OG claim ESL One Stockholm 2022 

OG have secured their fifth Major trophy at the ESL One Stockholm 2022 Dota2 Major, following a fantastic lower bracket run and a Grand Final victory against TSM.

The Western  European organization went against the odds and defeated North American TSM 3-1 in a remarkable Major Grand Final match in Stockholm, Sweden. Despite starting the playoffs with a loss against TSM, they were able to sweep through the lower bracket and come back for revenge. 

On their journey throughout the playoffs, OG fought against many of the top Dota 2 teams, while losing only two maps. After a 2-0 semi-final win against the favourite of the event Tundra Esports, they landed a spot in the Grand Final, where TSM were already waiting. 

OG showed incredible determination in this Major, as they have dealt with multiple obstacles. Not only have they fought their way back into the finals, but they did so without the team’s captain Mikhail “Misha” Agatov and coach Evgenii “Chuvash” Makarov, who weren’t able to attend the event due to denied visas. 

Former OG coach Sébastien “Ceb” Debs returned from retirement to help out the team as a player, while inactive OG player Johan “N0tail” Sundstein stepped in as a coach and joined Artem “Yuragi” Golubiev, Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov, Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf and Tommy “Taiga” Le in their run for the trophy. 

Stockholm Major marked the first big LAN event for the majority of the OG’s young squad that’s been signed by the organization in late November 2021. 

Tough start, harsh return

Even in the Grand Final, OG continued walking the hard path, as they started the matchup with a hard loss against TSM. The North American squad smashed them with a 31-9 kill lead but they returned and struck hard. 

In the second game, OG  answered with a 45-15 kill lead that saw Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov on Storm Spirit and Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf on Night Stalker chip in with 14 and 12 kills, respectively. Ceb on Windranger helped with 23 assists. His assists score by the end of the third Grand Final game on the hero reached 54. 

Game three was the most balanced one, which resulted in a 40-minutes-long battle. In the end, bnm and Yuragi took care of it and with 12 and 11 kills led the team one step closer to the trophy. 

Unlike game three, the fourth and final game was a quick 37-4 sweep by OG. They managed to keep the map control while showing excellent manoeuvres by Taiga on Grimstroke, Ceb on Windranger, while Yuragi on Bloodseeker, bzm on Storm Spirit and  ATF on Mars were taking care of the kills until they finally closed the series and secured the Major title. 

Winning the ESL One Stockholm 2022, OG earned the grand prize of $200,000, as well as 680 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) points. This marks the fifth Major title for the organization, with the last one dating back to Kyiv in 2017. 

Meanwhile, TSM’s second-place finish in Stockholm earned them $100,000 in prize money and 610 DPC points. Both teams also earned a seed into Dota 2’s The International 11, which is set to take place later in October in Singapore. 

Image credit: ESL