In defense of Team Evo

Talk of NA depth (or lack thereof, depending on your perspective) lately has brought the likes of Team Evo into discussion a lot, and I feel like they get far more disrespect than they deserve. Before I go too far, obviously Reddit and Twitter comments are often questionable at best, I mostly just want to start a narrative in the other direction!

I've seen plenty of comments that are to the tune of the below example.

Btw, Speed going 3-0 in 2025 is one of the craziest results I've ever seen in this game.

Now I know Speed gets some banter thrown his way because he's a clown/goofball, but it also feels like there's way too much disrespect towards him as a player. Speed was a series away from making EU top 8 in two different regionals last season, while teamed with Hyderr (who has made 1/2 top 16s so far this season, finishing T-last in his one appearance) and TempoH (who has failed to make both EU top 16s this season).

Relatingwave DID make an EU top 8 last season (beating KC to qualify for that event, the most shocking elimination of the season), with 2 additional appearances in Swiss round 5 only barely missing out on top 8.

Arju made two EU top 8s last season, one of which nearly a top 4 result in a 3-4 G7 loss to BDS in Qualifier #6, a qualifier which BDS went on to win.

And yes, I recognize that a large share of my points involving "they nearly made top 8 EU" is lackluster in comparison to players on genuine top-contending teams. But in a world where EU is objectively a better region than NA (which is the world we live in), I just don't see how a team of 3 EU players who were all either right on the cusp of if not outright within the EU top 8 is a team that shouldn't be considered at least dangerous in NA RLCS.

Would I have guessed Team Evo to go 3-0 in Swiss to qualify for top 16 this regional? No. Am I shocked that it happened? In a Swiss bracket that included only half of the NA top 32? Also no. They're a good team of very solid players from the best region in the world.