Over the coming weeks, I'll be closely evaluating how different iterations of our roster perform alongside feedback from our VCT team. At the same time, we'll continue working closely with team members on our reserve roster as we evaluate the best next steps for their future, whether that's within Evil Geniuses or elsewhere. Developing and creating opportunities for emerging talent is a core principle of our Academy program and an important part of how we operate as an organization, and we'll continue investing in the players and staff who earn those opportunities. Continuous improvement is our expectation, but winning is the standard.

WE ARE GOING TO THE GRAND FINALS 🎉

A GENIUS PULL! Welcome Coop's Collection to Evil Geniuses!

PLAYOFFS BOUND. #VCTGameChangers

Press play on summer. Shop the LIMITED EG Summer Collection.

FLAWLESS run in #VCTGameChangers Stage 2 Open Qualifiers! See you in Swiss!

Come watch #VCTAmericas with us this weekend at TIMEOUT Tea Club! Stop by for FREE drinks and Riot swag!

This summer's gonna be a movie. Shop the LIMITED EG Summer Collection now.

The return to VCT. Welcome @Faded_VL as our Assistant Coach.

Welcome to the big stage, @PaincakesVAL and @1zerona.

WE HAVE QUALIFIED FOR THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 🎉 See you all in San Francisco!!

Show Them Who You Really Are The best part about showing up every day as a professional esports player: you were invited into the arena in the first place. That's true whether you're the new player trying to keep up, the one everyone already calls a superstar, or even the player who seems untouched by everything around them. You don't end up in those rooms by accident. At some point, someone saw something in you and made a call. This doesn't disappear just because things get harder or expectations get louder. It's fair to push back on that a little. Esports isn't perfect. Sometimes rosters come together for messy reasons. Sometimes people get chances early, or unevenly, or before they're fully ready. And yes, sometimes you actually are behind the curve when you first get there. None of that is crazy to admit. Being early, however, isn't the same as not belonging. Being unsure doesn't mean you're a mistake. It usually just means you're in the middle of catching up to the level you were brought in for. That tension shows up the same way for almost everyone, just with different flavors. Newer players feel like they're trying not to get exposed. More established players start feeling like they have something to protect. Then there are players who seem completely unbothered-- they just play, they don't overthink, and pressure doesn't really touch them. Some people are naturally low-friction mentally, or they trust their game enough that outside noise doesn't move them much. Don't compare yourself to that third category as the gold standard, because sometimes it just hasn't caught up to them yet either. Over time, if nothing gets in, nothing really changes either.. and no one stays on top forever. In all cases, it shows up in the exact moments that matter-- on stage, in scrims, in reviews, in team discussions. You hold something back, or play something safer, or wait a beat too long to say what you were thinking. If you're reading this thinking, "easy to say, but if I mess up, I actually can get benched"-- you're not wrong. This space is competitive and spots aren't permanent. Shrinking yourself doesn't really protect that either though. It just makes it harder for people to see the version of you they picked up in the first place. Those day-to-day moments are where things start to move as a unit. It won't be in some dramatic, career-defining play, but in small decisions where the frictionless way out is usually the wrong one. Trust a read even if it might be wrong. Speak up in a review even if it comes out a bit rough. Stay engaged when it would be easier to disappear for a few rounds. For younger players, that's usually how the game slows down and starts to feel more like yours. For veterans, it's how you avoid getting tight and stuck playing not to lose. For the players who have always felt unbothered, it's how you keep growing instead of staying the same while everyone around you (including your opponent) levels up. None of this guarantees anything. You can do all of it and still hit rough patches. That's part of the job (and really, it's part of the appeal of this profession.) This isn't about pretending everything works out cleanly. Just don't make it harder on yourself by letting that internal voice run every decision. You were already in the room. If you keep choosing to show up inside it, especially when it's uncomfortable, eventually you stop trying to prove you belong to yourself. Whatever happens after that, at least it's decided on something real and not on a version of you that hesitated and played smaller than you actually are. Whether it works out or not, you won't be stuck replaying the same moments wondering if you ever gave your team the real version of you to evaluate. No one benefits from that. Seriously, ask your mentors and peers-- that's the only version of the story your future self will actually be okay with.

