Ceb Speaks About How He Has Had to Adapt to the New OG
OG opened up their journey at the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022 with a dominant 2-0 victory over beastcoast. The team has had to face a lot of challenges in recent days due to visa issues which had forced Sébastien "Ceb" Debs and Johan "N0tail" Sundstein to return as stand-ins in the last minute, in place of Mikhail "Misha" Agatov and coach Evgenii "Chuvash" Makarov.
So to see OG function so well despite not competing with its full-strength roster was surprising for many of us. Following OG’s victory, Ceb remarked on his feelings about playing competitively once again and how he has had to adapt to the lineup.
Ceb on how it feels to play competitively again with the new OG
The ESL One Stockholm Major 2022 will be the first competitive tournament that Ceb has played after his “retirement” at The International 10. Considering the brand new OG lineup featuring 5 new players, the team dynamics must have significantly changed from the OG squad that Ceb was used to.
However, Ceb feels that despite the stand-in situation, it feels natural to play with this squad. “The guys are great, obviously I was kind of close to the group already so they’re no strangers to me, neither am I to them. So that felt natural. I feel like they’re kind of young and inexperienced and I am on the other side of the spectrum but it is kind of the same, I am old and experienced. But we’ve both haven’t been doing these big LANs in a while, in a way, that’s how it feels,“ he said.
“I am just part of the group, I am excited. It feels like this is my first LAN, my first Major. I just get the vibe of oh man, this is going to be a big tournament, it’s going to be hype, so it is awesome,” he added.
Ceb elaborates on how he adapted to the new OG for the Stockholm Major
Ceb said that he was not even the first option that was considered when the possibility of visa issues were brought up. “We were trying to think ahead and obviously visas can be an issue given the war situation, so we thought about options. But I was not option A, I feel. So I said that I could be down for it, but I don’t know if I am ready to and it is also not the same role and then we stopped talking about it,” he said.
Unfortunately, just a week before the Major, the team found out that Misha was going to be missing out on the Stockholm Major and turned to Ceb since they felt that he would be a really good fit for the team. “This is when I am like Oh man! I kind of started freaking out a bit because it actually will happen. Then I just started spam[ming] pubs [as] Pos 5, to get the groove. It’s slow but I am getting there,” he said.
Ceb spoke about how the initial scrims were a little disastrous since he was not familiar with play in the Position 5 role at a competitive level. “In the first scrims, I was getting played so much, it was so rough. I was like food, they were playing with me. But now, it’s less and less, and hopefully by the time we are deep in the tournament, I can be on top of the game,” he added.
He had to rely on his team to get him up to speed for the Major. “I also got a lot of help from Misha and Chuvash, our coach. It’s funny, everything is swapped around. I feel like the newbie getting in and they’re just telling me this is how things are done, this is what you can do. Yuragi is also actually helping me a lot on the lane,” he said.
The Frenchman explained that although the macro Dota was natural for him, he was not familiar with the micro aspects of the Position 5 role. “When you play a specific role, especially at this level, there are a lot of micro things you need to know by heart which I don’t,” he said. He elaborated on this by saying that encompassed a lot of elements including, “laning phase, warding, item build, starting item builds, whether to lane more or start looking at rotations.”
He also commented on how he is trying to add value to the team without disrupting the playstyle of the new OG lineup.
I don't have the will to force any ideas. I know that Dota, the way I played and the playstyle we had with the other OG is so deep into my DNA that whether I am trying or not to do it, it just happens. So I am focused on toning it down and I am really trying to not disrupt anything and support in whatever way I can. At first, I was very quiet. But now I think I am finding the balance between not disrupting but also bringing value and it’s cool. It is definitely not my Dota, in a way. I am learning it, I mean that positively, I am learning how they view the game and how they like to play the game and I am trying to fit in and now it feels more comfortable."- Sébastien "Ceb" Debs
Ceb and OG’s next game at the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022 is against BOOM Esports which is considered as one of the favorites to win the tournament. The match is expected to give us a good gauge of OG’s strength with Ceb in its lineup.
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