EG eliminate Rooster from EPL

The majority-Australian side exit the Maltese tournament in last place.

Evil Geniuses have defeated Rooster in the eight-place decider at ESL Pro League S18 in two maps. The North Americans began with a dominant 16-6 victory on Mirage before a flawless Nuke CT half secured them a 16-10 victory. Their next test will come against the loser of MOUZ vs. MIBR on Sunday at 12:30 .

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
10/09/2023	Evil Geniuses 12:30 MIBR	Match

Evil Geniuses have shown some much-improved form at EPL so far. Although this is their first victory in the group, three of their four map losses against ENCE and MOUZ were incredibly close. "These games against ENCE and MOUZ, we felt like we could have taken both of them, our pre-game gameplans is what's getting us here because we haven't practiced at all," said Paytyn "⁠junior⁠" Johnson in the post-match interview.

For Rooster, this is the end of the road at EPL. Their exit marks their second consecutive last-place elimination at the Maltese tournament, having suffered the same fate last season as well. They won a map against Monte in a hard-fought match but were simply outmatched in their losses to HEROIC and Evil Geniuses.

The series started on Mirage, where Evil Geniuses secured a dominant victory. The North Americans raced away to a 7-0 lead and kept a healthy advantage throughout the game. A second-half pistol victory helped them start the second half in winning fashion, and Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta topped the board to help Evil Geniuses secure a one-sided 16-6 victory.

Nuke was up next, and Michael "⁠chelleos⁠" Hawkins's 19 kills powered an impressive 10-5 CT half for Rooster. Jeorge "⁠Jeorge⁠" Endicott hit some crisp shots to secure the pistol for Evil Geniuses and made the most of it by equalizing the scores at 10. Their rampage continued, and they closed out a flawless CT half against Rooster, claimed the second map with a 16-10 scoreline, and stayed alive for another day of competition in Malta.