EG Fly: “It’s been half a year, two seasons of DPC, so these guys have been through a lot, I’ve been through a lot…”

After a close loss to Nouns Esports, Evil Geniuses have fired back in their second series of the NA DPC. the team handed a quick 2-0 to Wildcard Gaming as EG attempted to reassert themselves. EG came out swinging in the first game with a 30 minute beatdown featuring Artour "Arteezy" Babaev on his signature Terrorblade. Wildcard Gaming made the second game competitive with great playmaking and team fighting to equalize the game. However, EG made some great pickoffs and teamfighting decisions led by Tal "Fly" Aizik to put down Wildcard's aspirations.

The panel got a chance to catch up with Fly after the match. Neal "tsunami" Khandheria first asked if Fly and the team knew it would be a process rebuilding this DPC season. Fly said that "the whole situation was definitely rushed for us. Due to certain visa issues and what not we only had one day of practice so we weren't really ready, we weren't really there and Nouns were on their A-game." He continued "We just took the loss, like yeah they were better than us and we have the week to improve, we can still qualify, there's a lot of time left in the season."

Tsunami then asked about Fly's process with getting back on EG after leaving for most of the season. Fly responded "so the way it went down was that EG did not do very well at the Stockholm major and they were looking for a captain and obviously I've played with these guys before, so I know everyone except Nightfall/Igor."

He went more in depth about their talks: "I had a talk with them, like a heart to heart, we hashed out a lot of things, kind of issues we've had in the past. I'm someone who's willing to change and you know, look for the better." He continued, "I've made mistakes in the past I've talked about it. I don't want to hold any grudges or have an bad feelings left with people in my life. I'm really happy to be back and it's nothing but positive."

Mira "Ephey" Riad then asked if the team's communication has improved since that heart to heart and if it was effected by Nightfall potentially having a language barrier. Fly responded: "I do think that communication has gotten better, but the reason that I'm saying it's a work in progress is because a lot has happened while I was not on this team. It's been a half a year, two seasons of DPC, so these guys have been through a lot, I've been through a lot, people change, Dota keeps evolving, so there's a lot of new things to tackle together.

He continued, "and me coming in kind of changes the culture of the team because I think I'm more of a vocal captain kind of guy. I like to do certain things and I'm introducing it to the team and introducing more improvements, in my opinion, like how we operate in our day to day." He then added "regarding Igor, Nightfall, there's been no issues in terms of his English. He has really good English. Certain things he would communicate after the game, he has a certain way of saying it with coming from a different culture, but it's fairly well understood."

Ephey then asked how Fly felt about the changes to the healing salve. Fly said jokingly, "I don't even think I bought a salve today so it was great!" He continued: "I do love the change. Overall, I think it changes laning, which is something that I think is interesting. Laning has been the same for a long time, you get salves for your cores and then eventually they get this item, like the double bracer or whatever and you leave them alone. I like that we have to rethink laning, I think that's the coolest change about this, so overall, awesome!"

Ephey followed up, asking about his experience casting during the Stockholm major. Fly responded that "he had a lot of fun. I think it was a very different side of things because within the casters and the talent in general, it's a much more fun community together. Like people would hang out together after the games, like go down and have a beer."

He contrasted this with being a player: "It's just like peaceful and fun, and relaxing, compared to being a player where you go down to have some lunch or something and you see the other teams and it's like a war. You look at the other team and they look at you like 'I don't really want to talk to you,' you might reveal something. Sure you're gonna talk to people you're friendly with but it's just a completely different vibe and I did enjoy (casting) a lot, and shoutout to all you wonderful talent out there!" He specifically gave a shoutout to Gabriel "Lyrical" Cruz , who was his casting partner for much of the event.

Kevin "Purge" Godec then asked about the team's development after coming together under a new patch. Fly said, "I wouldn't say it's fast. It's been slow but it's been a gradual improvement every day, like I see that we're already getting better. So we're definitely not anywhere near our top form I would say but it has gotten better and the new patch is also nice to kind of shake things up a little bit, even though I wouldn't say it's like a massive patch.

Tsunami next asked how Fly had grown over his time away from EG. Fly replied: I've been around, I've been in Southeast Asia and back, I've done coaching. I've done it all apparently!" He continued, "I think all of it has meant to happen in order for me to grow as a person, so I've learned what it is to be outside the top tier Dota for a while and it made me more motivated. I'm really looking to improve and I hope to have this mindset for my team to show that I really want it and I hope that they want it as well and we're gonna be able to improve together."

Will EG be able to reclaim their former glory with Fly at the helm? Find out with us here at esports.gg!