-Season Invitational series tournaments alone, winning in 2019 and walking away as vice-champions in 2017.

The 2021 G2 Esports team had a frankly weak year for themselves. They didn't qualify for any international tournaments, not even making it to the finals in the LEC, either in spring or summer. The team needed a change, so three replacements were made during the winter transfer window. BrokenBlade from the Schalke Bundesliga team came to the top, Flakked moved from the MAD Lions, and the starting position was taken by Targamas, who moved from Karmine Corp.

The new roster helped, and G2 Esports regained the LEC crown this spring, securing a spot in this Mid-Season Invitational 2022. This tournament is certainly the right time to make a strong statement, especially since the Chinese will not be in the arena, and they may not be as scary online as they are on the stage.

G2 will win this match with a handicap (-5.5) on kills; the odds on that are 1.83.

The total kills will be under 27.5; the odds are 1.83.

The map will last less than 32 minutes; the odds are 1.83.