Following news of EG acquiring a CS:GO roster ahead of ESL One: New York, the organisation has also announced their return to LCS in the 2020 Spring Split and will once again compete at the top level of competitive League of Legends.
You saw that right — Evil Geniuses will be returning to the North American LCS (@LCSOfficial) for the 2020 Season.
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) September 26, 2019
It’s been a hell of a day, but support makes it all possible. Full details are here: https://t.co/TMsDfc31Mk pic.twitter.com/ZPuE9lfYjY
On their website, EG described the move as reinforcing the organisation as 'one of the top names in esports' as their bid for the vacant Echo Fox spot was accepted. Rather than signing the former Echo Fox roster, Evil Geniuses will be a new team built from scratch with no players yet confirmed to join the organisation. The desire for EG to be purely a 'top tier' organisation saw their Rocket League team paused earlier this year, suggesting there will be a serious investment and commitment to being competitive within LCS.
Dignitas and Immortals, two brands initially not picked by Riot when the league was franchised in 2017, will also be debuting in LCS next year following their respective acquisitions of the Clutch Gaming and OpTic Gaming spots. This marks a return for three brands that were present in the scene pre-franchising and continued presence from other big names such as 100 Thieves, Cloud9, Team Liquid and TSM.
Evil Geniuses' other big announcement was the reveal of their debut CS:GO roster. Despite success under NRG Esports, the lineup completed a transfer to EG in time for the ESL One: New York tournament this week. The last time EG had a Counter-Strike team was in 2012 before their American roster containing Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert disbanded that year and the organisation did not pick up a team for the newly released Global Offensive installment in the CS franchise.