Evil Geniuses and 9z will meet in the third round of IEM Rio Major 2022 Challengers Stage. Obviously, the North American team will be hit hard, otherwise 9z is almost a local team.
However, in this particular match, Evil Geniuses seems to be a slight favorite, although you already expect any jokes from this random tournament.
And yet, I would not trust 9z, because the team is far from getting everything. Otherwise, the North American team seems tritely stronger in the sense that it has extensive experience.
Evil Geniuses form
The 21st team in the world ranking showed itself at the recent IEM Road to Rio 2022 Americas RMR, where they got three victories, but lost to Team Liquid in the match for a slot in the “legends”.
Then the North American team took part in BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2022 North America. However, there Evil Geniuses lost to Fluxo in the quarterfinals and went to rest.
As for the start at IEM Rio Major 2022, here the team managed to outplay IHC, but after a couple of hours they failed to cope with MOUZ. However, "Evil Geniuses" is pretty good, so it makes sense to believe in guys.
Evil Geniuses latest results:
- 2:1 victory over 9z.
- Lost to Team Liquid with a score of 0:2.
- Defeated by Fluxo with a score of 1:2.
- Victory over IHC Esports with a score of 16:9.
- Defeat from MOUZ with a score of 10:16.
Best Evil Geniuses cards:
- Mirage - 67% of wins.
- Overpass - 67% of wins.
- Nuke - 57% win rate
Don't forget that the North American team continues to ban the Vertigo map.
Form 9z
The 28th team of the world ranking did not show itself at all within the same IEM Road to Rio 2022 Americas RMR, although it got to the major without any problems.
Then the Latin American team managed to fail at the FlowFiReLEAGUE 2022 Global Finals, where it ingloriously lost to Team Spirit in the semi-finals.
And at the start of IEM Rio Major 2022, 9z had problems, as the team managed to lose to GamerLegion devastatingly. Well, at least with Imperial Esports we were lucky, because those Brazilians are deader than the dead.
Latest 9z results:
- Victory over ATK with a score of 2:0.
- Victory over MIBR with a score of 2:1.
- Defeated by Team Spirit with a score of 0:2.
- Defeated by GamerLegion with a score of 6:16.
- Victory over Imperial Esports with a score of 16:11.
Best 9z cards:
- Dust 2 - 92% of wins.
- Nuke - 70% win rate.
- Mirage - 75% of wins.
- Overpass - 67% of wins.
- Inferno - 57% of wins.
Interestingly, the Latin American team also refuses the Vertigo card.
Evil Geniuses meeting statistics - 9z
As part of the current season, the teams held three meetings:
- The victory of Evil Geniuses within PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Americas RMR with a score of 16:5.
- 9z won PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Americas RMR 2:1.
- Evil Geniuses won the IEM Road to Rio 2022 Americas RMR with a score of 2:1.
I note that in that BO1 the teams played on the Mirage map.
Prediction for the match Evil Geniuses — 9z
It seems that we will have an equal meeting, since the teams are approximately equal. Nevertheless, the Latin American team seems to me very vulnerable, because it does not change at a distance.
As for Evil Geniuses, the North Americans improved a lot, and even in the defeat from MOUZ they learned some useful lessons. In general, "Evil Geniuses" must pressurize, otherwise it will be more difficult further.
Therefore, in this case, I would recommend betting on the victory of the Evil Geniuses team.
