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The Fated Conflict: Evil Geniuses take down EDward Gaming at Valorant Champions 2023
The final game of the Valorant Champions 2023 Upper Quarter Finals featured a much awaited clash between NA and China. EG’s IGL Boostio went on record to say China can never come close to North America in Valorant. Added to this was the fact, EG was BM’ing the chinese third seed FPX during their game. After the FPX game, EG doubled down on the statement. The Chinese Valorant fans weren’t thrilled with EG’s attitude towards the Chinese teams and since then everyone was waiting for EG to clash with EDward Gaming, the best of Chinese Valorant.
The clash between China and NA started on Split. With Split’s attack being forte’s of EDG, we saw them bullying EG for eight rounds. EG came back and the regulation ended in a tie. In overtime, We saw EDG running away with the map to secure an early lead. Ascent started similarly but EG were quick to reply. Winning eight rounds in a row after a 0-4 start and converting the lead to a strong 13-5 victory. Pearl was no different and eventually EG closed the series.
After the game, both teams attended the Valorant Champions 2023 Post-match press conference. Following is Strafe's excerpt from the press conference.
Q. (for EDG AfteR) Split Defense has been a concern for EDward Gaming. What do you think the team needs to do in order to strengthen the defense on Split?
EDG AfteR: “I think it really depends on who we are facing off against. I think the things our opponents did today are pretty simple. They were just shift walking around the map, it was probably because we let go of many resources on the map and a lot of information. We made ourselves really vulnerable and we were unaware of a lot of things. That’s probably the reason and also what we would try to fix to become stronger on defense on Split.”
Q. (For EG Potter) Split was a close game with EDG eventually running away with the map. After a tough loss, the team is usually disheartened. What did you tell your players to get their spirits up high so that they can dominate Ascent and force a third map?
EG Potter: “I told them to start having fun. I think the first eight rounds of Split were just, I always say this to the guys, but it was unlucky. Starting the first pistol, we were up 5v4, the first gun round we were up 4v3. So many times we had a man advantage, EDG did a fantastic job of cutting noise and re-executing on us. Oftentimes we weren’t ready for us.
Honestly, for these guys, it was just the matter of loosening up. We looked really stale in the beginning, we were shying away from the fights, so during that pause we were just hey, I think Max initiated it, Tony then said it to me during the match. Max was like hey my ace, I was like, these guys always comm like that and we need more of that. We need these guys to loosen up and have some more fun. So that was our conversation.”
Q. (For EG Potter) Was there a reason you chose to switch up Split and Pearl composition?
EG Potter: “On Split, we had the double-dive. We had that for a long time, we stole it from LOUD and made it ours, we made it even better. We are pretty proud of that but coming into this tournament we really wanted to figure out how to make Chamber a thing and we have been working hard on that. Today, we didn’t show the best start but we finished strong so I think still for Split we will talk about it. We will talk about the changes that we made. I think there’s still a lot to be unlocked. So not too disappointed. “
Q. And why did you bring back Yoru on Pearl?
EG Potter: “Our attack on Pearl was just dodo. I think our defense was fantastic, we had 9-3 half twice. And then on the attack side we just couldn’t find the gaps. Yoru really enables that, Yoru really puts a lot of pressure on the defenders and Ethan does a fantastic job at that. We knew we needed a little bit of an edge on attack side and so that’s what we worked on”
Evil Geniuses face the Korean Dragons DRX today for the Upper Finals. For more updates on Valorant Champions 2023, follow Valorant Champions tour Twitter.
Credits: Riot Games // Valorant Champions Tour.