Evil Geniuses acquire League of Legends LCS spot from Echo Fox
@Nimble_CODEvil Geniuses are jumping back into League of Legends by acquiring the North American League Championship Series franchise spot from Echo Fox, according to ESPN Esports’ Jacob Wolf.
Update: The acquisition has been confirmed by Evil Geniuses, as of 5:32 pm EST.
You saw that right — Evil Geniuses will be returning to the North American LCS (@LCSOfficial) for the 2020 Season.
It’s been a hell of a day, but support makes it all possible. Full details are here: https://t.co/TMsDfc31Mk pic.twitter.com/ZPuE9lfYjY
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) September 26, 2019
It’s been a memorable Thursday for Evil Geniuses. The North American organization made early morning waves with the acquisition of the NRG Esports CS:GO roster just before those players appeared to compete at the ESL One NY tournament.
But the Blue brand didn’t stop there, as they have made another big splash in North American esports by acquiring the lone available LCS slot from Echo Fox, as initially reported by ESPN’s Jacob Wolf.
Sources: @EvilGeniuses will acquire the League of Legends Championship Series slot previously owned by @echofoxgg after being selected by Riot Games as the league's newest member.
Evil Geniuses return to League of Legends for the first time since Sept. 10, 2014.
— Jacob Wolf (@JacobWolf) September 26, 2019
Evil Geniuses attempted to buy the Echo Fox slot earlier in the summer, after Riot gave the Echo Fox organization an ultimatum to sell following the debacle with an investor in the 2019 campaign. The previous attempt fell through after a report showed financial issues with EG’s bid.
Just like how their CS:GO announcement marked a return to the scene, their LCS announcement today marks a return to the competitive League of Legends scene as well. At the beginning of 2013, Evil Geniuses became a part of the European scene by acquiring the Counter Logic Gaming EU squad after they walked from CLG.
EG EU finished third in the 2013 Summer EU LCS Playoffs, but missed out on 2013 Worlds. Evil Geniuses then gave up their EU spot and moved to North America, and qualified for the NA LCS via the promotion tournament.
But after GoodGame Agency was purchased by Twitch, both its brands in EG and Alliance were forced to rebrand at the beginning of 2015, to Winterfox and Elements respectively. Winterfox failed to retain their spot in the NA LCS, and then finished dead last in the Challenger Series before disbanding in July 2015.
Krepo with Evil Geniuses in 2014. He stayed with EG when they moved from Europe to NA.The past few months have seen incredible changes for Evil Geniuses, not just including the CS:GO acquisition. The organization announced in July that they would not pursue a franchise spot in the upcoming Call of Duty league, and recently announced surprising departures to their legendary Dota 2 roster.
With the acquisition, all the upcoming changes to the teams competing in the 2020 LCS have been set.
Clutch Gaming will rebrand to Dignitas following the slot purchase from the Houston Rockets. OpTic Gaming will rebrand to Immortals following Immortals’ purchase of Infinite Esports. And now Evil Geniuses will join the LCS following the purchase of the Echo Fox slot.