O resultado vem do trabalho. A humildade vem dos dois. Hoje começa um novo capítulo.

"Don't respect them" gets said a lot in esports, and it usually comes from trying to reinforce confidence, but over time it starts to blur concepts together. Confidence and arrogance are not the same thing, and attention and respect are not the same thing either, even though they tend to get treated like they are. Confidence is quieter than people expect. It's built over time and it doesn't need the round to validate it in order to stay intact. Arrogance is more impatient. It decides what the round should look like before it has a chance to unfold, and when it doesn't match that picture, it starts trying to pull it back into something familiar. That's where attention drifts-- you might stop responding to what's actually happening and start reacting to what feels wrong. Anyone who has played long enough has felt this moment. Someone does something that doesn't line up with how the game is supposed to be played, the timing feels off, the decision looks questionable, and the instinct is to dismiss it. "That's dumb." "That shouldn't work." Yet the round ends for you on the sidelines. The game didn't bend for them, it didn't give them something different, it allowed it within the same constraints you're playing under. If it worked, it existed, regardless of how it looked. That's where respect comes in, and it has nothing to do with the other team's name or how their players are perceived. It's about the game itself, and the willingness to stay aligned with it even when it doesn't match your expectations. If something keeps working against you, there's something there that hasn't been accounted for yet, and attention has to move toward that instead of defending the version of the round you thought you were playing. Some players won't follow the patterns that were taught, and some won't even understand why what they're doing works, but that doesn't make it random, it just means it's your job to recognize it and plan how to deal with it next time. There's also a part of this that shows up after the round in comms, when there's a choice between saying what is necessary for your team to win the round and saying something that shifts the blame. It might be small at first, a slight shift in how something is described, or leaving out a detail that puts more of it on you, but over time that habit compounds. You can end up protecting a version of events that feels better instead of one that would help you improve, and that gap doesn't stay in conversation, it shows up again in the next round. Sometimes the best option is saying nothing at all beyond painting the setup clearly for your team, because once the picture is accurate, the why takes care of itself without needing to be forced. There's a line from John Wooden that holds up here: "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." Confidence sits in that first part and doesn't need immediate confirmation to stay steady. Arrogance sits in the second and starts reaching when the game doesn't agree with it. Over time, the balance becomes clearer in how decisions are made. When the game presents something that is actually there, attention tightens and it gets taken without hesitation, and when it doesn't, there's no need to force a version of the round that isn't being offered. The game doesn't change based on what you expect from it, but your ability to see it clearly can change everything about how you respond to it, and that's where progress (however small) can come from. No matter how sharp you are or how much you remember, this game hasn’t happened before. Treat it that way.

It's not about the spotlight, but what pulls you back into it. The cinemasterclass returns. April 11 @ 2PM PT | #VCTAmericas

Have self-confidence and also know you have a lot to learn; both are equally imporant. Anything else is a disservice to future you. A couple of related quotes for a casual Wednesday night: "The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life." - Muhammad Ali "People who are right a lot of the time are people who often change their minds." - Jeff Bezos

Meet the coach behind the ELEAGUE 2018 Boston Major 🧠 Join @valens as he shares his journey breaking into esports from Tesla and Google to Head of Gaming & Data Science at Evil Geniuses. 🗓 March 26 ⏰ 6:00 PM PT 📍 Genius League Discord

Fit for a masterclass. Pre-order the EG 2026 Pro Windbreaker now.

The Genius League is excited to host the VALORANT Collegiate Cup bringing top SoCal collegiate programs together on LAN! 📅 March 21 @ 10:00AM PT 📍 Newegg Gamer Zone 📺 twitch.tv/evilgeniuses Join us in person to watch live and meet the EG VCT team. Limited tickets below ⬇️

The Big EG Bundle might be @deapps' new go-to bundle. Who else is counting down the days until your duo buys it for you?