Despite putting on one of the strongest runs at The International 8, Evil Geniuses are no longer in contention for the tournament’s grand finals.
PSG.LGD, who just barely lost out against OG in the tournament’s upper bracket finals on Aug. 24, completely dismantled the North American lineup today—sending the team home in third place, overall.
Evil Geniuses’ run prior to the lower bracket finals saw them eliminate two tournament favorites in a row by defeating Virtus Pro and Team Liquid. In these matches, the individual strength of midlaner Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan and support player Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen was on full display, something PSG.LGD shut down completely in the lower bracket finals.
For PSG.LGD, Lu “Somnus” Yao continued to be a stand-out performer for the team. The 22-year-old midlaner decisively won the midlane in both games of the series against Evil Geniuses. In particular, his performance on Tiny in the first game was the most impressive. Somnus proceeded to demolish Evil Geniuses, ending the game with a 13-1 kill/death score.
PSG.LGD will now play OG once again. But this time, the stakes are even higher. The winner of The International 8 grand final will be taking home roughly $11 million—making it the biggest prize payout in esports history.
The grand finals between OG and PSG.LGD is set to start at 4pm CT.
