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Meet OG’s new Dota 2 stars, MidOne and Saksa
N0tail and the team just revealed the two players rounding out their new Dota 2 roster. We’ve got all the details here.
It’s all change for two-time International winners OG. We found out earlier this week that Anathan ‘ana’ Pham will remain on hiatus for the rest of the season, while Jesse ‘JerAx’ Vainikka is retiring and Sébastien ‘Ceb’ Debs will remain, but move back into a coaching role with the most successful team in Dota 2 history.
As we found out after Valve’s True Sight documentary premiere on Wednesday, stepping in to take over will be Pakistani prodigy Syed Sumail ‘SumaiL’ Hassan, already an International winner with Evil Geniuses in 2015.
But live during the OG Night stream on Red Bull’s Twitch channel, team captain and figurehead Johan ‘N0tail’ Sundstein revealed the final two new members of team OG: Malaysian mid player Yeik ‘MidOne’ Nai Zheng, and Macedonian star Martin ‘Saksa’ Sazdov.
MidOne, 23, has been a leading light for pro Dota in South East Asia in a five year career, with a stint on Fnatic leading to a remarkable three-year tenure with Team Secret. During that time he’s attended The International, Valve’s annual Dota 2 championship, every year, placing fourth twice, and won multiple majors.
“I think my team-mates are really good and I've been getting along with them well,” MidOne tells us in an exclusive interview. “I don't feel strange [playing with former rivals] at all to be honest. I don't know if its the best roster [I've been on] yet, but it’s definitely one of the best rosters, I would say.”
Twenty-four year old Saksa, meanwhile, has had a more journeyed career, with stints on teams including Ninjas In Pyjamas and Complexity, but is best known for his part in Digital Chaos’ 2016 line-up, which came second at TI6.
“The transition [to OG] has been pretty smooth, I like everybody on the team and they've all been very supportive and welcoming,” says Saksa. “Winning TI10 is the goal for all of us this season.”
SumaiL. MidOne. Saksa. All three players bring big game experience to the table, rounding a line-up that includes veteran N0tail and another young star, Topias Miikka ‘Topson’ Taavitsainen, as the team eye a potential (and record-breaking) third International victory in Sweden this summer.
