OG’s Dota 2 roster is about to change

We knew that something big was coming. In esports, when a great organization fails miserably at a game it used to dominate, roster changes are inevitable.

OG is the only Dota 2 team in the world that managed to win The International twice. And they did it back to back. Going from that exceptional result to what happened in 2023 is a sad story.

OG didn’t even qualify for TI this year. In 2018 and 2019 they won, in 2021 and 2022 they finished 7^th – 8^th, and in 2023 they will experience the tournament as spectators.

When My Streamer and the Biggest of Daddies mix up their brain juice, you know stuff’s about to go down.

The Monkey Business Hub in Lisbon, with @Gorgc and @OG_BDN0tail.

See you TONIGHT. pic.twitter.com/eWVaBadsDs

— OG (@OGesports) October 12, 2023

Sebastien “Ceb” Debs’ decision to return to the main team after his Old OG stint came a little bit too late to save OG. In the WEU Qualifier for TI12, OG finished 5^th – 6^th and missed the boat. They could have easily qualified by finishing in the top 2. But they weren’t able to do it. To be fair, greater teams failed as well.

Among them, Team Secret caused the most amount of sadness because Clement “Puppey” Ivanov had been the only remaining Dota 2 player to never miss a TI.

Taiga’s departure

Tommy “Taiga” Le left the team along with Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin. Both of them had been benched for a while. At DreamLeague S21, where OG finished 4^th to everyone’s surprise, the team played with Ceb and another stand-in, the famous Bulgarian player Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Ivanov.

After years of trying and failing with Nigma Galaxy, he looked very happy to compete in a big tournament again.

Taiga’s replacement will not be a problem if Ceb continues to play. But who will replace DM, who used to play the position 3 role? Will Ceb go back to playing this position and let someone else take the position 4 role?

Another big question has to do with Kartik “Kitrak” Rathi, who is OG’s position 5 right now. He only joined in August but his performance at DreamLeague S21 was excellent, which could mean that Ceb will let him stay for the 2024 season, or at least the first half.

For the fans, Ceb’s return begs a very important question: will any of the former OG superstars return as well? Three names come to everyone’s mind and the most important one is Johan “N0tail” Sundstein. He seems to be fed up with the game right now, just like Anathan “ana” Pham. But maybe he’s willing to try one more time.

Header: OG