EG take lowest seed in Group C after defeat to BIG

Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz and company bounced back following a loss earlier in the day.

BIG's 16-6 victory on Mirage over Evil Geniuses secured their stay in the Group C lower bracket. The German squad suffered a narrow defeat to HEROIC in their first BLAST Premier Fall Groups match, but will now get the chance to take revenge on the Danes in the Consolidation Final.

tabseN commented on his expectation for the rematch against Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller's men: "We can definitely beat them," he said. "But it will be a close game again, a dirty game."

For Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne, who turned around a slow debut against the Danes in the first match, it will be another chance to shine after topping the board in his second showing since returning to the German team's main squad.

There was very little to celebrate for Evil Geniuses as BIG cut through the North American defense with minimal effort, although after bringing out the rifles Evil Geniuses strung together a short three-round defensive streak before it was broken by the Germans' Deagles on round eight.

tabseN played and called an exemplary half, but it was k1to who shined the most as he ended his offensive half with 19 kills and 123.3 ADR in BIG's 12-3 domination.

A pistol-round win in the second half gave Evil Geniuses the chance to get back in the game and Sanzhar "⁠neaLaN⁠" Iskhakov's squad doubled their lead early in the second half, but it did not take long until BIG's defense got into shape and they closed the game with a 16-6 scoreline.

Evil Geniuses' second defeat of the day means that they are in the worst possible spot to reach Fall Finals. The North American squad will need to win three best-of-three matches in a row in the Knockout Stage, but can qualify for the Last Chance bracket with one win.

Their first Knockout Stage match will be against Ninjas in Pyjamas on Thursday, August 25, and by then Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta is expected to make his return in place of stand-in William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba.