E-Sports: EG vs. 100 Thieves
Another month, another great matchup for you all. Evil Geniuses comes in vs. the return of 100 Thieves. On Evil Geniuses, we have Gnar, Jarvan XIII, Orianna, Zeri, and Nautilus vs. 100 Thieves’ Graves, Volibear, Twisted Fate, Jinx, and Tahm Kench. Bit of an off-meta matchup on Evil Genius' part but that may just play in their favor. In any case, let’s get into the match and see how things went down.
The first several minutes went slow but smoothly with both sides making trades—neither one willing to commit to the kill. Early Water Dragon's objective on 100 Thieves grants them a quick advantage, and Jarvan sees an opening near the mid-lane tower, rushing in after an Orianna hard crowd control and taking first blood. That’s a big boost of gold and XP for Evil Geniuses, but will they keep that advantage? Time will tell.
Early game continues steadily going with both sides fairly well balanced up to the 10-minute mark. No one is willing to commit to a kill making it look like this match is going to heavily depend on the dragon stacks. As the second dragon gets ready, a massive fight breaks out between the sides to try and steal, with Evil Geniuses’ Jarvan managing to sneak it out from under 100 Thieves’ noses amid combat. No further kills were achieved but that was a masterful steal nonetheless. Things have evened out now with dragons, but Evil Geniuses still have the kill lead—albeit barely. Moving forward though, 100 Thieves spies Evil Geniuses’ Nautilus standing alone in the jungle and with the help of their Jarvan, absolutely demolishes him in a matter of seconds, evening out the scores even further with Twisted Fate claiming the kill.
A nasty team fight breaks out in Bot lane with a 4v4 starting up, but zero blood is to be shed as Graves up in Top Lane takes advantage of the chaos, taking first turret and Jinx immediately taking the second one. Volibear rushes into mid, cleaning up shop and clearing out Orianna, but meanwhile, Gnar is followed and backed by the Rift Herald, granting him a huge amount of pushing power and taking a tower for Evil Geniuses as 100 Thieves takes their second dragon without any opposition. Pressure is staying up in Mid Lane with neither side breaking as Gnar begins helping with pushing Bot before being chased off by Graves. 100 Thieves, meanwhile, is taking advantage of Evil Geniuses’ lackluster map awareness, placing wards and keeping up their vision. Evil Geniuses take the first mid-tower but are quickly pushed away by a 3v2 match-up, putting the attackers at a pretty steep disadvantage. Another massive team fight begins at the dragon, but it is too little too late, as 100 Thieves manages to steal it and snag another stack of Cloud Drake. Graves keeps up the pressure, pushing Gnar back and nailing a good chunk of damage on the bot lane tower, as it looks like 100 Thieves is starting to group up mid-lane to bolster their defenses. Passing the twenty-minute mark, Baron Nashor has spawned. First to take those objective nets gets a massive offensive boost to their team, and Volibear retreats from the area after securing some vision. Meanwhile, Gnar takes advantage of the quiet, clearing out the bot lane tower for his side and moving on.
100 Thieves groups up in mid moving towards the River and preparers to start up a hefty team fight in the Dragon. There’s a lot of poking as the two sides go at it, and in a massive upset, 100 Thieves manages to steal drake and secures the Cloud Soul, dramatically ramping up their team’s mobility and forcing a massive slaughter-fest 100 Thieves begins absolutely butchering Evil Genius. They pick out the stragglers and take them apart piece by piece until they manage to snag a powerful ace granting them a massive boost, stealing Baron immediately after. Things are looking incredible for 100 Thieves, but the game is far from over yet. What started as an incredibly slow match has exploded in action.
Elder Drake has dropped, granting the killer a full-on execution and some extra damage boost. As the dragon is taken by Evil Geniuses, Graves snags the top lane inhibitor sending Super Minions down the top lane. Taking advantage of the chaos, 100 Thieves snags the Bot Lane Inhibitor as well. With that said despite the absolutely nasty inhibitor steal, Evil Geniuses manages to take advantage of the Elder Dragon steal and Baron power boost, mowing down the Mid Lane and taking their inhibitor. Things are looking pretty balanced, slightly in 100 Thieves’ favor, but with their buffs starting to wear off, they are on the clock to see if they can pull this off.
As the timer for the dragon buff burns out and the next one spawns in, Graves takes out the bottom lane inhibitor as Twisted Fate and swaps out one of his spells to Smite—dealing an incredible amount of damage to jungle monsters—before activating his Ultimate. It gives him the ability to teleport to any enemy on the battlefield and to see where they all are. Using this combination, he teleports into the midst of the dragon fight and manages to steal the dragon all on his own in an incredible display of skill and strategy!
Meanwhile, Zeri does a heavy counter push, a traditionally offensive play, but in this case, it is distinctly defensive, as it pulls the enemy team away from their base and towards their own to keep things safe. With that said, it is not looking like it will be quite enough as 100 Thieves takes Baron and gets ready to sweep the remainder of Evil Geniuses’ base. A two-pronged split push is being attempted as all three inhibitors are broken, dramatically increasing the number of super minions being sent into the enemy base and allowing for a massive offensive push. Evil Geniuses are getting desperate as they try to outlast the Baron Buff. They have no choice but to try and be defensive—something that they can achieve as their team fighting capability is a bit stronger. Evil Geniuses manage to hold strong, and the Baron Buff wears off, forcing 100 Thieves to retreat and reset. Another big team fight breaks out and with another massive Ace, the entirety of Evil Geniuses is wiped, and 100 Thieves closes in on the Nexus and secures the win!
