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N0tail’s incredible year in Dota smells like team spirit
It’s been an incredible 2019 for Johan ‘N0tail’ Sundstein, the Danish esports athlete who's the captain and figurehead of the professional Dota 2 team OG.
After the incredible underdog story that saw OG go from last-chance wildcards to winners at the mega-money The International tournament in 2018, the team saw modest success in the first half of the year, placing respectably in the top eight at most stops on the Dota Pro Circuit they attended.
But then lightning struck twice. Imbued with the confidence of having won the world’s biggest esport tournament once before, OG went and won The International 2019 too, becoming the first team in history to lift the Aegis of Champions twice – and take home a $15 million payday.
Much of this is down to N0tail, who's been the team’s talisman since it was founded in 2015. He’s been there for every Major win, every devastating loss. And according to Esportsearnings.com, which tracks esports tournament prize money, N0tail has won $6.89 million dollars in prize money over the course of his career, almost all of that with OG.
By this metric he is, by some considerable distance, the most successful player, not just in Dota 2, but in any game, ever. Let that sink in: at 26, this affable Dane is already the greatest esports athlete in history.
It’s a team game; it’s not about you, it’s about everyone around you
It’s typical of N0tail’s humility however that he puts his success down to everyone on the OG squad but himself.
“It’s a team game; it’s not about you, it’s about everyone around you,” he says.
He’s not wrong: the other four players in that list of top-five earners of all time? His team-mates, of course. Finns, Jesse ‘JerAx’ Vainikka and Topias ‘Topson’ Taavitsainen, Australian Anathan ‘ana’ Pham, whose unusual Io carry pick at TI9 OG frequently drafted around and absolutely devastated opponents and Frenchman Sébastien ‘Ceb’ Debs.
Team OG
© Red Bull
Remarkably, in the fast moving world of esports, the roster has stayed together for several years now, providing some crucial continuity – and camaraderie.
“The entire journey we’ve had has been incredible,” says N0tail. “There’ve been all-time lows that bring out the worst and best of you; we’ve known rock bottom and been on cloud nine, making that journey together as a group very special.”
OG are ramping up their ambitions for next year, launching a new developmental Dota team, OG Seed, as well as expanding into professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive by launching an OG CS:GO squad, with the aim of taking that team spirit and porting it to other games.
There’ve been all-time lows that bring out the worst and best of you; we’ve known rock bottom and been on cloud nine, making that journey together as a group very special
Team OG's TI9 win cements their place as the world's best Dota2 team
© Valve Corporation
But can OG take that unity to make it a hat-trick at TI10? N0tail’s not certain of anything, except that what OG achieve in 2020 will be down to the whole team as a group.
“Win or lose together, you want to create this feeling that everyone has each other’s back and under the highest amount of pressure we’d ever faced before, we bounced back from that hardship.”
You wouldn’t want to bet against he and his team-mates doing it again.
1 h 21 min
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