Cover-Credits:
In contrast to last year's very competitive Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season, OG hasn't looked particularly impressive this year, looking like an average contender in a cut-throat Western European (WEU) Division 1. While the team had stepped up its game in Tour 2, its performances in Tour 3 have again suffered. Former Team Secret support Yazied "YapzOr" Jaradat, discussed on Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski's livestream the reason for OG’s middling results this year. As YapzOr described, OG's current roster lacks a leader capable of calling the shots and making decisions. As an example, he cited Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf and Sébastien "Ceb" Debs as players who played such a role for OG previously.
YapzOr says OG’s current roster lacks a leader like ATF and Ceb
In casting the DPC series between OG and Team Liquid on Gorgc’s livestream, YapzOr mentioned the lack of a "strong voice" in the team after seeing the former on the verge of losing game one. “I feel like OG are missing a strong voice,” he said.
Gorgc agreed with YapzOr’s point and talked about how OG's two young carry players have lacked teamwork, despite their stellar individual skills.
"Yeah, I think after watching OG for a while, I think Yuragi and bzm are top-tier for sure. They are like - Quinn dyrachyo level or miCKe Nisha level type of good, I think. They won a Major last year, they are really good but lately, lacking a little bit of synergy in their team, I guess.”
When it was brought up in the Twitch chat that ATF and Ceb were on the rosters when OG won Majors, YapzOr stated that it was precisely his point that such players have helped drive the team in the past, making them look cohesive.
“I mean, that’s kind of what I mean. I don’t know how common knowledge this is but it should be at this amount that Ammar was a very strong voice for this team. He had these f**kers under control. If it wasn’t him, it was Ceb. If it wasn’t Ceb, it was both of them, you know what I mean. But it’s now just they are in a pub, here and there.”
Watching OG lose the first game of the series to Liquid, Gorgc remarked that it was not just a lack of a leader in the squad but also OG's hero choices that were causing the lackluster outcomes.
“Me looking at these heroes, not just the strong voice shit, their hero ideas are wrong right now if these are the heroes they are prioritizing over Mag, Techies, Lich, Bloodseeker, I don’t know dude. That does not seem to be the play.”
OG is currently sixth on the Tour 3 points table, tied with D1 Hustlers, with one win after four series. The squad had missed Tommy "Taiga" Le in the first three series, thus a comeback in the remaining games is possible, something the team was also able to do in Tour 2.
On 28th May 2023, OG will face the reigning Major champions Gaimin Gladiators as part of its next series.
