Cover-Credits:
While none of the iconic players of the The International (TI) 8 and 9 winning roster of OG actively compete today, most of them are still involved in the game through livestreaming and coaching. The core duo of that team - midlaner Topias Miikka "Topson" Taavitsainen and carry Anathan "ana" Pham - was actually considering returning together to the professional scene. Topson mentioned on the OG's Monkey Business podcast 23 that there was a point recently where he and Ana discussed joining a new team or forming their own, but the idea never really materialized. While Topson continues to livestream, as he has for the past several months, he also hinted in the podcast that ana might soon start livestreaming as well.
Topson and ana were thinking about returning to professional Dota together
In the past few months, both Topson and ana have played on Southeast Asian (SEA) servers, so the two tend to meet in pubs a lot. Having a conversation about ana with OG's CEO JMR Luna on the Monkey Business podcast, Topson recently mentioned that the two were contemplating returning to pro Dota. However, a lack of time and a problem with the region prevented the idea from coming to fruition.
“I guess I can say that he was asking me and I was kind of talking with him - maybe make a team here, join some team. He was interested but then I was like - the competition is in EU and if I join a team, it has to be 100% serious and I know if I join some team here in SEA, it’s going to be me, ana, plus some guys I really don’t like. How to say this? If I look at these players I feel it’s harder for me to find a squad that works than if I play in Europe and it was kinda last minute so…” said Topson.
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JMR Luna went on to say that he isn't sure whether ana wants to play in Europe. “I don’t think he (ana) wants to live in Europe though. I mean he didn’t a few months ago, who knows where he is right now,” he said in response to Topson’s statement on the podcast. Topson also mentioned that ana tends to lose motivation at times to play professionally, but he hopes for him to eventually find it.
While it appears that ana will not be returning to professional Dota 2 anytime soon, fans may be able to witness him play live since he recently enquired about livestreaming with Topson.
“He was asking me about streaming actually. He was interested in… maybe he’s gonna stream. I don’t know if I should talk about it if he wants me to talk about it but he was just asking me about it like - do some streaming and stuff,” Topson said.
JMR Luna talks about the prospect of a secondary OG roster
As JMR Luna and Topson discussed on the livestream, nearly all players of the TI winning roster have felt compelled to compete professionally after taking extended breaks or even retiring. As a result, JMR Luna began to talk about the possibility of a secondary OG roster, comprising these former TI winning players, competing professionally next year. Despite the fact that both rosters cannot compete under the same name at TI, he said a solution can be found.
“I am already waiting for the goal of saying - okay we are gonna have to have two OGs. This was coming. I wasn’t sure when this was gonna come but I feel that for next year, you know, maybe we have two OGs at this point. And the only thing that will happen is that at the end of the year only one can go to TI but I mean that is in a way a rich-people problem. If I have two teams that are ready to go to TI, sure I think we can do that. We can figure out a solution.”
According to the CEO, based on the current state of affairs, Topson, ana, Sébastien "Ceb" Debs, and Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka can all be persuaded, but the captain of that squad - Johan "N0tail" Sundstein is the most difficult. JMR Luna said that N0tail loves the game intensely, but he is not very keen on playing it himself at the moment.
JMR Luna mentioned a secondary OG squad as a way to reunite the former roster; it still appears to be a long shot. When Topson was livestreaming before this podcast was released, he specifically stated that such a reunion was not likely to take place.
For the fans of OG, they can look forward to the new roster competing in Tour 3 of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2021-22. The team, which recently won the Stockholm Major 2022, will play Tundra Esports on 14th June.
