The road to Bucharest — OG
Yuriy SheremetWe continue getting acquainted with the teams from Europe. OG will be the last participant from the Old World at the anniversary The International 10.
The team, which managed to achieve incredible heights in a few years and enter history as the best team in the world. The club, without which it is difficult to imagine The International.
This is OG and this is their road to Bucharest. Have a nice read.
OG’s portfolio
To get to know OG better, we offer to learn about the team’s main places of power. And there are the things to take a look at.
- The date of the club’s foundation: October 31, 2015;
- The roster for The International 10: SumaiL, Topson, miCKe (stand-in), Saksa, N0tail;
- The region: Europe;
- How the team made it to The International 10: the closed qualifiers in Europe;
- The main achievements: the 1st place at The Frankfurt Major 2015, The Manila Major 2016, ESL One Frankfurt 2016, The Boston Major 2016, The Kiev Major 2017, MDL Macau, the victories at The International 2018 and The International 2019.
Having learned about OG briefly, let’s move to the main review of the two-time champions’ road to Bucharest.
The first appearance
OG appeared for the first time in the competitive Dota 2 scene on October 31, 2015. The team used to be called (monkey) Business and its roster included Miracle-, BigDaddy (n0tail), MoonMeander, Cr1t-, Fly.
At the end of October 2015, the players of (monkey) Business, following the trend of the previous years in Europe, announced the creation of their own organization. The club was called OG.
The kings of the Majors and the underdogs at The International
OG shone brightly in the first year after moving under the colors of their own organization, in fact. It was that good that their light was seen a mile off.
Having just joined the party, OG achieved victory at the first real Major, hosted by Valve. The triumph at The Frankfurt Major 2015 was the first step to real glory.
After the victory in Frankfurt, OG was playing smaller tournaments with less enthusiasm. The sloppy approach to the championships between the Majors led to the failure at The Shanghai Major 2016 where OG reached the top 8.
After the slap in the face in Frankfurt, Xcalibur joined the team as the 6th player. However, the Swede had no time to prove himself.
OG won DreamLeague Season 5 in June 2015 and then, there was the victory at The Manila Major 2016. OG prevailed at ESL One Frankfurt 2016 for a dessert.
Before The International 2016, they had been in nice shape. OG was definitely one of the first to receive a direct invitation to the main tournament of the year.
Having come to The International 2016 as the obvious favorite, OG was not able to meet the general expectations. OG placed 9th-12th at the biggest championship of 2016, which did not fit the title of «the kings of the Majors».
The failure in Seattle led to in-team roster replacements. «MoonMeander», «Cr1t-», and «Miracle-» left the team. Their slots were taken by «s4», JerAx, and ana.
OG was preparing for the return to The International during the whole next year.
OG’s second attempt at The International and the first departure of ana
OG spent the first few months of the new season on the in-team engagement and synergy. We saw the results of OG’s work in April 2017 and the Major could demonstrate them the best.
This time, OG went to Kyiv. The faith in the power of the team after the loss at TI 2016 became weaker but BigDaddy and the company returned it quickly, having won The Kiev Major 2017, bringing us one of the best series in Dota 2 history.
However, the victory at The Kiev Major was just the only positive thing in the season. At the upcoming tournaments, including The International 2017, the team did not reach higher than the 6th place.
After not the most memorable performance at TI7 by OG, ana announced his temporary departure from Dota. His slot was taken by «Resolut1on».
The season 2018 and a Cinderella story
With «Resolut1on» on the roster, OG achieved victory at MDL Macau, which was a nest egg for the future. They prevailed at the various qualifiers to the Majors at the beginning of 2018. But they were unlucky at the events.
ESL One Katowice 2018 and the top 8, The Bucharest Major and the top 12. Things were not going well and the replacements happened pretty soon — «Resolut1on» parted ways with the team and his slot was temporarily occupied by «Ceb» who had been working as a coach in OG.
The playing coach made no drastic impact in OG. The team failed DreamLeague Season 9, having held the top 6, and then lost at Dota 2 Asia Championship 2018, having reached only the top 14.
