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EG's Arteezy shaves head to gain 'bald buff' for TI11 Main Event

Evil Geniuses' Arteezy turned heads when he turned up to his team's lower bracket match against Beastcoast with a shaved head in an apparent bid to gain the 'bald buff' at The International 11. (Photos: Evil Geniuses, Valve Software)
Evil Geniuses' Arteezy turned heads when he turned up to his team's lower bracket match against Beastcoast with a shaved head in an apparent bid to gain the 'bald buff' at The International 11. (Photos: Evil Geniuses, Valve Software)

Evil Geniuses (EG) superstar carry player Artour "Arteezy" Babaev shaved to gain what the community has coined as the 'bald buff' during Day 2 of the Main Event of The International 11 (TI11).

Arteezy turned heads when EG took the stage for their lower bracket match against South America's Beastcoast. Just a day before, Arteezy notably posted on his personal Twitter account and asked, "I shave my head or [what]?"

Arteezy's post came after Southeast Asia's BOOM Esports pulled off a massive upset over TI10 champions Team Spirit. BOOM's position 5 support player, Andrei "skem" Ong, notably shaved his head after the team qualified for the Main Event.

In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Esports SEA, skem said it was to fulfill a promise he made to his team's CEO that he would shave his head if they qualified for the Main Event.

BOOM only managed a 5-13 record ahead of the final day of the Group Stage and were in danger of getting eliminated before they could even play in front of their home crowd.

In order to make it to the Main Event, BOOM needed to score a 2-0 victory in their last Group Stage match against EG. Not only that, the Southeast Asian squad then had to win tiebreakers against the other bottom teams in their group.

But somehow, BOOM managed to sweep EG and force a three-way tiebreaker between them, Soniqs Esports, and BetBoom Team. They then defeated Soniqs and BetBoom in turn to secure a place in TI11's Main Event.

Many jokingly attributed BOOM's sudden resurgence to the 'bald buff' the team gained after skem shaved his head. The bald buff gained further credence after BOOM knocked out Spirit.

It is also worth noting that Spirit was thought to have benefited from the bald buff themselves. During their incredible run to the championship at TI10, Spirit carry player Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk shaved his head in the middle of the tournament.

EG could use the bald buff that Arteezy seemingly wants to give them. The North American squad finished the Group Stage atop the standings of Group A with a 14-4 record and were seen as the biggest favourites to claim the Aegis of Champions this year.

Despite being heavily favoured in their first upper bracket match against South America's Thunder Awaken, EG fell victim to a massive 0-2 upset and were knocked down to the lower bracket.

The bald buff didn't end up working for Arteezy, however, as EG got swept out of TI11 by Beastcoast in a 2-0 rout. The North American squad bombed out of the tournament in 9th-12th place.

TI11 will be hosted in Singapore from 15 to 30 October and features a revamped format and a longer schedule.

TI11's Main Event will be a double-elimination bracket and is split into two phases, the first being held from 20 to 23 October while the second will take place from 29 to 30 October.

For everything you need to know about TI11, check here.

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