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It’s Game Over for OG

One day after the end of WePlay AniMajor, OG’s most important player has announced his decision to leave the... Radu M. | 15. June 2021

One day after the end of WePlay AniMajor, OG’s most important player has announced his decision to leave the team. Known to be both brilliant and rebellious, ana couldn’t stand the pain of his failure to help OG secure a direct invite to The International 10 and let everyone know that he’s quitting Dota 2 for good. The shocking part about his decision is that he’s only 21 years old. At this age, most pro players barely start their careers.

The Reason for ana’s Departure

Given the timing of his decision, I think it’s quite obvious what’s going on. Both Nigma and Liquid failed to secure direct invitations to TI 2021 at WePlay AniMajor and that means one thing: Western Europe will have a lot of strong teams competing for just one TI spot.

For someone who hates losing, the prospect of failing to even qualify for The International 10 after winning the last two editions of the tournament is a huge source of stress. And as it seems, ana couldn’t deal with it. So he decided to not even try. At 30 he’ll probably look back and regret it, realizing that it was pure immaturity on his part. One might call it the emotional fragility of youth. Not everyone is plagued by it, but some are. And it’s painful.

There’s absolutely no logical reason why ana would leave OG at such a critical time. If anything, he should be training harder than ever. But he’s made up his mind that he can’t defeat Nigma and the rest of the European competitors this year. Not with this roster, anyway.

What’s Next for OG

OG now has to improvise and bring someone in right before the qualifiers. It’s going to be difficult and I don’t expect it to work. The other competitors are extremely strong right now and since there’s only one spot available, Nigma is most likely going to take it.

Who can OG bring in? They need a carry and it’s hard to think of one at this point. Perhaps Sumail? Topson cannot play the role but perhaps Sumail can, even though he’s not a carry player. His expertise is in the mid lane and the offlane. Another issue is that he used to play for OG but things didn’t work out.

Another option is w33, but his loyalty to KuroKy will almost certainly make him refuse the offer. He’s not willing to go against the man who gave him so much in his career, at a moment when everyone had discarded his talent.

Given the circumstances, I wouldn’t be surprised if OG gave up entirely and accepted that this is not their year. But if they do decide to fight, it’s going to be really hard to find the right player. Apart from ana, nobody ever managed to truly carry them to victory.

 

Photo credit: Valve