With the exception of Dota Pit League in January, OG were invited to five big LANs in early 2017, including The Kiev Major. OG continued to perform consistently well, though they didn’t have any LAN win-streaks like the year before. They took 2nd in Dota Pit League Season 5, 3rd-4th at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3 and finally 2nd at DAC, all before The Kiev Major.
Good morning from Shanghai! pic.twitter.com/oPeCxUdkqp— OG (@OGDota2) March 26, 2017
In The Kiev Major group stage, OG faced what was arguably a few of the weaker teams at the event. First was SG e-sports, the Brazilian squad from which no one knew what to expect. Next, they lost to iG, who also turned out to have the third best group stage record overall. Finally, they beat both Team Random and Thunderbirds 2-1.
Seeding pitted OG against Team Random in the first round, and the ex-Wings Gaming squad took one win but were ultimately eliminated. In the next round, OG beat Team Faceless 2-1. Their scariest opponent yet came in the semifinals, where they faced Evil Geniuses. OG mercilessly took down NA’s finest before facing crowd favourites Virtus.pro.
The CIS community was overwhelmingly on VP’s side, with loud chants of VIR TUS PRO echoing through the theatre. OG had faced such a crowd before in the Boston Major Grand Final, when the crowd took to chanting AWOO for the Greeks of Ad finem. The Grand Final series in Kiev was the first time since the legendary TI3 finals that a Valve event final went to a 5th game, and the series kept Dota 2 fans on the edge of their seats to the bitter end, when OG took the win and their fourth Major trophy.
Teamwork truly makes the dream work. pic.twitter.com/8HFQwFVd1Q— OG (@OGDota2) May 2, 2017
With four Major trophies already won, and countless smaller events conquered, all that’s left for OG is to win The International. The only problem is that they’ve been going through a bit of a poorly timed rough patch (or so it seems, at least). Since Kiev, OG have had middling performances in both The Manila Masters and EPICENTER.
It’s difficult to diagnose what exactly is going on with OG, whether it’s a lack of drive to win smaller events with a TI invite in the bag, struggles with meta changes or something else entirely. We can be sure that they’ll be motivated and driven as ever to win The International, especially given each player's experiences on OG and their previous teams in Seattle last year.
If OG can win, they won’t just be adding to their massive list of Valve championships, but s4 would also become the first two-time winner of the Aegis of Champions. History is waiting to be made.
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