OG
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Evany Chang
OG was created as the new team of former (monkey) Business players. The team's breakthrough occurred at the Frankfurt Major in late November, 2015. They fought through the lower bracket, defeating TI5 champions and runner-ups, Evil Geniuses and CDEC Gaming. By winning the 2017 Kiev Major, OG became the first team in Dota 2 to win four Dota Major Championships.
History[edit]
2015/2016 Season: From Underdog to TI Favorite[edit]
Team OG was originally formed under the name (monkey) Business and was comprised of both experienced veterans in n0tail and Fly as well as new and improving talents in Miracle-, Cr1t- and MoonMeander. The team achieved their breakthrough during the Frankfurt Major defeating European powerhouse Team Secret in the grand finals. The team continued to have a strong presence in the European Dota scene, however, after a fourth-place finish at The Summit 4, OG's dominance began to wane and ended with a 7-8th place in the Shanghai Major. Despite this, the team rebounded with a 3rd place finish at EPICENTER and claimed a second Dota Major Championship title at the Manila Major. The squad proceeded to defeat Natus Vincere at ESL One Frankfurt 2016, winning the tournament and securing their invite to The International 2016.
OG performed well in the group stage of The International 2016 and finished first in their group. Despite this, the team was unable to maintain their momentum and fell to the loser's bracket against MVP Phoenix. 7ckingmad would later say in his 'Reflections' interview with Duncan Thorin Shields that they chose to play MVP Phoenix after their 'complete domination' of them at the Manila Major, and that this may have been a mistake[1] Shortly after their disappointing run, OG announced that MoonMeander would no longer be an active player, and that Cr1t- and Miracle- would be leaving the team.[2]. In that same 'Reflections' interview, 7ckingmad would claim that it was a personality conflict within the team that led to the removal of Moonmeander and that once the team wasn't remaining as 5 it prompted Miracle to consider other offers.
2016/2017: Reigning Champions[edit]
To replace Cr1t-, Miracle- and MoonMeander, OG added Jerax, formerly of Team Liquid, Ana and Alliance's s4.[3] s4 would take on the offlane role, which was a new position for him but with familiar heroes in his signature Puck, Batrider and Magnus. Ana came to the team from a substitute position for Invictus Gaming. With the addition of these new players, OG made a strong start to the season by claiming first place at the Autumn Major in 2016, held in Boston USA, to become the first team to ever defend a Major title in Dota 2 history. The team was directly invited to the Winter Major for 2017, held in Kiev. After securing a top seed finish in the group stages (finishing 3-1), they battled their way to the Grand Finals beating Team Random, Evil Geniuses and ultimately Virtus Pro in the Grand Finals to claim the Mystic Staff. The Grand Finals series for the Kiev Major was the first Valve event Grand Finals to go to a game five since The International 3; with s4 having played in both.
Afterwards, OG seemed unable to maintain their rhythm, finishing The Manila Masters in 5th-6th place and failing to qualify for the main event of EPICENTER 2017. Nevertheless, they once again entered the year's International as strong favourites for the title. However, in keeping with their slowdown from the few months prior, OG failed to make it to the upper bracket in the group stages and was ultimately eliminated by LGD.
OG dominated the competitive Dota 2 scene during the era of Valve hosted Major Championships between TI5 and TI7. During this period OG won four of the seven official Dota Major Championships, cementing their status as legends of the game. OG currently holds several world records in Dota 2 as the only team to win multiple Dota Major Championship titles as well as claiming consecutive Major victories and defending a Major title as returning champions. Despite this, the team would have to wait another year and undergo more roster changes before they could claim the Aegis of Champions.
2017/2018: Dota Pro Circuit[edit]
With Valve's new Dota Pro Circuit system, OG looked to once again set themselves up as a strong contender for The International 2018. After ana left the team to take a break from competitive Dota[4], 
Ukranian player Resolut1on joined the squad to fill the vacancy. With their new addition, OG dove into the qualifiers for the first events of the Pro Circuit, however the team were unable to qualify for the first three events. They only came close to qualifying in the last qualifier, for StarLadder Season 3, where they lost in the grand finals to Team Secret.
