Not much to write home about from the new Evil Geniuses squad as they found themselves heavily outgunned by the French-Danish project.

Vitality have passed their first test with their new lineup with flying colors, taking down the fresh Evil Geniuses squad in convincing fashion, 16-3 on Inferno, in the opening game of BLAST Premier Spring Group C.

It was very much a team effort as everyone from the French-Danish combination put up solid numbers, but Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire stood out in particular despite not being able to join the team at their bootcamp in Paris due to testing positive for COVID-19.

apEX & co. pass their first test with flying colors

The 28-year-old in-game leader led the way, boasting nearly 150 ADR and nine multikills in the one-sided affair in the highest-rated individual performance of the BLAST Premier event so far at 2.11.

Meanwhile, Evil Geniuses, who are also playing their debut at BLAST following the signings of Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip, Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta, and William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba, had no one step up to the plate to bring them back from a slow start into the map.

Outside of winning two unlikely rounds on B, one with just pistols in hand and the other in a 2v4 scenario, the North American squad barely had a say in their first official map facing off against one of the most highly regarded new teams. Early picks aplenty and some well-timed aggression saw Vitality put together a dominant CT side and quickly close things out after switching to the offense.

BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2022Best of 1 VitalityMatchpage 16 3 30th January 2022 Evil Geniuses 16Inferno 3

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	24 - 9	+15	146.5	2.11
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	22 - 8	+14	111.7	1.89
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	16 - 8	+8	82.3	1.33
Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabiermisutaaa	12 - 6	+6	67.3	1.25
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	13 - 11	+2	67.3	1.08

Evil Geniuses	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	11 - 16	-5	61.9	0.77
William 'RUSH' WierzbaRUSH	12 - 18	-6	67.7	0.66
Timothy 'autimatic' Taautimatic	7 - 16	-9	50.7	0.64
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	8 - 19	-11	66.5	0.57
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	4 - 18	-14	53.6	0.36

Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 28 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1920 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.70 William 'RUSH' Wierzba Age: 27 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 1371 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.67 Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip Age: 24 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1481 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 Vitality #3 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Timothy 'autimatic' Ta Age: 25 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1124 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.67 Evil Geniuses William 'RUSH' WierzbaTimothy 'autimatic' TaJake 'Stewie2K' YipVincent 'Brehze' CayonteTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov