Evil Geniuses Take Home First Championship After Demolishing 100 Thieves
Evil Geniuses take home their first-ever LCS champion after stomping Team Liquid and 100 Thieves.
André González Rodríguez
25th Apr 2022 22:26
Image via ESPAT/LCS
A new organisation has been crowned as a League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) champion after Evil Geniuses completely demolished the reigning LCS champions, 100 Thieves, in the 2022 LCS Spring Split finals, breaking numerous records in the process.
Prior to sweeping the Thieves, Evil Geniuses first had to take on this year’s North American superteam, Team Liquid, in the lower bracket finals. Here, the Geniuses avenged their initial 2022 LCS Spring Split playoff loss to Team Liquid that sent them to the losers’ bracket to begin with. This was done by Evil Geniuses completely stomping Team Liquid—making it the first LCS finals to not have Team SoloMid, Cloud9, or Team Liquid.
Here’s how Evil Geniuses did it all.
Evil Geniuses Shock NA’s Superteam, Team Liquid
Going into this matchup both Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid were seeking revenge. On the Geniuses' side, the young squad was looking to get back at Team Liquid for sending them to the losers’ bracket early after a close 3-2 bout to start the tournament. While on Team Liquid’s side, the superteam was looking to right the wrongs that were their poor performance against 100 Thieves in the winners’ finals.
Although it was a sweep, both of the LCS teams traded tit-for-tat in all three games. Each squad brought their own pick and ban flare, having unique compositions that could work if played correctly. However, only Evil Geniuses’ compositions came to light as the team’s young guns in the mid and bottom lanes shined bright.
Mid-laner Joseph "Jojopyun" Pyun and ADC Kyle "Danny" Sakamaki’s set the tone for the series quick and early in game one as even though Evil Geniuses had a mid-game team fight blunder, Danny took it upon himself—with the help of support, Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme—to right the previous wrongs in a one versus five pentakill, stealing Baron and eventually winning the game.
This was the death knell for Team Liquid as not only did this place give Evil Geniuses all the momentum they wanted, but that was all she wrote for the North American superteam.
Evil Geniuses Demolish 100 Thieves, Get Organisation’s First-Ever LCS Championship
Following the 2022 LCS Spring Split finals, Evil Geniuses can officially say they are the fifth ever LCS team to win a championship. This came after the young squad took down the reigning LCS champions, 100 Thieves, who like them, brought in their first-ever LCS trophy in the 2021 LCS Summer Split.
Once again, the young guns in Jojopyun and Danny reigned supreme, but this time around, the rest of the team pitched in. This led to Danny breaking the all-time LCS postseason kill record at 111 kills, according to Oracle’s Exlir, as well as Evil Geniuses themselves breaking the record for fastest finals in LCS history.
It was a straight-up clinic coming from the Geniuses’ side. Although every match of the finals had relatively even early games, Evil Geniuses’ stronger team fighting, macro, and decision-making came into play, leading to a swift sweep.
Apart from their one loss early on in the losers’ bracket to FlyQuest, Evil Geniuses swept through every team in their way. This included the likes of Cloud9, Team Liquid, and eventually 100 Thieves in the finals. In the process, Jojopyun and Danny became some of the youngest players ever to win an LCS championship and cemented themselves as household names in the North American region.
The team’s next step is now MSI 2022, where they will represent the North American region at the first international event of the year.
About The Author
André González Rodríguez
André is a Freelance League of Legends Journalist at GGRecon. He has written about his state’s local esports teams such as the Florida Mayhem and the Florida Mutineers on the Valencia Voice (Valencia College’s online newspaper). André has been watching esports since 2013 spanning different titles such as Call of Duty, League of Legends, Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Ultimate, as well as other FGC titles.
