Evil Geniuses no longer has a head coach for its CS:GO team. Wilton “zews” Prado confirmed today that he’s parted ways with the team, finishing a 14-month stint, after a report was published by HLTV yesterday.
The 33-year-old Brazilian resigned from his position just ahead of the start of IEM Summer, a $250,000 tournament in Europe that will start tomorrow, June 3. He left over a difference of opinion regarding the team’s direction, according to HLTV’s report.
“It has been a crazy 14 months with many ups and downs,” zews said in an official statement. “During what turned out to be one of the craziest periods in human history, I saw our team reach #1 in the world and lift many thropies, while also facing painful losses. Even though my time here was brief, these are memories that I will not forget.”
He had a positive impact on the team right after his arrival in April 2020, when he replaced Chet Singh and helped the team win three tournaments in North America: BLAST Premier Spring American Finals over MIBR, cs_summit six over Gen.G, and, most notably, ESL One Cologne against Team Liquid. Zews made it clear that he’s committed to keep coaching in Counter-Strike
“I love this game and have dedicated my life to it,” zews said. “This is not about to change anytime soon. If you or your organization share my values and need a hungry and hardworking individual, don’t be shy to send me a message. I want to hear from you.”
Zews has had a long career in the Counter-Strike scene. He played CS 1.6, CS: Source, and CS:GO professionally in Brazil before transitioning to coach in the latter title. He was a part of the Luminosity Gaming roster that later became SK Gaming and won the two CS:GO Majors in 2016.
The 33-year-old briefly competed again, this time for Immortals, before moving back to coaching. He had a long tenure with Liquid before reuniting with the Major-champion core of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga, and Marcelo “coldzera” David on MIBR in December 2018, where he stayed until March 2020 and went to EG.
Zews is still tied to EG and will be working with the organization to figure out the next steps for his career, according to the Brazilian coach. This is the third roster change EG has made in 2021. It replaced Ethan Arnold with Owen “oBo” Schlatter in March after he left to play VALORANT for 100 Thieves and replaced Tarik Celik with the Polish rifler MichaÅ‚ “MICHU” Müller.
The North Americans, who have been struggling since the end of last year when they traveled to Europe to compete, didn’t get any better after the two initial roster changes and things are not looking bright for IEM Summer, where they’ll face Team Spirit in the opening round tomorrow, June 3, at 7:20am CT.
