EPTMy name is Cody Conners, and I'm the General Manager of Evil Geniuses. I'm excited to announce that today we'll be adding Libo “
Xenocider” Chang to our Starcraft 2 division. Sometime last year I read a thread on Reddit about a fifteen year old kid taking games off our players in smaller events and on the ladder. While it wasn't exactly the criteria that makes me call Alex and insist that he start to draft up a contract, I remembered thinking that it was impressive that someone so young could be competitive on that level. As time went on I'd continue to see his name from time to time. He'd post a replay pack and it would get a decent amount of attention or someone would recommend his stream noting that he was an underrated player and that Terran players should tune in.
At some point in time Libo wrote Alex Garfield (our CEO) an email letting him know that he wanted to play for Evil Geniuses. We discussed it internally and decided that it wasn't the right fit at the time. A few months later Libo wandered up to me at an MLG and asked if he could speak to Alex. Alex wasn't at the event, but I was impressed with Libo’s persistence and suggested to him that he send us another email in a month.
Alex beat him to the punch and reached out to him via a private message on Reddit. While nothing formal nor official came from their conversations there, it allowed Libo and our company to better understand one another's goals. Shortly after Heart of the Swarm's release Libo reached back out to us, and then he reached back out us again, and again. At no point did it ever get annoying, because Libo was consistently getting better as a player and with each and every correspondence we would grow more and more fond of the idea of adding him to our roster. Eventually we decided that this was a relationship we could make work, and we contracted him on a private, training-only basis with the understanding that if he continued to grow as a player, he could eventually find himself on our official squad. He did continue to grow as a player, and now here we are.
We, as an organization, have historically been criticized for not fostering up and coming talent with our StarCraft 2 division. In our opinion, this is often over-exaggerated, but it’s still something that we know we need to work on. While it's thrilling to have a roster filled with superstars and legends, we understand that it's important to invest it talent that is growing and will continue to grow.
If we look back on 2012 I feel like it's safe to say that we put together a stable of players whose fame and stardom eclipsed almost every other team in the world. We grabbed ThorZaIN, we grabbed Stephano, and we grabbed Jaedong. Nestled in there we snagged the up-and-coming North American Suppy. Suppy wasn't a typical EG pickup, but he's since become one of our most consistently highest placing players. Suppy is now someone that I cannot imagine being on another team.
I'm optimistic that with the right support Libo will grow as a player, and that we as a team will benefit from having him on board.
Welcome to the team, Libo.
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