Evil Geniuses Bench C0M and okeanos; Promote Academy Talent – What Are They thinking?
Evil Geniuses has made significant roster changes to its Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) team, benching two high-profile players ahead of the organization’s final VCT Americas Stage 1 match against KRÜ. The benched players are Anthony ‘okeanos’ Nguyen and Corbin ‘C0M’ Lee, the latter being a Valorant Champions 2023 winner.
To fill the positions, Evil Geniuses promoted academy players Javan ‘zerona’ Varela and Jake ‘Paincakes’ Hass to the active roster. Additionally, the organization made coaching changes, promoting Daniel ‘Faded’ Hwang to Assistant Coach while removing Cole ‘meco1e’ Lewis from his position as active Head Coach.
The decision reflects Evil Geniuses’ response to underperformance this season. Soham ‘valens’ Chowdhury, the organization’s Head of Gaming and General Manager, issued a statement explaining the moves. He emphasized that “Evil Geniuses was founded on competitive excellence, and those standards have not changed.” Chowdhury acknowledged that the team’s VCT results “have fallen short of the standard expected of this organization” and took personal responsibility as General Manager to improve the situation.
The benching of C0M, a world champion, is particularly notable and signals the organization’s commitment to rapid change in response to mid-season struggles. This is a bold move for a prestigious esports organization, prioritizing competitive performance over roster stability. The promotions from the academy system suggest Evil Geniuses believes fresh talent and adjusted coaching could help the team regain form for the remainder of the season.