In an exclusive interview with GosuGamers, OG CEO Daniel Sanders said OG.LATAM will be the organisation's main roster while its European team focuses on growth.
Iconic Dota 2 organisation 
OG find themselves in an interesting crossroads as they struggle to return to relevance in the scene they once dominated over half a decade ago.
After two years of poor results, including failing to qualify for The International (TI) in back-to-back years, the organisation signed a new Peruvian roster in 
OG.LATAM in late April that is distinct from its main team competing in Western Europe. Then, earlier this week, OG announced that co-founder and two-time TI champion 
Johan “N0tail” Sundstein has returned to competitive play to coach its overhauled European team, which revealed its roster on Thursday (8 May).
Dota 2 organisations fielding multiple rosters are a rarity in the scene nowadays, with the few that still do only fielding a main team and an academy roster. But in the case of OG, both their Peruvian and European teams will be actively competing under the organisation's banner. But that begs the question, which of the two will be OG's flagship roster moving forward?
OG CEO Daniel Sanders set the record straight in an exclusive interview with GosuGamers, saying that OG.LATAM will be their ‘main’ roster until TI 2025, after which the organsation will start weighing its options.
“For now, the OG.LATAM team is pretty much going to be the main roster because they've got the most success and the most pedigree, whilst Johan is going to be working with the European team to just get some experience and refine the way in which we run our teams. And then after TI, we'll have to sit down with the LATAM roster, with Johan, and the new roster, and just look at the calendar and see how we can run two rosters.”
Planting new seeds in South America
OG are no strangers to fielding multiple Dota 2 teams. Following TI 2019, when OG became the first team in the history of Dota 2 to raise the Aegis of Champions twice, the organisation launched 
OG Seed. OG Seed aimed to develop young talent to potentially supplement the organisation's main roster should the latter team's players retire or leave.
However, the OG Seed project came to an end just eight months after it launched as the COVID-19 pandemic caused the Dota 2 esports scene to fully shift to third-party online tournaments, where having two teams under the same organisation would cause conflicts of interest.
Sanders said OG have discussed a potential revival of OG Seed, likely driven by the main roster's struggles, and that they were looking at other regions for players with whom to relaunch the project. Ultimately, OG Seed failed to sprout once more as the organisation instead found themselves with a full and competitive roster from South America.
The organisation's history in the region certainly helped, given that they previously had the likes of 
Adrian “Wisper” Cespedes Dobles and 
Enzo “Timado” Gianoli playing under their banner.
"We've been discussing for a long time, relaunching the Seed project. This isn't a Seed project, obviously, but we wanted to be able to contribute to the growth and health of Dota. We've looked at many regions, we've looked at China, we've looked at Southeast Asia, and a vision of ours is to have regional teams that feed a core team in whatever way, shape, or form that is.
And Latin America has always been really important for us. You know, we had Wisper and Timado from there, and the fans are absolutely crazy. We have Peru in particular, you know, a mental community. So it's important for us to be able to, you know, stay relevant there and give back to the community in the best way."
OG.LATAM signing a ‘win-win’ for OG
OG.LATAM's roster includes some of the most decorated players to have come out of South America. Hector Antonio “K1” Rodriguez is the team's biggest name, boasting Top 8 finishes in TI 2019 with 
Infamous, TI 2022 with 
beastcoast, and TI 2023 with 
Nouns Esports. Team captain Joel “MoOz” Mori is one of the region's most experienced players and has led multiple teams in the past.
There's also mid laner Gonzalo “DarkMago” Herrera, a highly-talented player still looking for that big breakout performance. Offlaner Mario “ILICH-” Romero, position 4 support player Yelstin “elmisho” Verde, and coach Juan David "Vintage" Angulo Nicho round out the squad, having played for 
M80 alongside MoOz and DarkMago prior to signing with OG.LATAM.
Sanders admitted that their signing of the OG.LATAM roster ended up being a welcome surprise, as they suddenly found themselves with a team ready to represent the organisation in the year's biggest tournaments, giving the European squad time to grow without the pressure of producing immediate results.
“It was really circumstantial. The roster we've known for a while, but they've had their own troubles and needed support, and so they reached out to us to look at if we were in a position to be able to provide that. Obviously, we're in the process of rebuilding our core roster at the moment. Everyone knows the story there, and so we wanted to do what we could to support them.
But it was also beneficial because of the fact that they are already competing in [DreamLeague Season 26], and have a really good chance to go to [the Esports World Cup 2025] and TI. So it was a win-win for us.”
Given OG's prestige, it would not have been too difficult for them to find a few up-and-coming players to start a rebuild. That was what the organisation was initially going for, according to Sanders, as they were talking to a couple of teenage prodigies from South America and were not looking for a full roster.
But Sanders said the team that would eventually form OG.LATAM were really eager to compete under the OG banner and embody the qualities the organisation stood for. Having a full roster ready to compete for the organisation was already shaping up to be a win-win situation for Sanders, but having them really want to play for OG despite its recent struggles made the signing almost a given.
"It helped that they were already established. But when we speak to teams or we speak to players, we do really analyse the personalities of them, what they want to achieve, what OG can give them. And they were just incredibly passionate about the story of OG and wanted to prove themselves and wanted to embrace what the OG qualities are. And that was a really big driver for us.
If we just felt they wanted a bit of money, a bit of support, that would have been fine and we could have helped to work with them. But the fact they really showed a strong desire to live the way we live meant that we were more than happy to work out an arrangement where they could become part of the team."
OG.LATAM are set to make their tournament debut in DreamLeague Season 26, which will be hosted online from 19 May to 1 June. There, OG's new Peruvian squad will compete against 15 other world class teams for a cut of the US$1 million prize pool. A strong performance in DreamLeague Season 26 could also lead to potential qualification for the Esports World Cup 2025's Dota 2 tournament in July, where a US$3 million prize pool will be up for grabs. Then there's all the other tournaments that basically happen every two weeks in the packed Dota 2 esports calendar.
After over two years of disappointing results, it's looking like an exciting time to be an OG fan again, whether you're following OG.LATAM or the main European roster coached by N0tail.
Of course, there's no way to know what the rest of the year will bring to OG. But Sanders expressed confidence in letting both squads find their own way until the season culminates with TI 2025 in September. Once they get there, OG will assess their options and look for the best path forward. Until then, fans should expect some good Dota from both OG.LATAM and N0tail's European OG team.
“We'll stick with these two until TI, and then we'll sit down and we'll look at what is the best way. Do we need a real Seed team? If so, then we'll work it out. Can we run two Tier 1 rosters? If so, then great. We'll find out then. But for now, OG.LATAM will be spearheading it for us, and then Johan's going to be working with his team to get them to where they need to be.”
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