Stewie2K hits back at ex-EG coach EVY: “I can’t believe I had respect for this man”
João Ferreira/PGLEvil Geniuses captain Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip has responded to criticism levied against him by former EG coach Paolo ‘EVY’ Berbudeau, disputing his version of events, while admitting fault for his poor form and leadership.
Evil Geniuses’ roster coming into 2022 was a mix of North American talent that had been on the periphery of tier 1 in CS:GO for much of the previous year. Along with former Cloud9 teammates Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba and Timothy ‘automatic’ Ta (fresh back from a stint in Valorant), he joined Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte and Bulgarian AWPer Tsvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov.
Despite hopes that this team could be a dark horse NA lineup, it very quickly became evident that this would not be the case. Failure to qualify for the PGL Major Antwerp was followed by a string of early exits at ESL Pro League, IEM Dallas qualifier, and BLAST Premier Spring Showdown.
In an interview with 1pv, EVY, a former assistant coach at EG, laid the blame for much of the team’s failures at the feet of Stewie2K, specifically his inability to work with head coach Damien ‘maLeK’ Marcel. He said Stewie wouldn’t say hello to maLeK and would turn away when he was speaking.
Stefan Petrescu/PGLEVY also called into question Stewie2k’s form inside the server, which has undeniably been a shadow of the once-Major winning player who shone on Cloud9 and Liquid rosters. “He doesn’t challenge himself as a player anymore and he’s not a good leader,” EVY said.
Stewie denies involvement in kicking coaches
Addressing EVY’s comments directly on stream, Stewie said, “I can’t believe I ever had respect for this man, ever. […] On my life, I had nothing to do with changes to the coaching staff. I didn’t even know it was happening. No one on the team knew.”
EVY had claimed that Stewie2K was the only EG player that didn’t reach out to himself and maLeK after they were kicked. He also claimed that he found out he had been kicked through posts on Twitter.
PGLStewie addresses his performance
Stewie also hit back at EVY’s criticism of his personal rating and poor performance. “Don’t you think I’m aware I f**king suck? That I’m putting the team in front of me? That I’m worried about the other side of the map?
“Even the fact that we’re not ready, and trying to focus on everything else but my game. Like, yes, it takes a toll. And I’m not blaming anyone for that. I took accountability for that.”
He said that after their EPL exit, he took the blame on his shoulders. “I sucked, I don’t know why I can’t kill anybody, I don’t know why I can’t put up numbers. There’s so much more to account for. This [rating] doesn’t define what happened to me this season.”
“You don’t think [I know] I failed the project? You don’t think [I know] I failed being a captain? I want to turn back time and fix it the right way. I want to do all of that. But I can’t. And I’m sorry for all the fans that had to see our results this year. We couldn’t win a map. We couldn’t do any of that.”
Stewie concluded by explaining that he reached out to maLeK after his removal to apologize, and acknowledged he “isn’t cut out to be a captain.”
What’s next for this Evil Geniuses roster is unclear. EG launched their ‘Blueprint’ project in June, now fielding three complete rosters of NA-based players. Operating as a “fluid” roster, the Blueprint is aiming to be a development program for NA talent.