EG potter: "This year is a failure and I would rate myself harshly"

Evil Geniuses’ 2026 VCT Americas season came to an end on Friday, August 28, after the team was eliminated from the Stage 2 playoffs with a 2-1 loss to MIBR. The result brought an end to a difficult campaign for EG, which struggled with consistency throughout the year despite showing at times that it could compete with some of the strongest teams in the region.

In an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports, Evil Geniuses Head Coach Christine “potter” Chi reflected on the team’s final series and the challenges that defined the 2026 season. The coach discussed the team’s confidence issues, language barriers and leadership changes, as well as her own development since winning Champions in 2023 and the lessons she will carry into the next stage of her career.

Christine “potter” Chi: “It's kind of been our story all year long, but it was definitely a slow start. Our confidence. Because we're a newer team and a younger team, with a lot of young players on my squad, it really takes us a little bit of time on the stage to gain confidence. We didn't gain confidence throughout the season with solid wins, so we had to get more comfortable and confident with each other on stage with each round win. Unfortunately, for instance, on Lotus, there were just so many 2v2s that we weren't able to convert, and I could tell that it was affecting us going into the second map. Then, especially in the third, there were moments where, I hate to say the typical “we ran out of gas”, but there were moments in that map three where we had it.

potter: It was such a long year and a tough year, so I'm just super proud of the guys for finishing strong. We were in it every day, putting in max effort, so I'm really proud of the guys for that.

potter: A lot of different variables. At certain points of the year, it was a language barrier. At certain points of the year, it was a lack of leadership within our team. We handled that and tackled that, and we grew so much this year. But I would say, at the end, we just ran out of gas.

potter: I've definitely gotten older, a lot more white hairs. It seems like 2023 was definitely a long time ago. I would say just a lot more experience. In 2023, everything was still very new and very shiny, and it still seems like such a dream. But I will say the last two years of coaching, I've grown and learned so much from losing. I always tell my players that you just learn more when you lose. As a human, when you're able to get out of losing and figure out how to be a winner in those moments, it carries on with you, and you learn a lot more from it. I'll say these last two years I've really grown a lot with my players. It's been exhausting, but it's been a really fun experience.

potter: This year is a failure, and I would rate myself harshly. The buck stops with me, and it definitely was a lot of failing at the beginning of the year, straight up. I never imagined that the project that we started with at the beginning of this year would turn out the way that it did. C0M (Corbin Lee) and I had, and still do have, a really strong relationship, but this game and figuring out how to get five players comfortable was a lot more challenging this year than I anticipated. It's definitely on me. I learned, though, that what goes around comes around, and the amount of work you put in, you're bound to reap the rewards. Right now, I'm just trying to think positively.

potter: Our mental state today was in a really good spot. Even after we lost, we were still in good spirits. Our practice this week was really good. The small things that I did to work on our mental with the team were just a lot of one-on-ones and constantly checking in and realigning with the team. When you have a group of individuals that are high performers and we all have egos, we all have confidence, it's really tough juggling who's got the right answer. So, all year, it’s been really just realigning with all of us, having a lot of conversations, making sure we're constantly on the same page, working for the same thing, and that really helped. In the beginning of the year, with the language barrier, each week we were constantly trying to figure new things out. Even though we took two steps forward, it always felt like we were re-exploring and re-figuring things out as a team every week. It was really hard for me to balance figuring out how to get these guys to pick up where we left off, form consistency, and a backbone as a team. That was my focus. It was really a lot of making sure we understand what fundamentals are and what the basics are, keeping those basics, and just a lot of talking, a lot of VOD reviews, and a lot of one-on-ones.

potter: The biggest lesson I'm not sure yet, but probably the biggest lesson we've learned over these last couple weeks is that nothing is free. We constantly say that. I constantly tell my players that. But the amount of 5v4s and 4v3s and 3v4s that we lost just over the last two weeks, I think the biggest lesson learned is it isn't over till it's over.”