A long-anticipated second part of the Story of OG is finally here. If you somehow missed the first half of OG's tale, you can check it out here:
- READ MORE: The story of OG – Part 1
Here is what had happened so far to professional Dota 2 team OG: after a series of incidents, the team had been broken and they had had the worst season ever. However, things changed during The International and they successfully proved that anything is possible.
Trouble in paradise: Season 2018/2019
As The International 2018 ended, Team OG decided to take a break for 3 months. As it turns out, that was not such a good idea and it reflected badly on the team.
In addition to that, in November, just before The Chongqing Major qualifiers, Anathan "ana" Pham was moved to a substitute role while Per Anders Olsson "Pajkatt" Lille replaced him in the active roster. That was also a bad idea as it was immediately seen from their results.
- READ MORE: The life and times of ana – Part 1
OG was 6th at the qualifiers and Pajkatt left the team in January, right before The Bucharest Minor. He was replaced by Igor "iLTW" Filatov and they ended up 6th in Bucharest Minor and 3rd at ESL One Katowice 2019. But that was not enough. Just 2 weeks later, iLTW left the team, too, and ana joined back in.
As the winning roster came back together, people were expecting a lot from them. But they had a lot of problems during this part of the season. They had really bad results at the MDL Disneyland Paris Major, ESL One Birmingham 2019, and EPICENTER Major 2019. So many roster changes and the unnecessary break surely made an impact on this team and their only and biggest flaw.
With those bad results, a lot of people had doubts about their success at The International 2019.
“They did it again”: The International 2019
Team OG qualified for the tournament via DPC points and they were placed in Group B with Vici Gaming, Virtus.pro, Fnatic, Natus Vincere, Evil Geniuses, Royal Never Give Up, Infamous, and Ninjas in Pyjamas. The group stage ended amazingly well for them! They were in first place with 6 wins and 2 withdrawals (one was against Natus Vincere, and the other – against Vici Gaming).
With that result, OG were placed in the upper bracket, and their first opponent was Newbee. OG easily won against them with 2-0.
The second round was the most anticipated one, and it was once again Team OG vs Evil Geniuses, Johan "N0tail" Sundstein vs Tal "Fly" Aizik. At this point, OG looked unstoppable and like a completely different team. You know what they say about karma, it will catch up to you one day. It seems like it caught Fly two times in a row. The match ended 2-1 for OG and that got them a ticket for the upper bracket finals against PSG.LGD.
They won against PSG.LGD 2-1 and were going to Grand Finals where they faced Team Liquid. At the finals, OG stomped them and won 3-1. With this victory, OG became the first team to win two Internationals. In a row.
Back to back! We're your The Internationals 2019 champions and double Aegis winners! No one has ever done that in the history of Dota! #DreamOG #TI9 pic.twitter.com/18Ar8PZkTN
— OG (@OGesports) August 25, 2019
Season 2019/2020
Still, Team OG keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. After the triumph at The International, they decided to take another long break. In addition to that, ana announced that he was taking an individual break while Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka retired from the competitive scene. On top of that, Sébastien "7ckingMad" Debs (now known as Ceb) is stepped down from the active roster.
Their replacements were Syed Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan (carry), Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng (offlane), and Martin "Saksa" Sazdov (support).
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In that composition, the team only played at the qualifiers for ESL One Los Angeles 2020, and they easily qualified. We still do now know how well they are going to be. OG currently have great names in their roster and their potential is great. What will happen next? Who knows? Maybe they win the next International too. However, due to COVID-19, The International is delayed and it is currently not known will it be postponed or completely canceled.
OG Seed
OG Seed is a secondary squad that was formed in November 2019. Members of the team are:
- Omar Mohammad "Madara" Dabachach
- Rasmus Johan "Chessie" Blomdin
- Andreas Per "Xibbe" Ragnemalm
- Zakari William Lee "Zfreek" Freedman
- Petu "Peksu" Vaatainen (captain)
They had a couple of tournaments in which they participated. The biggest one was DOTA Summit 12, where they finished second after they lost against Fnatic 3-0 in the finals.
This team can be an ideal solution to OG’s troubles. They have been struggling with too many roster changes and a secondary team with players at their disposal is just what they need. OG Seed can serve as an academy for young talents to shape them and get them ready for Tier 1 battles.
If you enjoyed reading this piece and want more similar articles, make sure to bookmark EarlyGame and come back for more. And if you like learning about amazing esports teams check out our two-part piece on Astralis:
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