Their first qualifier victory and confirmed LAN attendance would be for Dota PIT by the end of September 2017. Despite narrowly failing to make the top four at the LAN, and thus securing themselves qualifying points for TI8, OG's results would soon start to look better. By November, they had secured two more qualifiers, for MDL Macau and Captains Draft 4.0, and had received an invite to DOTA Summit 8. All three events, taking part in December 2017 and early January 2018, would yield OG qualifying points, as the team reached the semifinals for Captains Draft and DOTA Summit and even winning MDL Macau, ahead of TNC, for their first LAN victory of the new season. Throughout early 2018, the team's results would finally meet expectations with OG dominating the European qualifier scene, with successful qualifications for ESL One Katowice, The Bucharest Major, DreamLeague Season 9, DAC 2018, and EPICENTER XL. ESL One Katowice would be team's first LAN appearance at a Major in the new Pro Circuit system.
Sadly, results at their first two Major LAN appearances of 2018, at ESL One Katowice and The Bucharest Major, in February and March, respectively, were very disappointing. The team failed to break out of the group stage at both events. At ESL, using a double elimination group system, OG would narrowly miss qualifying for the main event, losing 0:2 to rivals Team Liquid in the lower bracket final of their group. The Bucharest Major featured a Swiss group stage, where OG were once again knocked out by Team Liquid in the last round of the group stage. After returning from their LANs, the team would reflect upon their poor LAN results and in the following days coach 7ckngMad would be seen playing for the team instead of Resolut1on. Days later, Resolut1on's departure from the team was confirmed[5] and OG would no longer be eligible to be directly invited to The International 2018 nor for the regional qualifiers. They would have to qualify all the way through the open qualifiers.
Despite the roster change, the team easily won MDL Changsha qualifier. Mad would continue as their stand-in for the DreamLeague LAN event, where the team once again narrowly missed a top four spot, falling to Newbee in the lower bracket and finishing in 5-6th place. However, their result at DAC 2018 was very disappointing, as they were narrowly eliminated in the group stage after a tiebreaker loss to Vici Gaming. With another qualifier win for ESL One Birmingham and an invite to the China Dota 2 Supermajor, OG would be attending the last four Majors of the season. At EPICENTER XL, the team surprisingly managed to dominate their group and secure an upper bracket spot, but failed to win a single map in the playoffs and once again narrowly missed a top 4 spot. MDL Changsha saw the team once again have a good group stage, narrowly securing an upper bracket spot. However, they were yet again unable to win a single map in the playoffs and finished 7-8th after being swept by both VGJ.Storm and Newbee.
After another disappointingly early exit at ESL One Birmingham, despite topping their group, losing out to Fnatic in the first round of the playoffs, the scene was shocked by the departure of both s4 and Fly to Evil Geniuses. The latter had been a founding member of the original OG/(monkey) Business team and had been present for every single one of the teams four Major victories. As a result, the remaining members decided to pull out of the China Dota 2 Supermajor, the last Major of the season, in order to find players to complete their roster. Due to Resolut1on's departure the team already was not eligible for an invite to The International 2018 or for the regional qualifiers. In early June 2018, with some time remaining before the open qualifier would start, the team was able to announce a full roster with 
Finnish pubstar Topson joining and ana returning to the team. As a result, 7ckngMad would play offlane and N0tail would move to the hard support position.
The International 2018: A Dota 2 Cinderella Story[edit]
TI8 was looming, but OG still had a tough road ahead: the brutal Bo1 gauntlet of the Open Qualifiers followed by the Regional Qualifiers. Due to the instability of the European scene in the past season, the Open Qualifiers were unusually stacked, yet OG managed to easily secure a Regional Qualifier spot through the first Open Qualifier. The team showed even more promise during throughout the Regional Qualifiers, ending the Group Stage without dropping a single game and taking the direct route to the finals in the playoff bracket. There they would meet another new team in Wind and Rain, whom they defeated 3-1 on the backs of Topson's Pugna and ana's Phantom Lancer, to become the only European Qualifier team at TI8.
