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OG and the rise of player centred teams

South Africa follows the trend
Written by Sam Wright
3 min readPublished on
Red Bull has announced their sponsorship of Esports team OG. OG is an international Dota 2 team that exploded on the Esports scene towards the end of 2015 after claiming a win in the Frankfurt Major, a month after they formed. The team has won four of the six official Dota Major Championships which is no mean feat at all.
OG was born from Monkey Business, a player formed organisation. Following a shuffle after the Dota International in 2015(that’s the big competition every “thought leader” cites as an example of the power of Esports. Think millions of dollars in prize money), Fly and n0tail (two players) formed the team and went on to catch the hearts of millions of Esports fans.

1 min

OG announcement

The team has become a force to be reckoned with on the world stage but also inspiration for player centered teams.
What are player centered teams?
These are Esports teams born from players who take a leadership role and cherry pick team mates to create a competitive unit. This differs somewhat from other multigaming organisations that, for the most part, might be run by ex-players but tend to operate more like traditional football teams in that the players aren’t necessarily decision makers.
I’m very excited that this is happening. There is a bright future ahead in this partnership. It will only bring good things. It’s great to have a longstanding partner supporting us and pushing us to be at our best.
Tal ‘Fly’ Aizik, Co-Founder & Captain
OG was a perfect example of how a player centered team might be the future of competitive Esports. The trend isn’t only garnering steam in Europe. Just recently here in South Africa we’ve seen the emergence of player-centered teams in the form of Goliath Gaming and Big 5 esports.
Big 5 Esports was the brain child of three leading CSGO players in Africa, namely Thulani “toolz” Sishi, Damond “Thabo” Osbourn and Hadlee “konvict” Smith. The pair formed the organisation at the start of the ESL Africa Qualifiers and have gone on to put decent results on the board during online gameplay. While we’re yet to see them at LAN, the firing power behind this roster could very well begin to cause upsets in the local CSGO scene. As of now Big 5 Esports only brags a CSGO team but the possibility of them branching into other titles remains.
The other player centred team to form in South Africa in early 2017 was Goliath Gaming. The organisation was born from Dota 2 player Michele “Stickalish” Brondani and CSGO Star Ashton “G0lz” Muller. Both were well respected figures in the local gaming community and pooled their resources to form the MGO while also bringing on partners in the business, legal and marketing fields to amplify the brand. Goliath made a loud noise on entering the local scene by becoming one of the first South African MGOs to pay player salaries, following in the footsteps of Dota 2 team Sinister5. Up until their arrival this had been, for the most part, unheard of. The team’s first CSGO LAN saw them finishing 3rd in the competition and the Dota 2 team will no doubt garner similar results with a line up of names prominent in African gaming circles.
The concept of player centered teams isn’t new to the local Esports scene.
The longest running CSGO team WORLDWIDE is South Africa’s own Damage Control which is a fully player owned MGO. The “old ballies” as they’re affectionately known have chiseled their way into the history books being one of the most successful and longest running teams in South Africa and internationally.
OG’s recent partnership is an indication that player centered teams have the potential to be far more powerful than many of their corporate run and owned rivals. The players have a far greater vested interest and, in many cases, a sense of security that may be lost in the shuffles of many other Esports organisations.