As the dust settled on the CS:GO ESL One New York 2019, it was Evil Geniuses that stood tall over seven other teams. The win is made all the more memorable for EG as this is their first CS:GO ESL One tournament since rejoining one of esports' biggest competitions. With the win, EG gets to take home $100,000.
It was around seven years ago when EG made the decision to leave CS:GO. However, they managed to join again after acquiring the roster and ESL Pro League spot of NRG Esports. The team is composed of team captain Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz, Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte, Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov, Ethan “Ethan” Arnold, and Tarik “tarik” Celik. Serving as Coach is Chet “ImAPet” Singh.
The tournament had five teams who received a direct invite with one getting a spot through the GG.Bet Invitational and two others from the European Qualifier and North American Qualifier. ESL One New York 2019 started on September 26, and the Grand Finals were fought on September 29.
During the Group Stage, EG was put into Group B with Astralis, OpTic gaming, and FaZe Clan. EG ended this stage at the top with no losses. In the Semifinals, EG went against G2 Esports. EG dominated the series, with the team winning on both the Dust II and Nuke maps.
In the other match of the Semifinals, it was Astralis versus Team Liquid. In the first game with the Vertigo map, Liquid took the first round. However, Astralis took the second round without giving one point to Liquid. Liquid tied the series in the second game on the Dust II map. The third game took place on the Overpass map and was a close match with Astralis eventually getting the win.
With Liquid out of the picture, EG had the crowd behind them at the Finals, and they did not disappoint.
In the first map, Astralis picked Inferno. EG started strong and ended the first half at 13-2 and eventually closed out the game at 16-3. For the second map, it was EG who made the decision to go for Dust II. Astralis took a close 8-7 lead at the end of the first half. EG managed to get back on track and ended the map scoring 16-12.
EG had the chance to close out the series on the third map with Astralis choosing Train. EG took an early lead, but Astralis worked its way to even after the first half. EG again had a chance to win, but Astralis made a comeback and finally took the win 22-20 in double overtime.
For the fourth map, EG decided to go for Nuke. Like in the early games, EG took an early 8-1 lead. Astralis would not go down without a fight and ended the half just a point shy at 7 against EG's 8. At the second half it was EG all the way, giving only one round to Astralis. The map ended at 16-8, giving EG the championship.
Both EG and Astralis are set to be part of the DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019. This competition begins tomorrow, October 1, and offers a prize pool of $250,000.
