This is the latest in a series of articles profiling the 18 teams attending The International 8, which kicks off on Aug. 15.
A storied past
Once upon a time, OG was one of the most celebrated organizations in all of esports. Not just in Dota 2, but the industry as a whole—because of their incredible consistency and ability to stay relevant for long periods of time. Both of these factors and more—including the amazing talent they had onboard during their reign—helped them win four Major titles under the old, pre-Pro Circuit tournament system.
Those days, sadly, are long gone. OG have been a complete shell of their former selves lately, having never really recovered from their experience at The International 7 last year. Though they won MDL Macau last December, their results in other Pro Circuit events have been far less than ideal for such a decorated squad.
The winds of change
Nowadays, OG’s roster looks vastly different compared to what it was in TI7. Both Gustav “s4” Magnusson and former team captain Tal “Fly” Aizik left the lineup two months ago, with the latter choosing to part ways with his longtime friend and partner-in-crime Johan “n0tail” Sundstein. In fact, this is the first time that n0tail and Fly will be playing for two different teams since their brief stints with Cloud9 and compLexity Gaming in 2015, respectively.
Fly and n0tail have since been replaced by rising Finnish pubstar Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen and Anathan “ana” Pham, who was with OG when they won their two most recent Valve Major championships. Ana actually left OG of his own accord right after TI7, and has been out of the limelight since then—so it will be interesting to see if he can get back to his old 2017 form in time for TI8.
Former coach and current captain Sébastien Debs replaced ana in the mid lane for a while after his departure, but he will be moving to the offlane position for their upcoming campaign in Vancouver. N0tail will also be playing a support role, a position that he is intimately familiar with, this time around. All these changes paint an image that is distant from that of their glory days—but will it all be enough to carry them through?
Player to watch
Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka is probably going down as one of the best utility support players to ever play the game. His mastery of the role is second only to legends like Xu “fy” Linsen, and he frequently comes through in the clutch for his team. If he gets his hands on Earth Spirit, highlight-reel worthy plays are guaranteed to happen.
Biggest challenge
For the players that didn’t just come in, they will have to deal with their new roles first and foremost. N0tail has been playing support for a long time now, and so has JerAx—but this is the first time that they will be playing both support roles together. Their dynamic will likely take some time to form, though they do have the advantage of having been teammates for more than a year.
Topson and ana, however, will have to form chemistry as quickly as possible. Ana will have no problem doing so with the senior members, but Topson will pretty much be a random factor until he gels with the other players.
Team grade
C+ is the score for OG here. They’re way past their prime at this point, but the players they have on hand are still capable of making top eight at premier tournaments. That said, that’s about as much as we expect from them at TI.
