Evil Geniuses vs. FunPlus Phoenix, Preview & Prediction - Free 1/29 CS:GO

Evil Geniuses are favorites in this Best of 3 encounter when they face FunPlus Phoenix in the Group A decider match of the DreamHack Open January 2021 Europe on Friday. The winning side will advance to the playoffs, while the loser will suffer elimination.

Evil Geniuses Team Stats and Latest Results

Evil Geniuses weren’t very active in the past few months, and their most recent tournament in 2020 was the IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 North America. They defeated Rebirth and Triumph, but lost to Chaos and earned $6,000 for their efforts. The American side took part in the BLAST Premier Global Final 2020 but lost to Astralis and Liquid. Evil Geniuses opened the DreamHack Open January 2021 Europe with a 2-0 win over FunPlus Phoenix, after which they lost to BIG despite winning the first map. Evil Geniuses won four of the previous eight matches.

In the last three months, Evil Geniuses were undefeated on Mirage (played once) and Train (played once), and played well on Nuke (66.7% win rate) and Inferno (66.7%), while they failed to get a win on Overpass and Vertigo. Evil Geniuses are playing with the same lineup since October 2020 and appeared on 22 maps with a record of 11 wins and 11 losses. The team members are Stanislaw (0.97 rating), Tarik (1.07), Brehze (1.06), Ethan (1.10), and CeRq (0.99).

FunPlus Phoenix Team Stats and Latest Results

FunPlus Phoenix played just two games in 2021, and both were at this tournament. They opened the DreamHack Open January 2021 Europe with a 2-0 loss to Evil Geniuses but bounced back with a 2-0 victory over HellRaisers. Before this tournament, FunPlus Phoenix appeared at the Flashpoint 1 in April 2020.

In this two-match span, FunPlus Phoenix won the only appearance on Train, was average on Nuke (played twice) and didn’t get a victory on Inferno (played once). FunPlus Phoenix’s current lineup is made of zehN (1.06), chrisJ (0.92), STYKO (0.99), Maden (1.02), and Farlig (1.12).

Evil Geniuses vs. FunPlus Phoenix H2H Record

These rivals have met once before, and it was earlier at this tournament when Evil Geniuses secured a 2-0 win.

Evil Geniuses vs. FunPlus Phoenix Betting Preview

Evil Geniuses perhaps won the previous H2H duel, but FunPlus Phoenix was very close and they even forced overtime on Inferno. With 28 rounds on two maps, we cannot say FunPlus Phoenix was bad in that tilt, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they win a map in this one. Still, I am giving an advantage to Evil Geniuses as they have a more experienced team.

The Pick: Evil Geniuses to win (-169 @PINNACLE)