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Watch OG’s Fly talk Dota Pro Circuit and patch changes
We caught up with Tal ‘Fly’ Aizik during ESL One Katowice to discuss his thoughts on the Dota Pro Circuit, OG’s underdog status and what he thinks about IceFrog’s new patch system.
“We definitely feel like we belong in these Majors,” OG’s Tal ‘Fly’ Aizik tells us on camera. “And nobody's going to stop us from getting there.”
The venerable Dota 2 team captain has been with OG through ups and downs, Major wins and roster changes, but right now, even though the team is currently ranked ninth in the Pro Circuit rankings, he feels like nothing’s going to get in their way as they try and make it to the top.
As the ESL One Katowice Major finished up, we got the chance to sit down with the Dota 2 veteran as he dishes his thoughts on what it’s like to currently be the underdog, why he’s not focusing too much on The International right now and why he thinks Dota 2’s new two-week patch system is better for the scene than ever.
4 min
OG’s Fly talk Dota Pro Circuit and patch changes
Fly opens up about the current Dota 2 esports scene.
OG have been playing more Dota than they even realised recently. That’s down to the team having to battle their way through tournament qualifiers for Major events, instead of being straight-up invited, but Fly tells us that played into the team’s favour. “We were very focused on just winning and getting through all of these qualifiers,” he says.
“I think, for this iteration of OG, I definitely think it's been helpful that we haven't been invited to as many tournaments,” Fly tells us. “We ended up having to play these qualifiers non-stop and there's probably going to be more to come. It would definitely be nice to get invited as well, but I do think it's helping us to improve at the same time.”
With Team Secret and Team Liquid looking like the squads to beat at the top end of the Pro Circuit rankings, OG appear to be the underdogs at present. With The International looming at the tail end of the summer, the timing is tight to get there, but Fly’s not too worried.
“It's nice to be the underdog. It does help you kind of motivate yourself sometimes and you want to beat these guys really bad, and it's going to push you to become better than them and work harder than them and then, eventually, you're gonna get there,” Fly tells us.
“And, that's definitely where we're at. I think, I honestly think we can beat them and we just need to make very small adjustments and improvements, and we're gonna be just there. I think we're on the right track. I'm not really concerning myself too much with TI right now because I just want to focus on improving and it's gonna happen naturally,” he says.
“If we're gonna find what we need to work on and make it happen, we're gonna get to TI, no matter what.”
