In 2023, Evil Geniuses won the VALORANT championship, earning Riot’s third World Championship in tactical FPS. Less than two years later, there is now only one face left. That’s Coach Christine “Potter” Chi.
Potter, a former Counter-Strike pro who first joined EG in 2021, signed a contract extension this offseason to continue coaching through 2027. The team also signed Jacob “icy” Lange, once the best player in the league. World Jacob “yay” Whiteaker.
Potter’s goal this year is the same as always. It’s about doing more with less.
Insider Gaming had the opportunity to sit down with Porter at VCT Americas Media Day. The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
IG: You said you specifically wanted to work with that roster at the SEN City Classic, so why did the team end up cold as opposed to Tyler “sym” Porter?
“My way of thinking about the roster has always been tunneled to make it work. I have never looked at it from the angle of ‘When can I replace this player?’ So when I said that at the time, I fully believed that was going to be our roster for 2025.
But after that tournament, it became clear that Sym had some problems. I really wish we could have made it. Sym is incredibly talented, incredibly hungry, an amazing teammate and a really good human being. But the issue of time was always on my mind, trying to put emphasis on getting yay into a comfortable environment and setting him up for success. We need to make sure everyone is doing their part. Especially when all of yay’s role changes happen and you’re not comfortable in the watchman role.
This roster we have going into kickoff has turned out to be a better mix of players for us.”
IG: The last time they had the same roster core for several years was 2022-23, and we all know how good 2023 was. How important is it to keep the same core throughout the offseason?
“It’s really important. Even back then, I took so much shit from the community, my peers, and some executives about replacing certain players on the 2023 roster. But I knew it was important to keep it to the point. Every task the team has to do, every little annoyance, takes up so much time that it’s already out of the way (it’s 2023).
The same goes for this list in 2025. We’ve spent the last year ironing out a lot of the details, learning about each other, and figuring out the basics. All work has been completed. And yes, we lost Alexander “jawgemo” Mor, and that really hurt us, and it hurt us as a team. But we put in a lot of effort last year and we feel very confident in the effort we put in.”
IG: What do you want to see from yay and Icy? What can you bring to the table that VCT Americas viewers haven’t seen yet?
“For the past three years, EG has been a place where every player is determined by results, not choice. Each player has their own hunger, drive, and story they want to rewrite. And that has always been my strength. It’s that these misfit players have a desperate drive to prove. I see exactly (that kind of player) in yay and icy.
Yeah, he’s going to have to prove that he’s not just a chamber main. That is his ultimate goal. He has shifted to the role of watchman and the work is progressing every day. We have El Diablo on our team, but we still need him to do his job. Sometimes it’s not as sexy as going out and taking three photos of your crispy face. Sometimes he has to play on the road, and those little things we work on as a team. He’s a really capable player, but sometimes being that capable can bait you into certain engagements that make no sense.
For Icy, he is an incredible role player. His IQ is above and beyond, he is humble and a very sacrificial duelist. As a duelist, you have to be greedy, but you also have to be willing to go in there and die for your team. So my focus on him is to highlight his mechanical skills. “He didn’t have that consistency last year, so I’m hoping he finds that with this roster.”
IG: You had the reputation and reputation to coach other teams. What made you want to stay at EG?
“I got a lot of offers and they were all the same. The idea was to build a roster comprised of misfits or players who needed to prove themselves in the second or third tier. I would have liked to see a team willing to spend big money on a big name company, but the results weren’t great. Many of the rumors are true. I looked into NRG and the conversation went pretty far, but they went a different route. At that point it was either go somewhere new and do what I’m already doing here, or continue what I did at EG with the core I’ve already built here.
I have full faith in Phat “supamen” Le, and equally fully convinced that jawgemo will be the best duelist at the end of the year. It turns out he wasn’t even our main duelist!”
IG: He wasn’t even EG’s best duelist!
“(Laughs) That’s right! And NaturE is the best IGL. He and I have been working together for a long time and we are in that sweet spot. And Derrek is a naturally nice guy and I like that. In practices and games, he doesn’t struggle for highlights. His energy is fantastic.
I really stayed because I believe in this core. I think we made the right roster moves. Yes, it’s a big question mark, but he’s definitely lifting us up and improving us, just like Ethan and Demon1 did in 2023. So I’m excited about this list.”
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