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by JP “Moogle” McDaniels
Welcome back to the Starcraft 2 North American Team Preview. Today we’re going to look at a team that isn’t liked that much around here, but their presence in Starcraft 2 right now cannot be denied: Team Evil Geniuses (EG).
Starcraft II Roster
Nick ‘Tasteless’ Plott,Manager
Jacob ‘LzGaMeR’ Winstead
Geoff ‘iNcontrol’ Robinson
Kelby ‘inka’ Williams
David ‘Louder’ Fells
Greg ‘IdrA’ Fields
Bryce ‘Machine’ Bates
One of the first North American teams to actually pick up Starcraft 2, EG has quite the dominant roster of macro style players. More recently, the addition of resident South Korean player and commentator IdrA and Tasteless really makes the team stand out, but before talking about them lets talk about the original EG members.
Geoff ‘iNcontrol’ Robinson
One of the most well-known Starcraft players here in the U.S., iNcontrol has also appeared on the popular WCG Ultimate Gamer show. He’s got a huge following and he’s a very good Protoss user as well. Alongside playing in events, it wouldn’t be rare to catch this guy casting an event as he is quite the character. When it comes down to it, there really isn’t a nicer guy in the world of Starcraft 2.
Kelby ‘inka’ Williams
The second Protoss user on the squad comes in the tiny form (hes short) of Kelby Williams. Williams is one of the hardest working Protoss users in Starcraft 2 when it comes to training. It isn’t out of the ordinary to find Williams talking to EG managers about assembling boot camps around the world to play with the best — he really wants to win. His play is quite smart and has quite a few high tournament placings. Expect a lot more in the future from this Protoss user.
David ‘Louder’ Fells
Louder is one of the older folks in Starcraft 2 but don’t let his age fool you, hes a good Protoss user as well — when he actually plays. Not a lot is known about his current playtime (or if he’s even been practicing at all). Early on in the SC2 beta he was quite the player however so if he gets back to practicing then he might make some new fans and even place in some tournaments.
Jacob ‘LzGaMeR’ Winstead
The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Mr. Winstead is cheese. No, that isn’t because I’m hungry it is just how he plays. The nice thing about this resident of Lousiana though is that he can play a straight up game and actually do quite well — he is just more well-known for cheesing his opponents. One of the original adopters of the mass Reaper play in the TvZ match-up (applying pressure with 3 Barracks and Mass Reapers early game, often killing the opponent if not severely damaging his economy), Lz is one of the feared Terran users on the North American ladder.
Nick ‘Tasteless’ Plott, Manager
Originally a Random user, Tasteless switched to Terran recently, but that doesn’t much matter as he won’t be able to play anytime soon as the manager of Team EG and also a full-time shoutcaster in South Korea for the GomTV Global Star League. Tasteless is one of the most well-known casters in the world and really only bested by his brother (Day9) in popularity. A great resource to have, Plott is very well respected in the South Korean Progamer community.
Bryce ‘Machine’ Bates
Zerg users are few and far between. Luckily, EG has one of the best in North America: Machine. Machine, while still playing arguably the weakest race right now in SC2, does quite well for himself at events, online and LAN. One of the best macro Zergs out there, I would pick Machine to really stand out once the game balances out as he puts so much practice on a day-to-day basis.
Greg ‘IdrA’ Fields
Then, there is IdrA. Recently a member of CJ Entus (a South Korean Pro-gaming team), IdrA left the team to join with a North American squad and found EG. When you talk about IdrA in the Starcraft 2 community, most of the time you’ll hear things like ‘nerd rager’ or ‘bad mannered,’ but really he is one of the top three players in the world — easily. His practice regiment is one of the strictest out there. He plays against the best players in the world on the South Korean Battle.net servers. He is just an all around solid player. I would say look out for this guy at any event, but you probably already know who he is.
Thats it for this week’s window into the SC2 scene. Next week we’ll take a look at Team Liquid’s roster in SC2 — one of the best!