EG caught a lot of flak at the start of the postseason for releasing Maven and adding deny after rosters had locked. They were required to play with someone off the bench and anomaly was up to the task. While many considered anomaly a less than stellar replacement, their presumptions have been put to bed. EG got better and better as a new unit during the playoffs and finally showcased a never before seen top form in the grand final.

The match began with Pandemic’s map choice, mp_strike. Not only is strike one of Pandemic’s best maps, it has also generally been considered to be EG’s worst. Anybody who didn’t know any better watching the match tonight might have inferred the opposite. EG blasted the door off of the match and jumped ahead to a 5-1 lead early on as defense. A key point late in the first half was when Pandemic had the bomb down in a 3v3 only to lose two fairly quickly. Prank` was left up against three EG defenders and managed to pick off two with his ak-74u before being taken out by a blinking red anomaly. EG finished the half ahead 8-4 which is a great start on another team’s map but is hardly an insurmountable lead going onto the tougher side on mp_strike. Once ahead, they never really let off the gas pedal. EG continued to pressure Pandemic once on offense and put the final touches on a first map 13-7 rout.

Heading into your map choice having won the first map is the ideal situation. Knowing what Pandemic is capable of, EG wasted no time being complacent on mp_backlot. As if the map transition had never occurred, EG ripped off the first round as defense. They kept their intensity up with a series of round-opening grenade kills and 1v1 clutch dominance and took the half 8-4. The story did not follow the same pattern in the second half. Instead, Pandemic came out at half with a lit fire beneath them and ripped off five straight rounds to take the lead for the first time tonight. The action was fast and furious throughout and round nineteen was particularly exciting when rob-wiz prefired Keith through the wall into top A only to be taken out from range by crzg. Alas, Pandemic’s lead was short-lived and they managed to only trade rounds until EG retook the lead 12-11. Round 24 came down to a crzg 1v2 which he was unable to convert and Evil Geniuses scored the CEVO-Professional crown by winning two maps to none.

 Evil Geniuses $2125
 Team Pandemic $1487.50

Final Score	1H	2H	OT	F
Evil Geniuses	1	1	-	2
Pandemic	-	-	-	-
Map: Best of Three
mp_strike: 8-4, 5-3 mp_backlot: 8-4, 5-7