Evil Geniuses has announced the benchings of Anthony ‘okeanos’ Nguyen and Valorant Champions 2023 winner Corbin ‘C0M’ Lee prior to EG’s final VCT Americas Stage 1 series against KRÜ.
In their place, EG has promoted Javan ‘zerona’ Varela and Jake ‘Paincakes’ Hass to the active roster, alongside Daniel ‘Faded Hwang as Assistant Coach, as Cole ‘meco1e’ Lewis is removed as active Head Coach.
EG Head of Gaming, Soham ‘valens’ Chowdhury, explained the decision in a statement on social media, stating, “Evil Geniuses was founded on competitive excellence, and those standards have not changed. Our VCT results this season have fallen short of the standard expected of this organization, and as General Manager, it is my responsibility to improve that.”
Evil Geniuses’ decline from Valorant Champions 2023
For all the talk of “competitive excellence,” EG has not truly been competitive since their 2023 Valorant Champions victory. Almost as soon as the confetti ceased to fall, that roster went its separate ways.
Since their Valorant Champions 2023 victory, Evil Geniuses have recorded the following placements:
- VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1: 7th-8th
- VCT 2024 Americas Stage 2: 9th
- VCT 2025 Americas Kickoff: 7th-8th
- VCT 2025 Americas Stage 1: 4th
- VCT 2025 Americas Stage 2: 7th-8th
- VCT 2026 Americas Kickoff: 7th-8th
The team also failed to qualify for the Esports World Cup 2025.
So overall, not exactly the standard of winning shared by valens on social media. The team has only finished in the top half of a VCT split once, making zero internationals in that time, and they’re already guaranteed to finish last in their VCT Americas 2026 Stage 1 group.
The team does, however, have one competitive series left to play, against KRÜ, which is perhaps where a glimmer of hope resides for EG.
Why EG may have made these changes now
valens’ post on X shares that “Over the coming weeks, I’ll be closely evaluating how different iterations of our roster perform alongside feedback from our VCT team.”
Clearly, the org hopes to find a diamond in the rough by promoting their academy talent, giving the young guns a chance to showcase their ability against Tier 1.
Worst-case scenario? They’re last in the group anyway. Best case scenario? They don’t need to spend money on those positions, and can build the team around zerona and Paincakes.
Some EG fans have questioned the benching of C0M and okeanos specifically, pointing to other issues in the roster, but EG’s emphasis may instead be on evaluating zerona and Paincakes for the future, rather than immediately maximising the roster’s performance.
The upside is substantial; any money saved through academy promotions can be put elsewhere, but evaluating that talent in a single competitive series is not something that will be easy.
As for okeanos and C0M, valens stated, “At the same time, we’ll continue working closely with team members on our reserve roster as we evaluate the best next steps for their future, whether that’s within Evil Geniuses or elsewhere.”
It seems nothing is off the table as EG looks for the last bit of hope they didn’t even know they had.
Do you think the moves put EG in the right direction? Let us know on our Discord!
For more Valorant news, see the removal of Neon on PC and when to expect the Agent back.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
More from Darragh Harbinson
Comments