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EG Arteezy: Younger generation in North America don't want to invest time in Dota 2

Evil Geniuses (EG) star carry player Artour "Arteezy" Babaev gave a rare post-match interview following his team's victory over 5RATFORCESTAFF on Sunday (3 July) to discuss the state of Dota 2 in North America and the strength of the region.

EG are currently tied with Nouns Esports for second place in the 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Summer regional league for North America.

The team have a 4-1 score right now and cannot afford to drop another game if they wanna make it to the Arlington Major, the circuit's final one before The International 11 in Singapore.

Arteezy and the rest of Evil Geniuses need two more wins to secure their spot at the Arlington Major. (Photo: Evil Geniuses)
Arteezy and the rest of Evil Geniuses need two more wins to secure their spot at the Arlington Major. (Photo: Evil Geniuses)

During the interview, Arteezy discussed how the current iteration of EG with the return of Tal "Fly" Aizik plays a lot more scrims than it previously used to, due to the DPC meta lasting for six weeks and constantly evolving. Some days, he revealed, EG end up playing three best-of-three scrims.

"I don't think we scrimed very often in the past but these days, especially with how the new circuit is, we scrim a lot," said Arteezy.

"We scrim very frequently, if we feel like we need more games, we will just go and play a third set, instead of just two sets, and we end up playing teams like [5RATFORCESTAFF]."

Previously, when people thought of North American Dota 2 teams, it was usually EG dominating the region, with no other team coming close.

That has changed in recent years, as teams like Quincy Crew and TSM FTX have been giving EG a run for their money.

TSM recently placed second in the Stockholm Major while Quincy Crew are leading the pack in the Summer Tour and haven't lost a single game yet.

Evil Geniuses' last place finish in the Stockholm Major is their worst tournament result in almost three years. (Photo: ESL)
Evil Geniuses' last place finish in the Stockholm Major is their worst tournament result in almost three years. (Photo: ESL)

How is NA getting stronger?

When asked if he believes the strength of the region is increasing, Arteezy said North America is getting stronger and stronger.

"Yeah absolutely, I think the top four teams in every season have been very stable and consistent. We always scrim each other and we learn a lot from each other, it's been developing to a way that in the past if we did those scrims they'd be stomps but now it's a lot more even. I think that's why over time it has led to teams like TSM doing well in the Major," said Arteezy.

But while North America has become more competitive as a region thanks to the success of other teams like TSM and Quincy Crew, Arteezy said there simply aren't enough new players entering the Dota 2 competitive scene in the region.

"I think it just lies in the problem of the American culture and the younger generation don't want to invest a lot of time in Dota, I am not sure how it is like in [League of Legends], maybe it's similar," said Arteezy.

"But it just seems like the longer this game goes, the less North Americans are interested in playing. I think that's where the real issue lies."

Evil Geniuses must win four games against Beastcoast to make it to the playoffs now (Source: ESL)
(Source: ESL)

Arteezy also noted that playing Dota 2 competitively is very different now compared to when he first started.

When asked if esports is becoming more and more of a job, EG's carry player agreed wholeheartedly.

"Yeah I would agree with that, cause when you're younger you're more naive to everything. And the more you do it, the more you get accustomed to things around you," said Arteezy.

EG's two remaining opponents are Felt and Quincy Crew. Felt are currently 0-10 and likely won't be able to defeat EG, which means that EG's fate will be decided in their final game of the Summer Tour on July 13 against arguably the strongest performing team in NA right now.

Otomo is a long-time gaming enthusiast and caster. He has been playing games since he was 10 and is the biggest Dota 2 fan.

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