Placed into Group A, alongside DPC giants Team Liquid, PSG.LGD, and Mineski, OG's task at TI was looking daunting. It would not get any easier after disappointing results in the first day of the Group Stage: despite taking a game off of favorites PSG.LGD, they were later swept by Team Liquid. As a result, after two days of the group stage, OG found themselves in the lower half of Group A. But a fantastic third day in the group, going 5-1 in total, dropping only a single game to Fnatic, would prove to be enough to just secure OG a top 4 finish in their group and thus a spot in the Upper Bracket of The International 2018 Main Event.
Group B winners VGJ.Storm naturally chose OG as their opponent in the first round of the Upper Bracket, as OG was still looking like an underdog. However, OG shocked their opponents, beating them in two straight games. Still, OG was considered the underdog for the next round against Evil Geniuses, where they would meet up against former teammates Fly and s4. Not unwarranted, however, as EG had been showing a fantastic performance up until this point. But it would not be enough against OG, who beat them 2-1 in an intense series for a spot in the Upper Bracket Final against heavy favorites PSG.LGD. And again, against all odds, OG would prevail and secure their spot in the Grand Final in another intense, nail-biting series against PSG.LGD: Game 3 had OG with their backs against the wall and LGD looked prime to take their Ancient. With ana's Spectre down without buyback, it would be Topson's Arc Warden that almost single-handidly defended against three LGD members and led the chase after the remaining two LGD members attempted to back off. With few heroes left, LGD was unable to stop OG's assault on their own Ancient.
The Grand Finals would see a rematch with PSG.LGD, that would only be the second time a TI Grand Final would go to the full five games. OG took game one on the backs of Topson's signature Monkey King and ana's Spectre. But LGD would hit back hard, taking back-to-back games and putting OG's backs against the wall once again in Game 4: after a relatively even early and mid-game, LGD took a lead after consecutive kills on ana's Phantom Lancer and Topson's Invoker and were able to secure two lanes of Barracks. But mistakes on LGD's part and OG's fantastic teamfight execution in LGD's safelane resulted in Ame's Morphling being dead for two minutes without buyback and OG able to take their own lane of Barracks. From that moment onwards OG was firmly in the lead, but a clutch Blink-Call by Ceb would secure OG's comeback with three members of LGD dead without buybacks. LGD did not let themselves be shaken from that game, though, as they came out swinging in the final game of the Grand Finals: on the back of fy's fantastic rotations on Earthshaker, LGD was able to take a sizable lead after the early game. But once again it would be OG's superior teamfight execution, this time around Roshan's pit, allowed OG to take a commanding position and finally the game. With that OG were crowned as the champions of The International 2018. They took the long way from the Open Qualifier and were considered underdogs throughout the entire event until the final game, but ultimately they showed the necessary resilience to come out on top. It would be the first time that the West was able to take two TI championships in a row, as the familiar East-West cycle of TI champions was finally broken.
As bearers of the ultimate symbol of victory, these names shall forever be inscribed upon the Aegis of Champions:
2018
Anathan “ana” Pham
Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen
Sébastien “Ceb” Debs
Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka
Johan “N0tail” SundsteinValve Dota Team
Timeline[edit]
- August 17th - OG parts ways with ana who announces a one year hiatus from competitive Dota.[9][4]
- September 1st - Resolut1on joins the team.[10]
- March 25th - Xcalibur joins as a Sub.[11]
- August 23rd - MoonMeander becomes inactive while Cr1t- and Miracle- leave.[2]
- August 25th - MoonMeander joins Digital Chaos.[12]
- August 31st - JerAx, s4 and ana join the team.[3]
- October 31st - The players of (monkey) Business form OG.[13]
Player Roster[edit]
Active[edit]
