Evil Geniuses' Ssumday on team's sickness and series against CLG
Evil Geniuses' top laner Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho walks onto the LCS stage with his keyboard strapped to his side and his mice in the other. He sits in his chair while doing the usual routine of an LCS pro about to play on the LCS stage. For most, that subtle daily routine of preparing to play a set of stage games would be a normal monotonous routine. For Ssumday, it was a luxury that he had been deprived of for weeks.
Turbulence in the EG camp due to sickness
Evil Geniuses during LCS 2023 Spring Split.
Colin Young-Wolff via Riot Games
During weeks 7 and 8 of the LCS 2023 Spring Split, Evil Geniuses were left to deal with a number of issues due to sickness. During this time, the team was unable to field Joseph “Jojopyun” Pyun for some scrims, as well as one LCS stage game during week 7. While the team was able to win with Evil Geniuses Challengers midlaner Tommy “ry0ma” Le, the disruption in practice was something that really affected the team during the closing weeks of the LCS 2023 Spring Split.
“During scrims we changed mid, ad, and jungle briefly for scrims because of sickness,” Ssumday shared. “Each change was only for one day of scrims, but when someone got better, someone else would get sick the day after. So we couldn’t do too much.”
While Ssumday wasn’t impacted by the sicknesses as much as some of his teammates, being away from the LCS stage was a very big adjustment for him as a player.
“It was really tough because I feel that I play better when I am on the stage compared to at home. This was something I noticed in my team as well because we were all playing worse,” Ssumday shared. “I really missed being able to play on the stage so it feels great to be back.”
Throughout the majority of the LCS 2023 Spring Split, Evil Geniuses were in contention for a spot in the top 2 of the LCS 2023 Spring Split regular season standings. However, those final two weeks saw Evil Geniuses drop from their stronghold on third place, which was something Ssumday had felt was securely theirs.
“I thought it was kind of guaranteed for us to get third place because we had so many chances to secure that position, but we lost every single game, including tiebreakers which were really depressing,” Ssumday truthfully shared before revealing the silver lining to it all. “But we won’t be sick for another six months most likely so maybe this period could be really good for us.”
Prior to their two weeks of sickness, Evil Geniuses would often find themselves lacking “concentration” because of how well scrims were going midway through the split, according to Evil Geniuses botlaner Victor “FBI” Huang. These multiple factors left Evil Geniuses on the outs of a top-four finish by ending the season in fifth place. Regardless, it seems that the team has since been able to bounce back from these trying times.
Evil Geniuses 3-0 CLG in LCS 2023 Spring playoffs
Ssumday shared that he had been surprised by CLG’s strong series against Cloud9 in the Upper Bracket of the LCS 2023 Spring Split playoffs. He was notably impressed by CLG’s cohesive play against the number one LCS team. Regardless, Ssumday went into their series against CLG in the Lower Bracket with confidence because he had felt CLG
“They played really well, but I was confident we would win because they showed a lot of their strategy so it was really easy to prepare for them,” Ssumday shared.
When asked exactly what he noticed in their play, Ssumday noted CLG’s tendency to lean towards “dive” and “AD mid” compositions. That understanding of the team’s strengths helped Evil Geniuses all throughout their 3-0 victory over CLG. In the first two games, CLG had strong setups around objectives for fights with Evil Geniuses, but was unable to execute that properly because of Evil Geniuses’ preparation.
That being said, Ssumday also made note of his own shock at the amount of “mistakes” CLG had made throughout the series, especially after being impressed by their series against Cloud9.
“They made a lot of mistakes, which I wasn't expecting after watching them play Cloud9” Ssumday truthfully revealed. “They gave us a lot of space in those team fights, but it happens. They are still human so I understand.”
The only sign of true resistance throughout the series was in the final game of the series, where CLG created a 5k gold lead for themselves at 30 minutes before ultimately losing the game to Evil Geniuses.
A rematch with former teammate Huhi
Golden Guardians during the LCS 2023 Spring Split.
Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
Now, after a strong 3-0 win, Evil Geniuses are one series away from the LCS Finals Weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina. In their way stands the LCS sixth seed, Golden Guardians, who pulled off a strong 3-2 win over 100 Thieves. While many, including his teammates, were surprised, it was an outcome Ssumday had “expected”.
“Compared to 100 Thieved and CLG, Golden Guardians are quite good so I expected to be playing against them,” Ssumday shared.
While Ssumday will not get the rematch with his former LCS organization in the LCS 2023 Spring Split playoffs, he will have an opportunity to play against his former teammate Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun in the next round of playoffs. This is something that Ssumday is looking forward to most.
“I would expect Golden Guardians to be very good because Huhi was my former teammate,” Ssumday said. “I am really excited to play him again next week. It’s going to be a really fun series against GGS.”
Where to watch the LCS 2023 Spring Split
Evil Geniuses series against Golden Guardians will take on place on Friday, Mar. 31. Viewers will be able to tune into the LCS 2023 Spring Split playoffs through eh LCS Twitch and YouTube channels.
