Art By: John "MONSTRO" Chamboullides

Team EG and Deadzone


Team EG



Starting lineup

Matt "bloodshot" Stevenson
Kirt "In Flames" Kolach
Pasha "Red Dragon" Lari
Scott "Scott" Bechdholt
Robert "Black Panther" Tyndale

Recent Accomplishments

2005 Summer CPL - 2nd place
2005 Summer WEG - attendee

Team Info

EG is a Canadian based team with 3 members based out of Edmonton, and 2 in Vancouver. They have had the same lineup for about 3 years. Most of the time they've been together they've been playing in CAL-Invite.

Recent Changes

Scott Bechdholt has been inactive recently and the team has had Griffin "ShaGuar" Benger ringing for them. Fans speculated that Shaguar may join EG, but as most know, he recently joined 3D instead. For this upcoming season EG expects Scott to come back and complete their starting 5.

IceCream's Analysis

Canada has a proud group of fans, and EG has long been their team to cheer for. Recently EG has returned to stellar play giving something for the Canadians to be proud of. The one dynamic to this team has been Shaguar, who played for them at CPL and Newegg. Playing with Shaguar has resulted in EG's best finish ever at CPL with an impressive 2nd place. Was Shaguar the reason for this great finish? Will they struggle without him? Maybe, but I doubt it. EG was great before ShaGuar played for them and even recently played some excellent CS at WEG. Unfortunately that can be overlooked because they were knocked out early due to a flash bang bug causing them a huge number of rounds. Without that flash bang, EG probably would have had a great finish at WEG, WITHOUT SHAG. Now EG expects Scott to return to their active 5, putting them back with the same lineup they've used for 3 years. Don't worry Canada, EG will be just fine without ShaGuar.

To break down EG's actual play in matches; we have to start by looking at their team chemistry. Like it says above, they've had the same lineup for 3 years. That's almost unheard of at the top level of CS. Even the powerhouses in CS history encountered roster changes such as NiP and 3D. This consistent lineup makes it easy for EG to return to top play, IF they're active. We saw what happens when they are not active. Earlier in the year, they were demoted out of CAL-invite after a very long stay up top. In CAL-p, they had a decent showing, but not what we'd expect from EG. During this downfall, they were then invited to WEG and quickly got back into top form. That shows how much the roster stability and experience together helps them. Add that consistency with a mix of some unreal skilled players like Stevenson, and some very intelligent and talented role players and you have the powerhouse we know as Evil Geniuses. If they stay active then expect a very strong finish from Canada's finest.


Deadzone



Starting lineup

Andy "Talon" Penwell
Jonathan "Arkael" Harding
Alex "Axel" Maynard
Stew "emz" Houston
Halston "Teknikal" Bellintani

Recent Accomplishments

1st GGL 2004
3rd CAL-I season 14
3rd CEVO-P season 1
8th CPL summer 2005
2nd ACON5 New York
1st at 5+ TFL LANs

Team Info

Deadzone is a Canadian team that is local to the Toronto area. They've had the same four guys in their starting lineup for a year now with the only exception being Teknikal who joined later and has been with the team for about six months.

Recent Changes

None. The only exception in this was last CPL where Grt from eGe rang for them because emz was too young to participate.

IceCream's Analysis

Deadzone has been a solid team for more than a year now with several LAN wins and great finishes in CAL-invite. The ingredients for Deadzone to be a top team are all in place. Everyone is local to Toronto which makes LANing together very easy. They've also had the same lineup for a long period of time. Unfortunately, even with all of Deadzones local and online success, the spotlight for Canada has remained on EG. While EG was in CAL-p they were still "Canada's" team. What Deadzone needs to do now is make a big impact at a major tournament. They had this chance at the last CPL where they finished 8th, but I think it could have been even better if emz was old enough to attend.

Deadzone's play style is unique, especially on CT side. They play with aggressive setups on almost every map organizing split pushes, rushes, and traps. This technique can throw off the timing of their opponents’ strats enough for DZ to take a large number of rounds. The aggressive CT setup style gained a lot of attention at this last CPL due to iDemise's success especially against MiBR on mill. For anyone that saw that match, DZ has basically the same CT approach on mill as well as other maps. Deadzone's Terrorist setups and styles vary from map to map which also works to their advantage. The deadzone players are all very skilled with all pistols and all guns. This gives them the ability to adapt to any map or money situation. All this makes deadzone one of the more dynamic and sometimes unpredictable teams but it definitely works for them. I expect another solid season from these guys with even the potential to finish as high as 3rd again like last season.