OG will be approaching the second season of Dota Pro Circuit Regional Leagues with a new carry player as Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng’s time with the back-to-back TI champions has come to an end.
MidOne’s stint with OG lasted 15 months through which he had multiple role swaps in order to fit in with the group. He joined the team in January last year when he was supposed to play in the offlane, despite being one of the strongest mid lane players in the world. Back then, OG were preparing for the long run towards The International 10, having Syed Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan on their side, but in the carry role. Fast forward to a couple of months later, when it became clear that the coronavirus would put a halt on the day-by-day living as we used to know it and the travel bans would make tournaments much harder if not impossible to organise, MidOne switched to the carry position as SumaiL left the roster.
Despite changing roles twice in a matter of months, MidOne adapted fairly quickly to the new in-game duties and through the entire 2020 online season, OG reached three grand finals and lost. Unfortunately, when it mattered the most, in the first season of the DPC leagues, the team failed to clinch a Major ticket. They placed fifth in the EU league, which is pretty much what triggered MidOne’s departure.
In his official statement upon MidOne’s departure, Sébastien “Ceb” Debs highlighted the need for competitive synergy and expressed his sadness that something never clicked.
Competitive synergy is something very unique and complex. Yeik is one of the best players we have played with, and we worked very hard for months and made a lot of improvements… but unfortunately it never “clicked”. It happens sometimes. We want to wish him the best of luck moving forward and hope he finds a great team where he can shine.
With MidOne gone, OG will be introducing a new player ahead of the second season of the DPC leagues, which are set to begin on the 13th of April. The team will continue to play in the European Upper Division, but the pressure will be at another level, as this year there are just two major tournaments that can qualify a team to The International.
OG current roster:
Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen
Sébastien “Ceb” Debs
Johan “N0tail” Sundstein
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov
