OG held an online meeting with the press ahead of The International 2022 (TI11) to discuss the team’s preparations, mentality and goals heading into the most important tournament of the year.
Four of the OG players are at their first-ever TI this year, more so, Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov and Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf, both at 17 years old, are the youngest players competing for the Aegis of Champions in Singapore. So, given the fact that this year’s edition features plenty of newcomers and that the OG line-up has some of the youngest players to have ever stepped on the TI stage, the conversation was focused on what means to them to get to TI11 as a directly invited team and what kind of pressure the tournament puts on their shoulders.
OG’s roster was put together by Mikhail "Misha" Agatov in the aftermath of TI10, when the two-time TI winners decided to retire. In true OG fashion, the main criteria were to give to some young and very talented players all the conditions to develop into true champions. However, nobody at OG thought at the beginning about results, the process was more important for both Johan "N0tail" Sundstein and Sébastien "Ceb" Debs, founders and co-owners of the organization, as Misha explained to the press.
“When I created the team I didn't even talk to N0tail and Ceb about TI, about how we will get to TI or if we are going to get to TI. The main goal was to play the best Dota 2 possible,” he said. “We didn't discuss the results at all. They said that they will give us tons of time to work on our game, to work on our play style. So, in the end, it worked out in a really good way,” Misha added.
During their first year together, OG claimed three tournament trophies, including the DPC Stockholm Major, and for many fans, they are one of the favourites to reach the grand finals in Singapore, if not to win it all.
When asked if they agree with the fans and if they think of themselves as main favourites, Misha said: “I know that there is some kind of pressure from the media and that people say we are one of the favourites, along with Team Spirit and PSG.LGD, but we don't listen to those things. We don't want to build high expectations, we just expect high-quality Dota from each other and we will see what happens.”
At the same time, all players mentioned that although TI has a big aura around it and that they are very aware of its importance for any team playing in Singapore, they prefer to think about it as any other LAN tournament so that they avoid feeling extra pressure.
To me, TI is not different from the other LANs. It might be the biggest, but I always wanted to play at every possible LAN, so here we are - ATF
The pressure at TI is usually enhanced by the huge prize pool. However, this year, the situation might be different, as the prize pool is not even half of the value of TI10. We asked the OG players if the fact that the prize pool is so much lower than the previous year has impacted their motivation in any way.
Tommy "Taiga" Le, who got to play for a bigger prize pool at TI9, said that "the team is mostly interested to lift the Aegis, the money is a bonus, but of course, it's sad that the prize pool is not even close to the previous years.” Between a few giggles, both ATF and bzm said that it somewhat matters that the prize pool dropped so hard this year, because they would have liked more money.
While talking about the TI pressure, we also briefly touched with Taiga on the TI9 misclick incident that happened while he was playing with Alliance on the main stage.
"That's something that will definitely stay on my mind and definitely during the drafts I'm looking more at the clock than thinking at my heroes, to make sure that my captain or my drafter knows how much time we have left and that he won't misclick on the very last second," he said.
An arena filled to the brim with fans is also something that always makes an impact on those playing on the stage, and given the fact that OG have already claimed a trophy this year while playing in front of some of the most passionate Dota 2 fans, at ESL One Malaysia, Taiga also spoke about what a difference can a live audience make.
Playing on a stage with an audience, and seeing people wearing OG hoodies makes me want to keep playing. It's definitely way more motivating to keep going when you see the people cheering for you. So, having a large crowd is a huge boost - Taiga
While the SEA crowd might be the loudest and the most passionate that you can see at a Dota 2 event, the in-game SEA server has often given headaches to everyone not used to playing in the region. Asked about their experience with the SEA server, after a good laugh, the OG players designated Misha to give an answer.
Misha: “Everyone is playing SEA pubs and we all have a 70% win rate, except for Ammar, who is playing only on EU servers with 400 ping and he is losing every game.”
Talking about more serious matters at TI11, the media asked OG who they wanted to play against early in the event and the answer came promptly from Taiga, who said that all he wants from TI11 is an OG versus Team Liquid grand finals.
For the first time in TI history, the Main Event, aka the playoffs, will be split into two parts and will be held in two different arenas. The event will go on a five-day break after the lower bracket quarterfinals which are scheduled for October 23 and will resume on October 29 with the final two days of competition starting with the lower bracket semifinals and the upper bracket finals, followed by the lower bracket finals and the grand finals on the 30th of the month.
Asked how they think the break during the playoffs will affect the teams’ preparations for the finals days, OG captain, Misha said the following:
Misha: “We never experienced a schedule like this before, nor the other teams did. This is something completely new and we can't say how it's actually going to be. I imagine that if you get to the finals days, nobody will scrim with you in that week off and it's going to be a huge challenge for all the teams to stay warmed up. I guess you will be forced to only talk about the game, play pubs and find ways to keep everyone energized, hyped and focused. I'm sure it will be a huge test for the teams that will make it to the finals days.”
OG will make their entrance on the Suntec Arena stage for the Main Event of The International 2022 from a comfortable upper bracket slot. At the end of a four-day marathon of bo2 series in the group stage, the team placed fourth in Group A and will begin the playoff run on the second day of the Main Event on October 21, with a best-of-three against the top seed of Group B, Tundra Esports. A victory in their opening series on the Suntec Arena stage will guarantee OG a top-six finish at TI11 and place them only two series away from the grand finals.
Until OG are set to make their playoff debut at TI11, you can check below their first vlog from the bootcamp held in Malaysia.