| Active Squad | Active Squad | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Position | Join Date | |||||||
 ana | ( Anathan Pham) | 1/2 | Join Date: 2018-06-03[7] |
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| Topson | ( Topias Taavitsainen) | 1/2 | Join Date: 2018-06-03[7] |
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 7ckngMad | ( Sébastien Debs) | 3 | Join Date: 2018-06-03[7] |
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| JerAx | ( Jesse Vainikka) | 4 | Join Date: 2016-08-31[3] |
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 N0tail  | ( Johan Sundstein) | 5 | Join Date: 2015-10-31[13] |
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Former[edit]
| Temporary stand-ins | Temporary stand-ins | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | ID | Name | Tournament(s) | ||||||
| 7Mad | ( Sébastien Debs) | ESL One Birmingham 2018 MDL Changsha Major EPICENTER XL ESL One Birmingham 2018 Qualifier Dota 2 Asia Championships 2018 DreamLeague Season 9 MDL Changsha Major Qualifier |
||||||||
| Former Squad | Former Squad | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Position | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | |||||
| N0tail | ( Johan Sundstein) | 1 | Join Date: 2015-10-31[13] | Leave Date: - |
||||||
| Resolut1on | ( Roman Fominok) | 2 | Join Date: 2017-09-01[10] | Leave Date: 2018-03-17[5] |
 VGJ.Storm |
|||||
 s4 | ( Gustav Magnusson) | 3 | Join Date: 2016-08-31[3] | Leave Date: 2018-05-28[6] |
 Evil Geniuses |
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| JerAx | ( Jesse Vainikka) | 4 | Join Date: 2016-08-31[3] | Leave Date: - |
||||||
 Fly | ( Tal Aizik) | 5 | Join Date: 2015-10-31[13] | Leave Date: 2018-05-28[6] |
Evil Geniuses |
|||||
| Temporary stand-ins | Temporary stand-ins | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | ID | Name | Tournament(s) | ||||||
| 7Mad | ( Sébastien Debs) | N0tail | ( Johan Sundstein) |  Galaxy Battles II: Emerging Worlds |
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 KheZu | ( Maurice Gutmann) | s4 | ( Gustav Magnusson) | Galaxy Battles II: Emerging Worlds |
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| The International 2017 Squad | The International 2017 Squad | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Position | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | |||||
| N0tail | ( Johan Sundstein) | 1 | Join Date: 2015-10-31[13] | Leave Date: - |
||||||
| ana | ( Anathan Pham) | 2 | Join Date: 2016-08-31[3] | Leave Date: 2017-08-17[9] |
 Team World |
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| s4 | ( Gustav Magnusson) | 3 | Join Date: 2016-08-31[3] | Leave Date: - |
||||||
| JerAx | ( Jesse Vainikka) | 4 | Join Date: 2016-08-31[3] | Leave Date: - |
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| Fly | ( Tal Aizik) | 5 | Join Date: 2015-10-31[13] | Leave Date: - |
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| Temporary stand-ins | Temporary stand-ins | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | ID | Name | Tournament(s) | ||||||
| Trixi | ( Kalle Saarinen) | ana | ( Anathan Pham) |  Dota Pit League Season 5 Qualifier |
||||||
 YapzOr | ( Yazied Jaradat) | Fly | ( Tal Aizik) | Dota Pit League Season 5 Qualifier |
||||||
| The International 2016 Squad | The International 2016 Squad | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Position | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | |||||
| N0tail | ( Johan Sundstein) | 1/2 | Join Date: 2015-10-31[13] | Leave Date: - |
||||||
| Miracle- | ( Amer Barkawi) | 1/2 | Join Date: 2015-10-31[13] | Leave Date: 2016-08-23[2] |
 Team Liquid |
|||||
 MoonMeander | ( David Tan) | 3 | Join Date: 2015-10-31[13] | Leave Date: 2016-08-25[12] |
 Digital Chaos |
|||||
| Cr1t- | ( Andreas Franck Nielsen) | 4 | Join Date: 2015-10-31[13] | Leave Date: 2016-08-23[2] |
 Evil Geniuses |
|||||
| Fly | ( Tal Aizik) | 5 | Join Date: 2015-10-31[13] | Leave Date: - |
||||||
| Xcalibur | ( Steve Ye) | Sub | Join Date: 2016-03-25[11] | Leave Date: 2016-08-23 |
Memento Mori |
|||||
Organization[edit]
Active[edit]
| Organization | Organization | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Position | Join Date | |||||||
| the_evany | ( Evany Chang) | Manager | Join Date: 2015-10-31 |
|||||||
 ppasarel | ( Cristian Banaseanu) | Coach | Join Date: 2018-06-14 |
