After a shaky start to their LCS 2020 Summer campaign, Evil Geniuses opted to make some changes to their LoL roster by?signing the ex-Golden Guardians mid laner Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer?as a replacement for Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro. The removal of Jiizuke from their active roster also allowed EG to field Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon for the first time since they acquired the 2017 LoL World Championship grand finalist from Dignitas in May.

With two LoL esports veterans joining Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen, Bae “Bang” Jun-sik and Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam on the Evil Geniuses LCS roster, the expectations were high, so it was painful to see them lose to Team Liquid on Friday. But things took a sudden turn for the better in EG’s second match of the week, where they faced a Cloud9 side who had lost only one match out of 10 played.

Even though the bout was billed as heavily one-sided, Evil Geniuses managed to hold their ground and went back and forth with Cloud9 for the first 24 minutes of the game. While Cloud9 managed to keep themselves ahead of EG throughout the early-mid game, it all came crashing down for Yasin “Nisqy” Dincer and his crew at 31-minute mark when Evil Geniuses won a decisive teamfight near the dragon pit and made one final push into C9’s base to end the game.

The newcomers played a crucial role in EG’s upset win that night. Goldenglue showcased his old form on Zoe and ended the game with an impressive 6/2/7 record. The North American LoL esports pro also managed an impressive 28% damage share (21.3k damage) with only 21.7% gold share.

While Goldenglue did not disappoint, it was Huni who took the spotlight. The 22-year-old Korean star locked in his signature Gangplank into Eric “Licorice” Ritchie’s Sett and proved to the world he is still an elite-level player by ending the game with a 4/1/8 record and an outstanding 34.5% damage share (26.3k damage) with only 24.1% gold share.

Evil Geniuses now sit tied for fourth place with a 6-6 record, while Cloud9 share top spot with a surging Team Liquid outfit who have won seven matches in a row.

Considering Goldenglue signed only a six-day contract with Evil Geniuses that expires on Wednesday, July 22, it is still unclear whether EG will offer him a chance to extend his stay until the end of the season. However, after his phenomenal performance over the weekend, it seems highly likely the “Vault Boy” will remain with his new team for a while longer.

Evil Geniuses’ next LCS match is scheduled for Friday, July 24 at 18:00 PDT, when they will hope to improve their record with a win over bottom-ranked Immortals.

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Goldenglue’s arrival to Evil Geniuses was first unveiled on Wednesday with Riot’s Global Contract Database update and confirmed on Thursday by the player himself on his official Twitter page.

The signing of 23-year-old mid laner is not permanent, however, since his contract is set to expire on Wednesday, July 22, meaning EG are apparently bringing Goldenglue onto their LCS roster on a trial basis before making a lasting decision.

Evil Geniuses are likely to field their newest addition over Daniele “Jiizuke” di Mauro for their Friday match against Team Liquid and possibly also the Saturday match against the reigning LCS champions, Cloud9. At the time of writing, that was yet to be confirmed by the organisation.

It remains to be seen how much of a permanent effect this roster change will have on Evil Geniuses, however, some sort of roster shuffles have been a long time coming for EG due to their recent struggles through their LCS Summer campaign.

After making it to the semi-finals of LCS Spring Playoffs, the expectations put on Evil Geniuses were extremely high. Things, however, did not go as planned for Jiizuke and his crew, who after securing 3-1 record in the opening two weeks found themselves in a slump and produced a rather humiliating 2-4 run across the next three.

Even though a 5-5 record five weeks into the split is not terrible, it’s well below the expected return for Evil Geniuses, who were regarded by many analysts as the team who go toe-to-toe with Cloud9 and contest their first LCS title this split. It’s difficult to point fingers at one particular player who contributed to EG’s struggles, however, it’s fair to say Jiizuke’s subpar performances played a part in it.

Jiizuke has gained recognition as a player who can either play at an elite level or outright underperform. Unfortunately for the “Italian Stallion”, this split was more of the latter rather than the former, since he managed some of the worst marks in his position, including 2.7 KDA (fourth-lowest), 67.6% KPAR (fourth-lowest) and 3.6 average deaths per game (fourth-highest).

Goldenglue, on the other side, can’t be too happy with his experiences in the LCS Summer either, albeit for different reasons. After leading Golden Guardians to a fifth-sixth place finish in LCS 2020 Spring Playoffs, Goldenglue’s team turned their back on him at the start of the summer split and replaced him with Tanner “Damonte” Damonte as their new starting mid laner.

Since his services were no longer needed in Golden Guardians’ LCS team, Goldenglue ended up joining ?Golden Guardians Academy, where he remained for barely two weeks before he was let go to find a new home.

The 23-year-old LoL veteran, however, did not need long to fulfil his wishes to return to North America’s premier LoL competition. While Goldenglue’s move to EG only temporary for now, his performances across the upcoming weekend just might determine whether we will see more of him this season.

Evil Geniuses’ next LCS Summer fixture against Team Liquid is scheduled for Friday, July 17, at 19:00 PDT, followed by a Week 2 rematch with Cloud9 on Saturday, July 18 at 14:00 PDT.

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The news came through on Friday, just a month after Goldenglue was benched in favour of Tanner “Damonte” Damonte. With his departure, the 23-year-old ended his seven-month stint with Golden Guardians that began in November 2019 after he joined from Cloud9.

Confirming the news on Twitter, Goldenglue talked about his experience with Golden Guardians and the circumstances that led to his benching and eventual departure from the organisation.

“I think my current situation is very odd and I would have never guessed that I would be in this position if you asked me at the end of Spring Split,” he said.

“My end of season conversations with Golden Guardians went very well and I was both happy with the direction the team was heading and they were happy with my performance and attitude.”

Goldenglue went on to talk about how he was informed about the possible arrival of Damonte during the LCS off-season, and that he and Damonte would likely have to compete for the starting spot. At that time, Goldenglue was supposedly allowed to reach out to other teams, but he instead decided to stick with the organisation because he believed it was his best chance of making the League of Legends World Championship.

Once the LCS Summer practice matches began, Goldenglue felt like he was not going to keep his starting spot, even though his performances last split and during the off-season were solid. His fears came true in June, when Golden Guardians announced Goldenglue would join their academy roster to make room for Damonte.

“Golden Guardians gratefully helped me reach out to other LCS teams to look for a spot and were even willing to waive the buyout fee, as this all happened so last minute. However, I was unable to find a team to play for, as there were only a few days left until LCS started,” Goldenglue added.

Since Goldenglue lost his chance to compete in the LCS, he has been contemplating his options for the future.

“After talking to many friends and mentors within the industry, I’ve decided that coaching makes a lot of sense for me, considering my personality type and player experience,” he said.

“The fact that I have over 7 years of experience competing on countless teams, it makes it very easy for me to relate and talk to players.”

Goldenglue is one of the most experienced players in the North American LoL scene. He began his esports career in 2013 at 17 years of age and has since accumulated an impressive portfolio of achievements, including third-fourth place at IEM Season 11 Gyeonggi, fourth place at the NA LCS 2014 Spring, and runner-up finishes at NA LCS 2018 Summer and LCS 2019 Spring.

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