During a recent Twitch livestream, Thai carry Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon mentioned that he was invited to OG following The International 10 (TI10). He went on to say that he declined the offer from OG because he did not know who the players on the team were at the time. In the aftermath of TI10, 23savage remained on T1, whose entire roster continued to stick together, whereas OG had undergone a complete revamp where some young players such as Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf and Artem "Yuragi" Golubiev were brought on board.
23savage declined OG’s offer after TI10
In his livestream on 2nd Feb 2022, 23savage revealed he was approached by OG following TI10, but it was after its mainstays Sébastien "Ceb" Debs, Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, and Topias Miikka "Topson" Taavitsainen, had moved away from the active roster. “Actually, I was invited to OG after TI but I didn’t know the roster so I just declined. But I declined after I knew that Ceb, N0tail, and Topson did not continue playing,” 23savage said.
In his livestream 23savage also commented on Topson, saying he will return to competitive Dota 2 in the future. “Yeah, I think Topson will be back, maybe next year. He will be back to play competitive.”
OG had undergone a full roster change after finishing in seventh-eighth place at TI10. Coach Mikhail "Misha" Agatov and Tommy "Taiga" Le from Team Liquid formed the experienced duo, while ATF, Yuragi, and Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov made up the young core of the new roster. Yuragi was the new safelaner.
As for T1, it retained its roster after finishing in seventh-eighth place at TI10.
23savage's statement comes at a time when the Southeast Asian (SEA) competitive scene is expected to undergo large-scale roster changes with the player being a focus of attention. There have been rumors that the Thai carry will exit T1’s active roster in the near future, and that his spot will be taken by former two time TI champion, Anathan "ana" Pham. Despite a number of rumors, neither 23savage nor T1 has officially confirmed this.
Following its third-place finish in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Southeast Asia (SEA) 2021-22 Tour 1: Division 1, T1 qualified for the Regional Finals of the region. Considering the Regional Finals begin on 11th Feb for SEA, which is just a week from now.