Team OG misses Major and tough TI10 qualifiers lie ahead

It was an unprecedented letdown over at the DreamLeague S15, after team OG failed to fair well against Team Liquid. It was the last match of the six-week-long regional league, and let’s just say even non OG fans are disappointed.

Here’s why.

Four-way tiebreaker canceled

Essentially, we just missed the opportunity of watching a four-way tiebreaker at EU DPC Season 2. If OG managed to outplay Team Liquid, that would have dragged Team Liquid from its first runner-up standing. Along with evening everyone’s scores with Team Secret, Nigma, and OG themselves.

Since that didn’t happen, the first to fourth place is as follows, Alliance, Team Liquid, Nigma, and lastly, Team Secret. While the four powerhouses prepare to play at the WePlay AniMajor 2021, team OG will try their luck at the International 10 qualifiers.

Before that, OG still has unfinished business in the Dota Pro Circuit 2021 (DPC 2021). It’s a three-way tiebreaker between Brame, Tundra Esports, and the latter. Fifth-place finish land the victor a consolation of 50 DPC points, while zero points are awarded to the successive finishes. The seventh-place demotes the team down to Lower Division bracket at the next DPC event.

Team OG vs Liquid Post-Match breakdown

Drilling down into the match, many pointed out Martin “Saksa” Sazdov’s poor recovery following his team’s weak laning phase. His inability to cover the horrendous laning phase by his teammates is not on par with his predecessor JerAx yet. Neither of Anathan “ana” Pham’s picks in Sven and Void could impact the game heavily or survive the devastating offlane duo from Team Liquid. Without hesitation, Team Liquid snowballed throughout the midgame, not giving OG any chance of comeback.

To put things into perspective, OG has been playing very greedily, attempting to provide enough resources for four heroes in the game. The greed did not pay off in their two most important duels this season.

Not to undermine Team Liquid’s performance,  Aydin “iNSaNiA” Sarkohi outwitted OG with a Broodmother pick. However, since it wasn’t the last pick, OG felt obligated to counter-pick with Sven. Yet, it was all iNSaNiA’s plan, as Broodmother was merely an offlane pick.

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What lies ahead for OG

The next step are the TI Regional qualifiers where OG most likely clashes Nigma and Liquid once again for a 1 TI spot. Based on current standings as long as Alliance and Secret don’t utterly flop at the Major and both lose out on an invite, the trio mentioned above will be deciding who gets to go to The International.

There is a scenario where neither of the EU teams secure a direct invite to TI10 through DPC points, in which case all the DPC Season 2 teams clash for a single European TI invite spot this season. Either way the road ahead is tough for OG as they have to clutch one series after another against opponents who had their number every step of the way through 2021.

In the end, a key takeaway is the fan support always being amazing regardless of how OG performs. An outpouring of support came on Twitter as soon as the team flopped their series, as the OG faithfuls know the potential of this team quite well.