EVOS Esports in the recent spring season was quite a special case in VCS; it’s not that they were weak, but saying they could win the championship is definitely not true. Even with coach Violet at the helm, the team’s players still performed inconsistently. They could lose to a team considered weaker like Cerberus, but also have a day of brilliance and take down Team Flash.
The first move to improve this situation for EVOS Esports is to bring in Zeros, arguably the strongest player in terms of skills in the top lane of VCS. This addition will make the top half of the map significantly stronger for EVOS, thus opening up new movement paths and innovative jungle invades. Remember back in the spring season, Sorn always had to find ways to support TH at certain points, but now that situation is no longer an issue.
Moreover, a weakness named skirmishes for EVOS will be partially resolved if they choose to play around Zeros in the upcoming season. Looking back at the spring VCS playoff match between EVOS and Team Flash, the ‘White Tiger’ team’s laning ability was actually not inferior; they only started to lose when making poor decisions in 2v2 or 3v3 skirmishes or when reacting too slowly during tower dives.
Meanwhile, Zeros is a type of player who can anticipate and gauge the damage of both himself and his teammates during a skirmish (of course, only at the level of isolated combat), thus helping EVOS avoid game losses like in the last spring season. However, the truth is that Zeros alone can only address the surface level of the issue; to truly compete for the championship, they need to do more than just acquire the ‘Demon King’.
First, the champion pool of mid-laner Pake must be expanded, and he needs to excel at more than just traditional mages. For example, the two mid-laners who made it to the finals, Kati and Dia1, can play champions with high strategic value like Pantheon and Galio. This is something Pake lacks and needs to improve immediately.
Furthermore, EVOS’s ability to call shots and make decisions in-game this year is not good at all. EVOS in 2019 had experienced players like Stark, Noway, and a truly tenacious player like Dia1, whose decisions during skirmishes or calls for objectives were extremely logical. The 2020 version of EVOS is not like that; as mentioned earlier, they always make poor decisions in skirmishes or team fights, leading to failures.
Therefore, for the ‘White Tiger’ to truly become a championship contender, alongside the skillful play from Zeros and Divkid, they need a true leader, someone capable of guiding teammates through intense matches. Players of such caliber are rare in VCS, and even more so among free agents; perhaps the support or jungle roles, which are highly strategic, will need to evolve within EVOS to fulfill this role.
