https://www.cybersport.ru/other/articles/padali-no-podnimalis-velichaishie-kambeki-v-istorii-kibersporta

OG’s tale – how to lose two of the most important players before the World Cup and still win it

In the 2017/2018 season, the team OG was not herself. At the end of the failed world championship The International 2017 the mid-leader and one of the key members left the team – Anathan ana Famwho decided to take a break from Dota. He was replaced by a Ukrainian Roman Resolut1on Fominok, but he did not manage to become a member of the team. Already from the first tournaments it was clear that something was wrong with OG.

Dota 2 has very long seasons, which essentially serve as qualifiers for the World Cup. And OG had enough chances to get through to The International in terms of the total rating points – for this, it was necessary to successfully perform at at least half of the intermediate competitions. The star roster at the beginning of the season was obviously among the favorites of most of these tournaments, but for some reason things were not going well for him. DPC 2017/2018 consisted of as many as 22 intermediate tournaments, but the team won only one of them (moreover, not the most important one), and the rest never even got into the top four.

By the end of the season, it became clear that OG was at risk of not receiving an invitation to The International for the first time in its history. In March, Resolut1on was expelled from the team, and the coach of the roster, a Frenchman, was taken in his place. Sebastian Ceb Debs, who never distinguished himself with bright performances on the professional stage, and two years before the events described, completely suspended his player’s career.

The team seemed desperate. The arrival of Ceb looked like a panic attempt to fix at least some of the accumulated problems, but even after replacing OG, it continued a series of defeats. There were enough problems, and it was necessary to invent something. But suddenly the team was knocked down by something stronger: shortly before the start of the qualifiers (the last chance for OG to get to The International) two most important players left the roster, including Tal Fly Ayzik – captain and founder of the club. It hit the team incredibly hard. Johan n0tail Sundstein, who now became the sole leader of the exsanguinated team, was defeated, because he was inseparable from Fly for many years and considered him not just his partner, but a close friend. But in the end, it was anger and a desire to get even that became the driving factor for the new OG.

Due to the sudden changes in the roster, OG could no longer qualify even for an invitation to the closed qualification stage at TI. The team was thrown to the very beginning – they had to play in open qualifiers with hundreds of semi-professional rosters from all over the world. Despite the low status of the participants, this stage of qualification is rightly called a real meat grinder, since in it no one has the right to make a mistake – any defeat leads to departure. OG patched up the line-up somehow. Ana returned to the team, taking a different position – carry. Ceb changed his role, becoming an offlane – players in this position are often called “entertainment managers” on the map. It is they who most often initiate battles and lead the team, taking the blow. The vacant position of the middle laner went to a beginning Finnish player Topias Topson Taavitsainen, who by that time had almost no competitive experience. This is how the tale began.

In the open qualifier, OG showed itself brilliantly and went to the closed stage, where it already played in full force – for 16 maps it lost only two and earned a ticket to the main tournament of the year. But this was only the beginning of the road – before the start of TI, the experts did not include OG even in the top 10 most likely champions.

On the The International 2018, unlike the qualifications, there were enough eminent and titled teams, so OG did not perform so brightly at the group stage: a little more, and it could be in the lower bracket of the playoffs. But in the end, OG nevertheless went to winner, where at first it easily won VGJ.Storm, which was played by Resolut1on, expelled in March, and then dealt with Evil Geniuses – precisely for the sake of this Fly team and s4 left their teammates a couple of months earlier. OG won, and Dota fans will remember n0tail’s post-match look in Fly’s eyes for a long time.

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