N0tail on the young OG squad: 'There's only one way to go for them and that's up'

Dota 2 legend and OG founder Johan "N0tail" Sundstein gave his team's young roster their flowers for their performance at The International 11 (TI11), saying that the squad can only get better from here.

"As long as these guys keep their motivation, there's only one way to go for them and that's up," said N0tail in an exclusive interview with Yahoo Esports SEA.

While there may be a hint of bias in N0tail's encouraging words for his team, it's hard to go against what he says when it comes to building rosters and leading them to greatness.

As a two-time TI champion, five-time Major winner (four as a player, one as a stand-in coach), and a living legend of the game, N0tail has built and led several of the greatest teams in the history of Dota 2 esports.

But before you can reach the game's summit, you must first come from humble beginnings. After he stepped away from competitive Dota 2 in November last year, N0tail empowered then-coach Mikhail "Misha" Agatov to create OG's new team and be their captain.

The team that Misha gathered mostly consisted of young pubstars, namely Artem "Yuragi" Golubiev, Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov, and Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf. Only position 4 support player Tommy "Taiga" Le had extensive professional experience, having previously played for the likes of Team Liquid and Alliance.

At the time, N0tail said he had "no expectations" for the team. For an organisation that has been a staple of TI and have won the championship twice, it would have been almost unthinkable for them to go on a rebuild and risk not appearing in Dota 2's world championship tournament.

N0tail thought otherwise, saying he had "no expectations other than finding a group of people who would do their best."

"If they did just that, that would've made me proud," he added. Misha notably echoed N0tail's sentiments in a previous interview conducted before TI11.

"I wasn't even talking about TI when I was creating the team with N0tail and [Sébastien "Ceb" Debs]," said Misha.

"I wasn't thinking about how we're gonna get to TI, if we're gonna get to TI. The main goal was to just play the best Dota possible and work on our games."

But after they became one of the best teams in Western Europe, won the ESL One Stockholm Major and ESL One Malaysia 2022, and finished the year with a 7th-8th place finish at TI11, N0tail said the young OG squad had "overachieved." However, he was not surprised by how well things went.

"I was not surprised that they got to where they got. I saw what Misha had to offer already at TI10 and it was enough for us to already glimpse what was possible," said N0tail.

The OG founder said that he has been impressed by many things about the young squad, even by some things he did not expect to see from them. But what impressed him the most was the talent they showcased during their meteoric rise to become one of the world's best teams.

"Something that stands out is the raw talent of the new players. I thought that it would take longer, I thought that they would need more experience, need more hardship to get to where they got. But, honestly, I really was just taken away by how talented these guys were," said N0tail.

Watching the young OG squad from the sidelines has been a bittersweet experience for N0tail. Seeing the team get knocked out of TI11 had him "rolling around the hotel floor in physical pain, in agony," the two-time TI champion said in an episode of the OG Monkey Business Show.

But N0tail told Yahoo Esports SEA that the pain came more than from just seeing them lose. Instead, it was because he "[cares] so much" for his team.

"Watching OG play from the sidelines has been almost torment. It's been physically demanding, it's been psychologically like torture. It's been really hard. But it's just because I care so much," said N0tail.

"It's very hard to watch the people you really want to see succeed have even the smallest struggle in the game, even though the game might be fine. I still feel physically ill from the tension, it's much harder to watch than it is to play."

While most teams wouldn't mind getting to the Top 8 of TI, it's a disappointment for the young OG squad that has achieved so much in such a short time for an organisation that has been winning for so long. Falling short should give them more than enough motivation to strive for the summit again next year.

And, as N0tail said, for a motivated OG squad there's only one way to go and that's up.

TI11 is this year's iteration of Dota 2's world championship tournament, being hosted in Singapore from 15 to 30 October and features a revamped format and a longer schedule.

The event is set to conclude on its Finals Weekend from 29 to 30 October, where a new team will claim the coveted Aegis of Champions and the lion's share of the over US$17.6 million prize pool.

For everything you need to know about TI11, check here.

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