Evil Geniuses dropped starting bot laner Matthew “Deftly” Chen and promoted Evil Geniuses Prodigy player Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki to the starting League of Legends roster May 14. Danny is a 17-year-old bot lane player who joined the Evil Geniuses amateur team back in December of 2020. He competed under the names Shiro and Dan previously. Deftly joined the Evil Geniuses organization about a year prior on their Academy team. He advanced to the starting roster in December of 2020 after the departure of Bae “Bang” Jun-sik.
“Thank you @deftlylol for the banger games. We wish you the best in your future endeavors,” Evil Geniuses tweeted.
Thank you @deftlylol for the banger games. We wish you the best in your future endeavors. pic.twitter.com/PuyZeDa97m
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) May 14, 2021
The organization also let go of Academy support Richard “Mist” Zi-Lan and added Luke “TeamLuke” Wasikowski and Daniel “SkyTec” Soetikno to fill their spots.
“Entering our second season back in the LCS, we decided to expand our competitive priorities as a League of Legends franchise, and reform our approach to talent development,” Greg Kim, Director of Esports at Evil Geniuses, said.
Climbing the ranks at an accelerated pace, @EG_Danny will be our first player promoted from Prodigies to the #LCS as our starting ADC. #LIVEEVIL
Get to know Danny and hear more from @pcdv8r about the change: pic.twitter.com/zqJGPzEAwn
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) May 14, 2021
Who is Evil Geniuses Danny
“Climbing the ranks at an accelerated pace, @EG_Danny will be our first player promoted from Prodigies to the #LCS as our starting ADC. #LIVEEVIL. Get to know Danny and hear more from pcdv8r about the change,” Evil Geniuses tweeted about their new starter.
Danny is a fresh face to competitive League of Legends. He started his career on the now debunked organization Zenith Esports, before Evil Geniuses picked up the team. The Evil Genisues Prodigy squad was a highly rated amateur team in the North American scene. They placed first at the Upsurge Premier League Fall Playoffs and second at the Risen Champions League Winter Playoffs. At the LCS Proving Grounds tournament, the team bowed out in the fourth round at fifth-sixth place. The amateur squad notably defeated the Academy teams of Dignitas and Immortals at the event.
Danny himself had a decent season and tournament. At Proving Grounds he managed a 2.3 Kill/Death/Assist ratio according to gol.gg. He also played seven different champions across 11 games at the event. Across the spring slate of tournaments, he averaged a 5 K/D/A ratio and 503 damage per minute. If no more roster changes occur, Danny will play alongside veteran Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun in the 2021 League of Legends Champions Series Summer Split.
“I believe he can help the team pursuit of Worlds 2021 and hopefully many many years to come,” said Peter Dun, Head Coach of Evil Geniuses, in the team’s announcement video
