Steven R. November 14, 2020
Evil Geniuses found a surprising replacement for departing off laner Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev.
The organization announced the signing of Daryl Koh “iceiceice” Pei Xiang. This will almost certainly mark the end of iceiceice’s time competing in Asia after over a decade of playing Dota 2 and Defense of the Ancients. The news was announced with a succinct tweet by Evil Geniuses.
With the addition of iceiceice, Evil Geniuses’ Dota 2 roster stands as follows:
- Artour “Arteezy” Babaev
- Abed "Abed" Azel L. Yusop
- Daryl Koh “iceiceice” Pei Xiang
- Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen
- Tal “Fly” Aizik
It is unclear if the organization is planning any other roster moves before returning to competition. RAMZES666 was removed from Evil Geniuses after a largely inactive season due to travel restrictions that forced the Russian to spend months away from the team. Abed is also still attached to Evil Geniuses’ roster and may be in a similar situation. The team has not competed in Dota 2 since September in Omega League’s Europe Immortal Division.
iceiceice a surprising, but strong addition to Evil Geniuses
iceiceice is an interesting addition to Evil Geniuses, though he should be a strong one. The Malaysian has been a force in Dota 2 throughout the game’s entire existence, playing with top teams in both southeast Asia and China including Vici Gaming and Team DK.
He most recently helped Fnatic post a banner year of dominating online leagues. This included a three-month stretch where Fnatic won every single event it competed in.
iceiceice was benched by Fnatic in September, reportedly due to the player seeking time off after a hectic summer. After a few weeks, he was released from the team entirely. Fnatic is yet to plug the hole left by iceiceice on its roster.
Time will tell whether iceiceice is a good addition to the team, but former Evil Geniuses off laner RAMZES666 already has a new home. He was recently announced to be reuniting with several former teammates, as well as former Evil Geniuses mid Syed “SumaiL” Hassan, on a new CIS team named Just Error.
It is unclear when the new Evil Geniuses will make its debut, or what region Evil Geniuses will be competing in moving forward.