Dota 2’s OG might have a roster change before The International 10 rolls around, according to current player Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka. OG are famous in Dota 2 for becoming the first-ever two-time International champions, also happening to win the tournament back-to-back over the last two years of competition with the exact same roster both times.
Dota 2 is a game that is well-known for the frequency with which people jump between rosters and teams, especially after The International, where every team except one has improvements they need to make to compete. This time in the game is known as the post-TI roster shuffle, and it’s so popular that fans will track it on spreadsheets and take prop bets on whether or not a certain player will move to a new team. The International 9 was perhaps the most consistent representation of year-to-year Dota 2 dominance in quite some time, with OG and PSG.LGD - the two finalists from last year - making the final three, rounded out by Team Liquid, the winner of TI7.
Unfortunately, though, it appears OG might not be immune to the roster shuffle after all, despite being the most successful team in the game’s history. In an interview with Digitoday (translated by Dot Esports), JerAx suggested that OG might compete with a new roster when the next International rolls around. He also mentioned the fact that if OG doesn’t come back in its current configuration, he might not be interested in joining the new roster, either. Here’s what he said about the current status of OG’s members:
It’s not hard to read between the lines there and infer that JerAx might not be interested in a new-look OG if too many of his friends depart from the roster. Of the people currently on the roster, two names stand out as the most likely question marks when it comes to returning - Anathan “ana” Pham, who took an extended break from the team after TI8 and returned just in time for them to gel together and win TI9, and Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen, a young player who has experienced huge amounts of success with the team in his first couple years and is now taking a long vacation from Dota 2. It wouldn’t be surprising to see either player have their interest in competitive Dota 2 wane after so much success at young ages, and with millions in the bank, it might be time for them to pursue the next step in their life.
“Most of us are on vacation now…they may be long or short, but I don’t expect OG to compete at TI next year with this lineup. However, anything can still happen. If our team doesn’t continue, my teammates have motivated me to this point, then what would it feel like to play with new people?”
If the next year spells the end of OG as fans have come to know them, then it marks the departure of the most legendary team in Dota 2 history. It seems unlikely any team will ever win back-to-back Internationals again - after all, it took nine tries for just one player to win two of them total regardless of how long it took in between, and again, it was OG who did it. Hopefully the long breaks away from Dota 2 help clarify what each player wants out of esports. If it isn’t Dota 2, it’s hard to argue they haven’t accomplished everything they could’ve already anyways.
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Source: Digitoday (via Dot Esports)
