Evil Geniuses replace Deftly with Danny in the bot lane for LCS Summer

Evil Geniuses is preparing for the 2021 LCS Summer Split which has led to a change in the bot lane. 

In a recent announcement, Evil Geniuses revealed that bot laner Matthew “Deftly” Chen will be replaced by Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki who played the recent split on Evil Genius’ amateur team. The young 17-year-old bot laner can therefore look forward to his first split in the LCS after only one split in the amateur leagues.

The replacement leaves Deftly without a team going into the next split, after joining Evil Geniuses in January 2020 for the academy team.  

Danny, formerly known as Shiro, was part of Evil Geniuses Prodigies during the recent split where the team finished on a shared fifth place in the LCS Proving Grounds. Playing against amateur teams as well as Academy teams, Danny proved himself as a promising young talent. 

“We were delighted to see both of our developmental squads make it to the top six in Proving Grounds,” EG director of esports Greg Kim said. “But more importantly, we saw our players make good progress in their growth. Heading into Summer, we look forward to continuing our evolution with some changes to our rosters.”

Evil Geniuses will enter the summer split after placing fifth in the 2021 LCS Mid-Season Showdown. Evil Geniuses was knocked out by TSM in a fairly one-sided series, despite showing great games throughout the split. Evil Geniuses’ biggest weakness during the spring split was its inconsistency, which a fresh talent like Danny will look to improve. 

With the right guidance under veterans such as support Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun and Jeong “Impact” Eon-young, Danny might be in the right place to learn and adapt to the big stage. If Evil Geniuses succeed, Danny might end up as one of the best examples of betting on domestic talent. 

With the absence of Danny on the amateur team, Evil Geniuses has added bot laner Luke “TeamLuke” Wasikowski and support Daniel “SkyTech” Soetikno. SkyTech will replace former support Lin “Mist” Zi-Lan on Evil Geniuses Prodigies. 

Danny will debut on the LCS stage when the summer split kicks off on June 4. 

Who are the Evil Geniuses in LoL?

Evil Geniuses is one of 10 teams participating in the North American LCS. Evil Geniuses owns a spot in the franchise and will field the following players in the 2021 LCS Summer Split. 

Evil Geniuses 2021 LCS roster: 

• Top – Jeong “Impact” Eon-young
• Jungle – Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen
• Mid – Daniele “Jiizuke” Mauro
• Bot – Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki
• Support – Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun