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OG currently holds the unique Dota 2 record of winning TI not only twice but back-to-back.
This year's DPC also laid the Cinderella narrative for them in pure OG fashion. In the last two Internationals, they were known first as underdogs who would be out early and then as flukers who could never recreate the magic. Against all odds, OG withstood the pressure and proved its doubters wrong.
Despite inconsistent performances seeing them rank only as good as Team Undying or T1 in the group stage, they were favorites for many people because of the 'OG factor'.
As it turned out today, the 'OG factor' was not enough to carry them forward in their lower bracket round 3 series against Team Spirit.
"Our Dota was not good enough to win": OG's Ceb after losing 0-2 in their best-of-three Dota 2 series against Team Spirit
In TI 2019, OG had established themselves as one of the strongest Dota 2 organizations with Johan "N0tail" Sundstein's 'anything can work' philosophy. After gaining this legendary status, the expectations on the 'flowerhouse' were obviously much higher going to TI 10.
Yet, this was the first time OG had been knocked down to the lower brackets of TI in four years. However, the side and its followers believed they could win through the challenging lower bracket run.
After Anathan "ana" Pham's gradual withdrawal from the team and professional Dota 2, OG was hard-pressed to find a replacement. They had struck gold with Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan, the youngest player to win TI.
OG seemed to keep their playstyle more or less intact after Ana's exit. They are known for their wildcard maneuvres with their aggressive midlaner, Topias "Topson" Taavitseinen, and their versatile offlaner, Sebastian "Ceb" Debs.
SumaiL himself being an exceptionally talented carry, it clicked together right before the qualifiers, where OG took the final EU slot to TI 10.
Their tournament performance has not been bad by any stretch. In the group stage, they held draws against extremely competent opponents like Invictus Gaming for an eventual upper bracket entry.
The main stage was a humbling experience for them after being borderline curb-stomped by Clement "Puppey" Ivanov's Team Secret and their drafting genius.
Even though Topson flared up to single-handedly carry the "Hassan bowl" and their first lower bracket Dota 2 bo3 against Quincy Crew, OG got outplayed and outclassed by Team Spirit today.
Team Spirit's Dota 2 accolades pale compared to OG. Their Dota 2 roster is a band of relatively unproven young East Europeans. Today, as Topson and Sumail failed to perform to expectations, Team Spirit's Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov and Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk far exceeded them.
With the top-tier Dota 2 they delivered, they deserve the clean sweep, and arguably even Alexander "TORONTOTOKYO" Khertek's "ez game" after a match-deciding teamwipe in the second game.
