The DPC 2021 Season has been filled with disappointments regarding OG's performances, has the team lost their shine, or just waiting to bloom?
OG have lost their second shot at making it to a Major this year after dropping 0-2 in their final series in the Dota Pro Circuit Season 2 Europe upper-division league. The two-time TI champions' road to TI10 will now become a bit more muddied as they will have to compete in the regional qualifiers for a chance to defend their title.
After the team failed to clinch a Major ticket, placing fifth in the EU league they reached into their bag of tricks and brought back Anathan ‘Ana’ Pham to the lineup. However, their typical fool-proof method didn't seem to work this time and OG is once again sitting in the 5th place slot (tied with Brame and Tundra Esports) with a possible relegation to the lower bracket even.
Regardless of where they place after the tie-breakers, OG will need to take the long road to TI, through the regional qualifiers.
So what's going on? Have they lost their spark or not?
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 position, despite being one of the strongest mid-lane players in the world. Back then, OG was 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 organize, 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.
Ana: Enter stage right.
OG opened the second season with a bang and a 2:0 sweep. True to their typical 'bullying' in-game OG engaged in classic fountain farming heroes when tier two towers were still up. A dip in week two with a loss against Alliance rebounded with two more weeks of solid gameplay and OG fun, including sweeping through Team Secret.
But then things started to unravel and their loss to Tundra bit back hard when they lost the next two series in a row. Their record cost them a spot at the AniMajor.
While Ana might be OG's savior, and certainly one of their more infamous memes content, what else is more on-brand for them than last chance qualifiers turned into TI championship titles?
Real Facts: Sunflowers bloom in the summer. They bloom for a period of 8-12 weeks with some beginning as early as July and others finishing as late as October — just in time for The International.