OG managed to recover a bit in only a month. The team held the 5th-6th place at EPICENTER XL and ESL One Birmingham 2018, and the 7th-8th place at MDL Changsha Major, which was far from the result expected by OG and their fans.
The key moment in the history of OG happened in May 2018. It was right before the qualifiers to The International 2018.
The constant leader of the team «Fly» and, also, s4 announced his departure from the team during the difficult period for the club. OG was looking for a replacement for the departed players as a matter of urgency.
OG managed to return ana early from his long vacation and the second vacant slot was taken by the high-level player «Topson» who was famous in a narrow circle. OG began its road to world triumph with the quickly-assembled roster.
Due to the absence of the obvious competition, OG passed qualifiers to the main event of the year. Angry n0tail together with the team went to Canada.
OG somehow entered the top 4 in the group stage of The International 2018 and advanced to the upper bracket of the playoffs. Magic began.
OG pretty easily beat VGJ.Storm in the first round. They advanced to a principled match in the next round — EG the team Fly and s4 had moved a few months before was the opponent in the next playoff round.
OG was the winner in the equal battle. OG could not stop cheering because the team guaranteed itself a spot in the top 3.
OG faced PSG.LGD in the final of the upper bracket – the machine crushing everything on its way. OG made it to the grand final of The International 2018 almost mystically and not without the mistakes made by PSG.LGD to meet PSG.LGD in the final match again.
The final of The International 2018 entered history as probably the most spectacular match. OG became part of history as the winners of The International 2018.
The absolute champions and the best team in history
After the tiring The International 2018, OG took a rest. Ana returned to his vacation and his slots were taken by «Pajkatt» and «iLTW» in different periods of the year.
None of the above-mentioned players did stay in OG for long and the club was playing sloppy but pretty well the whole year to earn a direct slot in The International 2019.
Before the start of the main event of the year, the reigning champions returned «ana» to the main roster again. OG started the performance at The International 2019 with a similar roster.
This time, the situation was way different from the one we had seen in 2018. Starting from the group stage, OG was demonstrating the highest level of the game and only a few could compete with them.
OG faced EG and PSG.LGD again in the playoffs of TI9 to beat them and advance to the grand final. OG opposed Team Liquid in the final match.
Unlike the final of TI 2018, the final of TI 2019 was over like lightning. Only one team was playing that match and it was OG.
Having won The International 2019, OG became the two-time world champions for the first time in Dota 2 history. And they did it twice with the same roster.
The calm period and a slot in The International 10
In 2020, the best result of OG was the 2nd place at EPIC League Season 2 Division 1 and OGA Dota PIT Season 4: Europe/CIS. By the way, OG held the second place at these championships with «Ceb» who returned in July 2020.
OG began their performance in the first DPC division in 2021. «Ana» made his third return for this event, he replaced MidOne on the roster.
The return of the prodigal son did not help OG to make it to the first Major after a year of the quarantine pause. OG placed 5th in the first DPC season and even 6th in the second one.
In June 2020, «ana» announced the end of his career. «SumaiL» replaced him on the roster.
Before the start of the qualifiers to The International 10, OG tried themselves at ESL One Summer 2021. The reigning champions of the world held the 4th place, after which they went to win a ticket to Bucharest.
They did it with great effort. OG achieved victory over Tundra with a score of 3-2 in the bright final.
After making it to The International 10, OG began preparing for the main event of the year actively. However, the club revealed six days before the start of the event that «Ceb» had to miss TI due to his eye surgery. His slot was taken by miCKe and this is the end of OG’s history before the anniversary The International 10.
Whether OG shines bright in Bucharest and defends their title without one of the key players we will find out in a few days. But now, see you soon on EGamersWorld.
Yuriy Sheremet – Expert in mobile gaming and esports among shooters and MOBA games.
At EGamersWorld, Yuriy, as in 2020 when he joined the portal, works with content, albeit with adjustments to his area of responsibility.