We wanted to title this story ‘Evil Geniuses hit refrezh’, but given the stories that have come out about how they treat their LoL players, you might have taken it too literally.

It’s fair to say the last year has been disappointing for EG, but the first step to change is… well, changing. You can’t change your results, your atmosphere, your standing in the community without wholesale change, and that appears to begin with the playing staff.

One might wonder why it wouldn’t be those at the top with the power, but then one would be cascaded with the realisation that that is just how the world works, sadly.

HexT appears to be the first out of Evil Geniuses (which probably actually consists of a demotion to one of the other EG teams), with outbound Sprout gamer refrezh joining their ranks, according to Blix, and Rush2.us.

Evil Geniuses have finally realised that there was no point in signing 15 mediocre North American players if they wanted to maintain their standing as more than a laughing stock, and picked up… well, the guy who got kicked from Sprout. But, it’s not all bad.

refrezh is relatively young but still experienced, has shown flashes of a very high level but not consistently, and does bring with him the ability to secondary call. He’s played on very good teams, and now should have a chance to shine in better roles.

At least, in theory. They will still let Brehze stink up the place, most probably.

Of course, this could all change. As Ryan mentions in the Dust2 article, there is only a verbal agreement - and that’s as valuable as the paper it’s not written on.

It’s a step in the right direction, but the journey is long and arduous.

Spirit has announced their entry into female CS with a roster that’s equally promising and different for the org.

They are the latest big org to join the ESL Impact league, by bringing in the promising ex-MVP roster. But why now? Season 3 has already started.

Well, we read the HLTV interview, and apparently,  Spirit wanted to join Impact a year ago but it never worked out. So to make up for lost time, they’ve been monitoring female CS for a few months and decided picking up the MVP roster was the right call vs. build themselves.

You’re probably thinking “MVP must be the next CIS wonders if a CIS org like Spirit signed them”. Wrong. Weirdly, the team they signed is actually an EU mix.

They might not be from CIS but could still be the next wonders: Just a few days ago they showed some teeth against reigning champions Nigma Galaxy and one day later they managed to take a map off Astralis fe. Solid debut and no wonder Spirit saw potential.

Spirit isn’t alone in its investment in Impact. We’ve seen several top organizations join the League recently and G2 even returned despite abandoning female CS once before. ESL has shown the difference infrastructure can make to building a scene. With Spirit joining, 11 out of 12 EU Impact teams are signed to major orgs.

The more orgs that sign on womens teams, the more money comes into play. And being able to pay players means they have time to practice and put in the scrim work without worrying about finances. This means more players are able to commit to the game which keeps the player pool healthy and increases the skill level.

We for one are excited. It’s raised our Spirits (not sorry).

Spirit FE consists of:

• 🇰🇬 Jammie
• 🇨🇿 Tynka
• 🇸🇰 xia
• 🇧🇪 Moraltis
• 🇺🇦 suns1de
• 🇷🇺 Nevar (Coach)

Just as everyone expected, a big CIS team won Group D.

While Spirit were dumped out by Astralis in an elimination game, having lost to NAVI, it was forZe who took top dog spot in the group.

Jerry’s jolly men were left with just ENCE to beat, after having announced themselves as the best team from their region with wins over NAVI and Spirit, and they beat ENCE with confidence.

An absolute punishment on Overpass preceded a more measured victory on Anubis, as Jerry once more proved himself to be one of most consistently impressive IGLs not only in his region, but potentially the world.

Spirit toppled Team Liquid 2-0, but were then brought crashing down by NAVI and, as mentioned earlier, Astralis, leaving them out of playoff contention. A similar wrath was brought upon Rare Atom, who despite a headline-grabbing win over Liquid failed to capitalise on a map one win over NAVI.

Liquid did not take so kindly to Rare Atom’s plucky upset win, and drilled Rare Atom into the ground in two maps.

That leaves forZe, ENCE, NAVI and Liquid as the four teams making it through.

The bracket has been drawn, too, with a mouthwatering list of games to come. Alright, not all of them are stand-outs - we might skip G2 vs Movistar or NAVI vs 00NATION, but it does promise to throw up some corkers.

Heroic await the winner from the NAVI/00NATION/Outsiders love triangle, with either CIS team posing a threat to the Danes. forZe will have one of FURIA, FaZe or fnatic (much like our exam results, too many F’s there) aiming to stop their progression into the semis.

paiN or Liquid will play MOUZ, with the winner of that meeting Cloud9, and Vitality will duke it out with either G2, ENCE or Movistar.

We’re in week 5 of Pro League, but this one really does promise to be bangin’.

🐦💙 Now this is what twitter is for

• We think Elliott might be on to something, because after he tweeted about Spirit’s unfair ranking he mysteriously… kept tweeting. Nevermind. He’s alive people, no need to panic.
• You know a sponsor database ruffles some feathers when the tweet about it gets deleted. Either that, or the original creator realised it wasn’t ready for release, in which case: sorry.

🌊 Even Flow

• Nick Canellas hit the nitr0us, sheesh…
• JDM’s impact on Liquid lives on. Lean back baby… But also, watch your posture please.

📺 EPL tomfoolery

• Now this is 1v1ing.
• Even if a bit awkward, we think it’s a faithful Wolf of Wall Street recreation.