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EG Secure Champions 2023 Grand Final Spot

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EG Secure Champions 2023 Grand Final Spot

EG are going to the Grand Final of Champions 2023 after defeating LOUD in a 3-2 series

Evil Geniuses, the North American favorites at Champions 2023, have secured their second Grand Final in a global VCT event by winning the Lower Final against LOUD. This Best of 5 was a masterclass from Max “Demon1” Mazanov, who secured 101 kills for his team. Now, EG will be facing Paper Rex once again after losing to them in the Upper Final, and the match will take place tomorrow at 12:00 PT / 15:00 ET / 21:00 CEST. 

EG Win Overtime on Ascent

Ascent is known as one of LOUD’s strongest maps, and it was surprising to see EG have it as their first pick, hinting towards the fact that they practiced anti-strats against the Brazilians. Moreover, they were one of the only teams in 2023 that defeated LOUD on this map during their encounter at Masters Tokyo. 

Demon1 from the North American side started to dominate right away, leading his team to a strong 7-5 half on the attack with a 16-9 K-D. 

The Duelist of EG continued his prowess on Jett in the next half, ending the map in 14-12, with 266 ACS and 26-19 K-D. Ethan “Ethan” Arnold also had great impacts on KAY/O, as expected, getting 21 assists on the map. 

LOUD, on the other hand, were also keeping up with EG’s pace on their attacking half, and even though they managed to take the map to overtime thanks to Felipe “Less” Basso having an incredible map, they failed to win a single round in the OT.

Lotus Was Domination from EG

Lotus was LOUD’s map pick, where they brought out the Viper-Omen composition, and Demon1 from the other side was on Astra, a decision many were doubtful about after seeing EG play the map. Surprisingly, this was a very one-sided map, with EG having little to no trouble taking map control, securing a 10-2 half on the attack.

Demon1, even in the Controller role, had another incredible performance, and he secured a 14-6 K-D on the attack. However, the most frags went to Alexander “jawgemo” Mor, who secured 17 kills in only 4 deaths on Raze.

During LOUD’s poor defensive half, their star Duelist Erick “aspas” Santos failed to have much impact with a K-D of 5-10, and Less was the only member who ended the map with a positive K/D. 

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Evil Geniuses ended Lotus with a 13-4 excellence and a 2-0 series lead, and jawgemo secured the spot of MVP with 347 ACS and 21-10 K-D. Moreover, Ethan continued to be a great Initiator with 15 assists on the map. 

LOUD Answers Backs on Pearl

Pearl, EG’s pick, is a map where the North Americans looked pretty strong against Paper Rex but couldn't manage to close out their solid lead. Ethan abandons his regular Initiator roles on this map by picking Yoru, and even though it is an unorthodox choice, the Agent makes sense for him since he likes to use the flashes similar to Skye and helps his team with utilities.

With Less continuing to be a menace to EG, LOUD finally secured a dominating first half on the attack with an excellent 9-3 lead. On the other hand, aside from Demon1, everyone on the NA roster suffered on the defense.

Demon1 continued to try his best in the second half, and EG managed to win the pistol rounds and the bonus, trying to construct a comeback. However, nothing seemed to break the holds of aspas and Less, and it also didn’t help that Ethan’s Yoru pick was having very few impacts.

Finally, LOUD got their first map of the series with a 13-8 score on Pearl, and Less’ contribution was enormous thanks to his 25-13 K-D and 326 ACS. On the side of the North Americans, Demon1 was the only member with a positive K/D.

LOUD Tie It Up on Split

Split was the fourth map of the series, and EG didn’t have the best records on this map. Moreover, their most recent match on Split was against EDG, and Kelden “Boostio” Pupello’s Chamber pick on the map didn’t translate to a win. On the other hand, LOUD had a dominating series on this map in this Champions against Fnatic, and all signs were pointing towards the victory for the Brazilians. 

Similar to Pearl, LOUD secured another dominating 9-3 half on Split with aspas looking on top of his game with 23 kills and 9 deaths. There was barely any answer back from the defenders, and Boostio’s Chamber pick disappointed once again.

The only Duelist from the North Americans on Split was jawgemo, who, unlike his performance on Lotus, had a terrible score on Split with a K-D of 10-17. LOUD enjoyed another dominating performance with a 13-7 score on Split, drawing up the series 2-2. 

The MVP spot was secured by aspas as he dropped a 30 bomb and secured 378 ACS on the map. While Less couldn’t continue his streak of greatness, Cauan “cauanzin” Pereira stepped up for his team with 22-14 K-D.

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EG Take It Home on Bind

EG Secure Champions 2023 Grand Final Spot

Credit: Evil Geniuses via Twitter

Similar to Split, EG did not have the best record on Bind, and LOUD’s triple Controller composition on the map meant it would be hard to make space. However, the North Americans started out with a great pace on the attacking half, winning five rounds in a row and ending the first half in a 7-5 score to their favor. Demon1 on Chamber was looking much better than Boostio on Split, and he secured a 15-11 K-D in the first half.

On the defending side of LOUD, aspas continued his rage from Split, getting a 17-9 K-D and allowing his team to have at least 5 rounds to start the second half.

Sadly, the Duelist for LOUD failed to get a single kill on the attacking half, and thanks to Ethan’s incredible defense, Evil Geniuses closed out Bind with a 13-8 score. 

Demon1 had an extraordinary series with the highest kills on the server, and Ethan’s contribution did a lot for the team as he ended the Bo5 with 65 assists. From LOUD, we saw another incredible performance from Less, and he is undoubtedly going to be the team’s best VCT player in 2023.