Team OG is finally Dota 2 champions of the prestigious tournament, The International 2018. The professional squad made history defeating PSG.LGD in the Grand Finals to win TI 8 in Canada. Triumphantly holding up the Aegis, the pro players Topson, ana, JerAx, N0tail and 7ckingMad took home their record-breaking prize of a staggering $11.2 million. While the runner-ups PSG.LGD finish in second place to claim their reward of an incredible $4 million.
The European dota team, OG had the potential to win The International years ago, but they always seemed to falter somehow in such a prestigious tournament. Fast forward to 2018, and Team OG have not had an incredible year over the past few months leading up to The International 2018. The squad replaced three gamers losing their notable captain Tal ‘Fly’ Aizik, Gustav ‘s4’ Magnusson that joined to Evil Geniuses and Roman ‘Resolu1ion’ Fominok to VGJ.Storm.
It was a tricky season, where the squad had to rebuild the roster that led them to surrender their spot at the China Dota 2 Supermajor. OG acquired Australian gamer Anathan ‘ana’ Pham who took a break after TI7. All eyes were on the pub star, Topias ‘Topson’ Taavitsainen who had never played before in an esports event let alone on the world stage, but he proved his worth in the end. The unit has also bought the former stand-in, Sebastien ‘7ckingMad’ Debs as part of the active roster to prepare for The International 2018 event. Despite the late changes, OG players are listed among the top 25 of the highest earning gamers in esports, pocketing $2.2 million each.
PSG.LGD was the dota favourites in The International, so it was very unexpected when OG won the Finals. The Chinese team that is sponsored by the French football club, Paris Saint-German have had quite a roll, over the past few months ranking in the top five of the Dota Pro Circuit. They gained DPC points after placing in top three of dota tournaments like the Starladder i-League Invitational Season 4, Dota 2 Asia Championships, EPICENTER XL, MDL Changsha Major and China Dota 2 Supermajor.
OG is the first team to win The International 2018 through the Open Qualifier bracket. The gaming community came up with a West-East because Chinese units like Invictus Gaming won the first International event in 2011, Newbee took the TI Championship back in 2014 and Wings Gaming won the trophy in 2016. On top of this, OG has broken the superstition that Eastern squads win in the even years while Western teams win in the odd years.
With N0tail as the OG team captain, they began their journey in the Open qualifying matches as well as the leading European qualifiers to earn their spot in The International 8. Going through the Group Stage, they progressed to the Upper brackets where they dominated over top teams like VGJ. Storm and last year’s champions Team Liquid and PSG.LGD in the Upper Bracket Finals.
In the decider match of the Grand Finals, OG and PSG.LGD put on a good show of intense team fights with a unique combination of heroes. The European team opened the match to ensure a lead in the first game, giving enough time for PSG.LGD to pick up the pace where they took the leading advantage in the second and third game. There were moments in the game where OG may have seemed that they might lose however they pulled through in their struggles. With an unbelievable turn, OG repossessed control in the fourth round and gained a substantial lead in fifth, thanks to the incredible performance of Topson with dota hero, Zeus.
The proud team of OG won with an incredible score of 3-2 over the Chinese LGD, taking The International 2018 Dota Championship to claim their prize of a staggering $11.2 million.
Year upon year, the dota 2 event, The International has shown the world its top gamers giving a fantastic performance, entertaining esports fans and online spectators from around the world. The Valve organisers announced that next year’s Dota 2 TI 9 will be held in Shanghai, after the past several years it took place in America.