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Former[edit]
| Former Organization | Former Organization | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Position | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | |||||
| 7ckngMad | ( Sébastien Debs) | Coach | Join Date: 2016-05-?? | Leave Date: 2018-06-04[7] |
 OG (Player) |
|||||
Achievements[edit]
| Date | Placement | LP Tier | Tournament | Results | Prize | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-08-25 | 1st | Premier | The International 2018 | 3 : 2 | 
|
$11,234,158 | |
| 2017-12-10 | 1st | Major | MDL Macau | 2 : 0 | 
|
$130,000 | |
| 2017-08-10 | 7 - 8th | Premier | The International 2017 | 0 : 2 | 
|
$617,198 | |
| 2017-04-30 | 1st | Premier | The Kiev Major 2017 | 3 : 2 | 
|
$1,000,000 | |
| 2017-04-04 | 2nd | Premier | Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017 | 0 : 3 | 
|
$91,799 | |
| 2016-12-10 | 1st | Premier | The Boston Major 2016 | 3 : 1 | 
|
$1,000,000 | |
| 2016-08-09 | 9 - 12th | Premier | The International 2016 | 0 : 2 |
|
$311,557 | |
| 2016-06-19 | 1st | Premier | ESL One Frankfurt 2016 | 3 : 0 | 
|
$157,273 | |
| 2016-06-12 | 1st | Premier | The Manila Major 2016 | 3 : 1 |
|
$1,110,000 | |
| 2015-11-21 | 1st | Premier | The Frankfurt Major 2015 | 3 : 1 | 
|
$1,110,000 | |
| About achievementsComplete Results in any Tournament | |||||||
Gallery[edit]
Original logo prior to 28 July 2017
Trivia[edit]
- Called "春秋霸主" (Spring and Autumn Overlord) by Chinese fans, for their victories of spring and fall Majors. “Spring and Autumn Period ” means the period of 770 BC to 476 BC in Chinese history.
- Called "冬虫夏草" (Winter and Summer Elimination), for their failures during winter Majors and the summer TI. “Winterworm” and "summerherb" both mean medicinal herbs in Chinese, but their literal meanings sound very weak.
- OG have won a total of 4 Majors - a record only matched by Virtus.pro.
- They are the only team to have won The International from an open qualifier.
- Together with Team Liquid and Virtus.pro they hold the record for most Valve-sponsored tournaments won (totaling 5).[needs update]
Highlight Videos[edit]
- 2016-08-10 | TI6 Team OG by Valve at The International 2016
- 2016-06-08 | Team Intro - OG by PGL at The Manila Major 2016
Interviews[edit]
- 2016-08-11 | TI6 At the Event - OG Exit Interview by Maelk and Monolith of Valve at The International 2016
- 2018-09-11 | 'Reflections' with 7ckingmad after TI8 Part 1 by Thorin
- 2018-09-13 | 'Reflections' with 7ckingmad after TI8 Part 2 by Thorin
References[edit]
- ↑ Thursten, Chris (9 August 2016). "The biggest upset in the history of pro Dota 2 shocks the International 2016". PCGamer. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 OGDota2 (23 August 2016). "TI Shuffle Season: Change is Never Easy". Facebook. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 OG (2016-08-31). "New Waves". Facebook. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 @anadota99 (17 August 2017). "I will be taking a break this season.". Twitter. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 OGDota2 (17 March 2018). "A change for 2018". Facebook. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 OGDota2 (28 May 2018). "A Shift for OG". Facebook. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 OGDota2 (4 June 2018). "With the European TI Qualifier fast approaching". Facebook. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- ↑ Sebastian "7ckingMad" Debs (2018-06-03). "From 1 to 5 : ana / TOPSON / Ceb / JerAx / N0tail. Back to business for TI qualifiers 👍". twitter.com. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 OGDota2 (17 August 2017). "Post TI7". Facebook. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 OG (2017-09-01). "The Journey Continues". Facebook. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Xcalibur joins as sub". 25 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 SUNSfan (2016-08-25). "Welcome MoonMeander & Blitz". Digital Chaos. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
- ↑ 13.00 13.01 13.02 13.03 13.04 13.05 13.06 13.07 13.08 13.09 13.10 OG Dota 2 (31 October 2015). "Monkey Business is now OG". Twitter. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
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