Evil Geniuses crowned China Top 2016 champions

Evil Geniuses secured the title of China Top 2016 champions after sweeping through Newbee 2:0. China Top 2016 was organized as a nod to esports by the General Administration of Sport of China featuring Evil Geniuses, Digital Chaos, Newbee and Wings Gaming. The exclusive invite only event took place in Shenzhen, China for the ¥ 1,600,000 (~$230,740) prize pool.

Evil Geniuses ended their year with a bang and another title to their name as they were crowned China Top 2016 champions.

The North American juggernauts swept through Newbee 2:0 in the Grand Finals after first knocking Wings Gaming out of contention earlier with a 2:0 sweep.

The TI5 winners have been nothing short of spectacular since their revamped roster made their debut after TI6.

The event was held at The Palace of Prince Gong, known as the “Prince Gong’s Palace, Part of the Qing Dynasty History” where the teams competed in a single elimination bracket for the ¥1,600,000 (~$230,740) prize pool over the course of two days.

China Top 2016 Teams

• Evil Geniuses
• Digital Chaos
• Newbee
• Wings Gaming

China Top 2016 Format

• Four teams
• Single elimination
• Best-of-three series

China Top 2016 Prize Pool

The prize pool is a total of ¥ 1,600,000 (~$230,740)

• 1st place – ¥ 800,000 (~$115,370) – Evil Geniuses
• 2nd place – ¥ 400,000 (~$576,85) – Newbee
• 3rd-4th place – ¥ 200,000 (~$28,842) – Wings Gaming/Digital Chaos

Evil Geniuses – China Top 2016 champions

Evil Geniuses at the Summit 6

The long time captain Peter “PPD” Dager transitioned out of the team into a business management position with the brand.

Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen stepped into the rather large shoes left open with PPD’s departure. Hailing from one of the most successful teams of the 2015 -2016 year, OG – Cr1t- was part of history as the only team to claim two Valve sponsored championship titles – Frankfurt Major and Manila Major.

For the third time, Artour “Arteezy” Babaev dons the blue jersey for the organization. The famed Canadian player has had an on and off again relationship between Team Secret and Evil Geniuses since 2014.

Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora, Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan and Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg have remained with the team.

Evil Geniuses were close to getting their names written on the Aegis of Champions for the second time. Not close enough, though: they fell to Digital Chaos in the Lower Bracket Finals and placed third overall.

They have since taken first place at MDL 2016 – a strong start to the new season, followed up by 4th at Northern Arena BEAT Invitational, 3rd at the Summit 6 and 2nd in Elimination Mode 2.0 and 3rd – 4th in the Boston Major.