All You Need to Know About the New OG Lineup

Dota 2 fans finally got a look at the new roster of the two-time The International (TI) champs - OG on the final day of the roster lock. The roster was just as rumored as the organization committed to some fresh raw talent paired with some experience and direction. OG recruited Bozhidar "Biziem" Bogdanov and Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf, two 16-year-old Dota 2 players who began their Dota 2 careers in the past season. The next player on OG's roster was Team Unique's Artem "Yuragi" Golubiev, a 20-year-old upcoming player, signed as the new carry. Finally, OG added Tommy "Taiga" Le and Mikhail "Misha" Agatov, two players who pride themselves on having a decent amount of professional Dota 2 experience.

Who are the new OG players? Here's a brief history of each of them

Misha - Position 5

Misha is best known for his role as Team Spirit's captain in 2019-20, even though he started out as a competitive player around 2015. Throughout his six year career, he has struggled to reach the upper echelons of Dota 2 competitive play, moving around in various European and CIS teams. Additionally, it has been a long time since he has competed at the highest level, having last done so in March 2021 as a stand-in for VP.Prodigy.

It should be noted that a few weeks prior to TI10, Misha was announced as the head coach for OG. In fact, Misha had already been coaching the team before the qualifiers. This announcement came as a surprise as he had been absent from competitive Dota 2 for a prolonged period of time and OG already had TI winning coach Titouan "Sockshka" Merloz. As it became known, Misha was brought in by Ceb, who knew him from pubs. Ceb really liked the way Misha played and thought about the game. Eventually, after TI10, Misha became an active player and the new captain for the team after he approached them with his desire to compete.

“He is a very nice person and he has a very good heart. He cares about people around him and he cares so much about the game. This is a winning recipe. He is smart, talented, and willing to learn. What else can you ask? I can safely say that without him we would have not qualified for TI10. He came in, helped us clear all the confusion, helped us get much smarter about a lot of things. Misha has all it takes and I believe in him and I will be there for anything he needs to help out,” stated Ceb on the recruitment of Misha.

Taiga - Position 4

Taiga, the former Team Liquid support player, has the most top-level experience on OG's new roster. His competitive Dota 2 career started in 2017 with SFTe-sports, which also had OG's very own Topson on the team. As someone who had the experience of playing competitive Heroes of Newerth (HoN), he found new teammates among the former HoN community, joining forces with players like Michael "miCKe" Vu and Aydin "iNSaNiA" Sarkohi. For two years, this team played for Alliance, and then went on to play with Team Liquid for the next two years. This team stuck together for four years, even though other teams changed a great deal, and played more than 600 games together. Taiga and the team, however, split up amid the ongoing shuffle.

“After deciding that Misha was going to be the captain and position 5, we sat down with him and listened to his ideas & the players that he had in mind for the new roster. He could really see what Taiga could bring to the table. We really liked the pair of Misha and an experienced support that could help him lead and guide the younger players,” OG said in regards to its search for a new position four player.

ATF - Position 3

ATF, a 16-year-old Jordanian player, gained a lot of attention in the past few months due to his potential as an offlane player, which he displayed both in pubs and during competitive matches. He began playing the DPC 2021 in the Creepwave stack, went off the scene for a couple of months, and then joined Chicken Fighters midway through the second league. ATF again represented Creepwave at some third party events before TI10. Mars and Timbersaw were two of his signature heroes on which he exhibited a great deal of expertise

In OG's blog post, it revealed that it had been very clear from the start about recruiting ATF as its new offlaner. Additionally, when they interviewed him, they found a "vivid, funny, and hardworking personality" that reminded them of a young Ceb.

“We see Ammar in pubs all the time. Crazy kid. Very skillful. With a little guidance, I think he is going to be fantastic. I mean, he already is. But he will be even better! Is going to be fun watching him own safelaners,” said N0tail on hiring ATF.

Biziem (formerly Hansha) - Position 2

Biziem, a 16-year-old midlander, is arguably the least-known member of OG's new roster. Having played for some stacks in the first half of 2021, Biziem joined Creepwave in August 2021 and competed in some third party events for the team. In Oct 2021, he won the Dota 2 Champions League Season 4 with Creepwave and ATF.

ATF put forth the idea to recruit Biziem, and after interviewing him for the first time, the two-time TI champions instantly liked him.

“The younger the better. Biziem is really impressive. I got to see him last year with Creepwave and in pubs. And I think ATF is really good as well. I really like both. Young and motivated. Open to new ideas,” stated Topson as he spoke about the players who would play in his stead.

Yuragi (formerly spAce) - Position 1

A 20-year-old carry player from Ukraine, Yuragi has played Dota 2 exclusively for Team Unique during his short two year career. His journey began with NOVA, Team Unique's youth organization, in 2020, and he joined the main organization just before the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) kicked off in January 2021.

While the player might not have the widespread public's attention, he has been steadily climbing the MMR Leaderboards over the past few months, establishing himself as a potential prospect for some of the top teams. Yuragi occupies the sixth place on the European MMR Leaderboard charts at the time of writing this article, finding himself among the most reputed Dota 2 players in the region.

“Yuragi is a very creative and proactive player which is something we have always valued in a position 1 player in OG. Seeing these qualities in such a young mind instantly attracted us and we agreed to have him join this new OG project,” the organization said on Yuragi's hiring.

There is a lot of promise in this new roster and they will be competing from N0tail's Sunflower house in Lisbon. The team will be on display during the Western European tour of the DPC 2021-22, which begins on 29th Nov 2021. N0tail will stay with the team to support and direct them.