EG Black unable to overcome second Brazilian hurdle
Despite overcoming FURIA on Saturday, Evil Geniuses couldn't continue their run to D.C. last night. The American side did secure double digits on both maps and even a 16-14 loss on the second map, so it wasn't all bad.
Veto analysis
As expected, both teams banned their permabans of Ancient and Anubis. EG were up to pick first with a Vertigo which we predicted. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be for the American side due to FalleN's performance on their map pick. Following up, unlike our expectations, Imperial picked Nuke rather than Inferno. EG's lower win-rate on Nuke versus Inferno is possibly one reason for this, and had they been playing Inferno, EG may have been able to set the series to a third map.
FalleN dominated Vertigo
On the CT-side, Gabriel '"FalleN" Toledo dominated the server with an impressive 20 frags and a 2.02 rating. No one on the EG side was able to put up more than 10 frags on their CT-side, and Paytyn "junior" Johnson himself only putting up four. This battle of AWPing wasn't as one sided when comparing their T-sides with FalleN and junior only fragging 8 and 7 people respectively. Nonetheless, the clear out AWPing by FalleN was the biggest difference maker on Vertigo.
junior redemption on Nuke
After a 0.67 rating on Vertigo for junior, he needed to step up for Nuke if EG wanted any chance of containing to a third map. In a mirroring of events, on the CT-side of Nuke, junior posted 22 frags with a 2.17 rating. Unfortunately for the EG side, FalleN's performance wasn't as lacking as junior's on Vertigo. It was nice to see junior step up for his team on Nuke, with the only positive K-D on the team, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Bazilians.
What's next?
Evil Geniuses Black have now been eliminated and that dwindles any hope for the EG organisation of attending the BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Washing D.C.. EG's next event (for their main roster) is the Americas RMR where they'll be playing a psuedo-rematch versus Imperial in their opening game. For EG Black, it's back to ESL Challenger League which starts in 2 days time. Imperial, on the other hand, today will be facing paiN who defeated Liquid in the Showdown final, then moving on to the RMR as well.
