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Evil Geniuses and Timothy "?autimatic?" Ta were promoted to the 2-0 club following their narrow win over FURIA.

Just three days after Evil Geniuses' campaign at ESL Pro League Season 16, the North American squad finds itself in Stockholm, attempting to qualify for the IEM Rio 2022 Major. An opening victory against Nouns was quickly followed up by a narrow 16-14 win over FURIA on Nuke which guaranteed their 2-0 record.

autimatic commented on Evil Geniuses' improvement over the last two months

Evil Geniuses' star rifler joined us after the second match to talk about their match against FURIA, the new coaching structure behind them, and their improvement since EPL.

Congratulations, it's a 2-0 start for you at the RMR. You defeated FURIA, that's a big scalp to take and a big improvement from EPL as well. How are you feeling right now?

Feeling pretty good. Glad that we were able to correct some of our mistakes and beat FURIA this time around and that's all you can really ask for is an improvement.

Did you specifically prep Nuke to go against FURIA before this event?

I think we just watched the [EPL] loss and we tried to identify some of the mistakes we were making and the gaps that we were leaving open. We just tried to fix them so I wouldn't say that we prepped specifically against FURIA, but I would say that they just taught us a few lessons and we learned from them.

Late in the game, saffee won a 1v2 clutch. How did I look from your point of view, what went through your mind after that? Did you think that you still had control of the game or it was slipping from you?

That was the 15-14 round?

Yes.

Yeah, I mean honestly, at that moment I wasn't even thinking about the round. If we won then it would have been great, but I was already trying to think about what we're gonna do in the next round. I felt like in the end I had a good idea of what they were trying to do outside, and yeah, they did what we thought that they were going to do in the last round and we countered it. So I wasn't really thinking about the clutch at all.

Now you have a 2-0 record. Regardless of the opponent, the next round is going to be a difficult challenge, but what do you think of your chances of going through with a 3-0?

I definitely think it's possible. I think all the teams here are really good, but at the same time we've been practicing a lot and I have a lot of faith and the things that we practiced, and the things that we learned together. I feel confident overall.

[when] we don't have an answer to something, he's the guy that we go to. Timothy "?autimatic?" Ta on Damien "?maLeK?" Marcel

You've had a few changes in the past few months, with neaLaN coming in, HexT promoted, Vorborg arriving, and maLeK returning. Go through some of the changes with me, how's neaLaN as an IGL? He's quite young compared to previous leaders you've had, how is he doing so far?

Yeah, I think neaLaN does not have a lot of tier-one experience, but you wouldn't be able to tell. He's doing a really good job, and I think him, Vorborg, and I talk a lot about the game and about theory. He has a lot of concepts that he's brought over from CIS and a lot of small plays. He has brought a lot to the team, so I think it was a good addition.

With Daniel [Vorborg], he definitely surprised me, I think I said so in my last interview. He has a lot of in-game knowledge, and he's really good at just trying to get everyone on the same page, even though he's very opinionated, he doesn't force opinions on us. If we want to do things in a different way, he's totally open to doing it that way. I think that's really good because we can make the playstyle our own.

With maLeK coming back. It's definitely been pretty good because he is another guy who has a lot of opinions, and I think this role suits him very well because whenever we are stuck or we don't have an answer to something, he's the guy that we go to. He has a lot of experience and a lot of answers.

In terms of Hext, I can say that I'm pleasantly surprised. I didn't know what to expect, but yeah, he exceeded any expectations I would have had.

Vorborg joined Evil Geniuses as head coach in August

Talk to me about you, has your role in the team evolved since the changes? You're now one of the most senior figures in the squad or one of the most experienced ones. How is that going?

I don't think my role has changed. I mean, on almost every team that I've been on I try to give my opinions on how we can play, and I try to influence the way we play and the positions I play as well. I think that it's good if I have my idea of how I should play and how we should play around it, so I think that I've always had a big influence in that regard.

I would say that compared to the last EG iteration, I have better thoughts and better ideas because coming back from VALORANT the first time around, I was just trying to catch up. I mean, it's still taking me time to catch up, but back then I was very new to the game and yeah, I was pretty much a rookie. I was just trying to learn and so it's developed since then for sure.

So you said you give input on how you want to play, How's the dynamic between you, neaLaN, Vorborg, and even maLek? How does that work when you are building your game plan or your overall strategy? Not just for your team as you're part of a bigger project with EG.

Yeah, I think me, neaLaN, and Vorborg talk a lot about how we see the game and what we think would be best in terms of how we should play, and how we should approach things. With Malik recently, I've been having some trouble with some positions, and I'll go to him individually, and try to get some help and some insight because he has an eye for detail.

That's mainly how we've been operating. He [maLeK] also helps with the team as a whole, but my interaction with him has been more individual.

I definitely think that CeRq is on an upward trajectory autimatic

CeRq has not had the best of times in the past couple of years now, but today he has been really good with two big performances. How is he getting on with the team? Should we expect more of the same from him?

Yeah, I definitely think that CeRq is on an upward trajectory. We've put in a lot of effort into making sure that everyone is comfortable, including him. Obviously, he's using the AWP and you know, it's a very important role with a lot of responsibility.

He's working really hard to make sure that he can take on as much responsibility and have as much impact as possible. Sometimes when you're trying to improve so much, it can have the opposite effect, where you get a little worse at first, and then eventually you'll get better. I think we're seeing the fruits of his labor.

So do you think neaLaN and coach Vorborg have given him more of a free hand?

Yeah, the whole team is down for him to do whatever he wants, and it's up to him to find what he feels most comfortable with and what he likes to do. I think he's done a good job so far of doing that, but yeah, we'll see how it goes.