Misha Talks About What He Learned as a Head Coach for OG at TI10

After finishing in the top eight at The International 10 (TI10), all of OG's players either left or took a break. A new roster was released later, with head coach Mikhail "Misha" Agatov becoming the new captain, tasked with leading a squad of fairly young and inexperienced players. The Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Western Europe (WEU) 2021-22 Tour 1: Division 1 thus far has been going quite well for the team. In a recent interview following its third series win, Misha talked about what he learned in his time as OG's head coach and also explained how that is helping him develop this team. Misha pointed out that he learned a great deal and one important lesson that stood out to him was how to build a team step by step.

Misha describes the development of the new OG roster using his TI10 experiences

Before joining OG as its head coach for TI10, Misha had been away from competitive Dota 2 for quite some time. To initially serve as the head coach for the TI defending champions to then, later on, be trusted to carry forward the team's legacy as its new captain can pose as quite the challenge.

OG was not able to defend its title, but under Misha's direction, the new roster is doing well so far. It has won three of the four series in the DPC WEU. As Misha revealed in an interview with DreamLeague, his time at OG has taught him a lot. TI10 was an invaluable experience for him as it helped him gain an understanding of how teams are built and what steps he must take to make OG a serious threat to its opponents.

“I feel like I learned hundreds or thousands of lessons, so hard to name one. Maybe I got a feeling on how to create a team by every little step. I feel like I am not missing anything in the way. I have an ambition in my head on how to build a team, how it should look like when you scout players, when you talk with them, when you play the first days, how it should look in six months, how it should look at TI, how the game should be and everything. I just feel everything that awaits us and what to do with it, so I feel I understand every step, what to do to become a strong team that will be dangerous to play against.”

As a head coach for OG, Misha worked with two of Dota 2’s greatest players, Sébastien "Ceb" Debs and Johan "N0tail" Sundstein. Ceb and N0tail have established themselves as the pioneers of competitive Dota 2, gaining popularity for their original playstyle, their constant optimism, and of course, the back to back TI wins in 2018 and 2019.

Ceb and N0tail may not be playing anymore but the latter being the team's mentor will certainly help Misha and the new OG squad with both in-game and outside issues. A long road lies ahead for this new roster so it will be fascinating to see how they perform over time. Currently, the team is on a break as the DPC halts for the Christmas and New Year holidays. OG’s next series in the DPC WEU will be against Team Tickles on 8th Jan 2022.

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