Following a turn of events that very few seemed to expect, the winners of The International 8, and the now undisputed best team in the world, are OG.
Facing setback after setback across the Dota Pro Circuit season, first with the loss of Resolut1on in March, and then the last-minute departure of Fly and s4 in May, they came back hard, bringing in previous core player ana and pubstar Topson. The pair helped them through the European Qualifiers for TI8 where, defying expectations, they simply refused to give up, playing their own, unusual comfort picks, and sweeping through their opponents.
After a hard-fought, five-game finals series, they were able to take home the win, along with just over US$11million.
Group stage
Teams were split into two groups of nine. In a round-robin format, they would play two matches against each team, with 1st to 4th ending in the Upper Bracket, 5th to 8th in the Lower Bracket. The two 9th-placed sides were eliminated.
OG (EU) were placed in Group A, along with tournament favourites PSG.LGD (#3 DPC) and Team Liquid (#2 DPC), along with their new rivals Evil Geniuses (NA), who s4 and Fly had left for. Along with those teams were Fnatic (SEA), VGJ.Thunder (#8 DPC), Mineski (#5 DPC), Winstrike Team (CIS), and Invictus Gaming (China).
OG started poorly, going 1-5 after their first three series, only managing to pick up a single win from PSG.LGD. However, this could easily be attributed to those three teams being the strongest in the group, as in their following games, they managed an impressive 8-2 record, only dropping games to Fnatic and Winstrike, finishing at 9-7 to reach the Upper Bracket, along with EG, Liquid and PSG.LGD. Fnatic, VGJ.T, Mineski and Winstrike went into the Lower Bracket, with IG being eliminated.
In Group B, favourites Virtus.pro (#1 DPC) were joined by VGJ.Storm (NA), Team Secret (#4 DPC), OpTic Gaming (NA), Newbee (#7 DPC), TNC Predator (SEA), Team Serenity (China), Vici Gaming (#6 DPC), and paiN Gaming (SA).
While VP seemed to struggle more than expected, dropping games to weaker teams, VGJ.S came out of the gates firing, winning the majority of their games and drawing the rest, apart from their final match against VP.
While Group A had a clear top four, Group B ended up with two groups of three teams at the same score. VGJ.S, VP, Secret and OpTic claimed the Upper Bracket spots; Newbee, TNC, Serenity, and Vici headed into the Lower Bracket; paiN went home.
Play-offs
Unsurprisingly, Liquid quickly won 2-0 against OpTic in their first-round match, while PSG.LGD caused an upset by taking down Virtus.pro in two relatively one-sided games. OG surprised all by coming back from a heavy deficit in Game 1 against VGJ.Storm, mainly off the back of ana’s Phantom Lancer, before more cleanly dispatching them in Game 2. In the last of the quarter-finals, EG were able to take down Team Secret 2-0, booking a grudge match against OG in the semi-finals.
Fnatic, TNC, Newbee, and VGJ.T were the first teams to be eliminated from TI8, but their opponents, Serenity, Mineski, Winstrike and Vici Gaming, were all taken down in the following round by the teams that dropped from the Upper Bracket.
Liquid seemed lost against PSG.LGD, being beaten 2-0 in somewhat disappointing fashion. The OG v EG grudge match was a lot more back and forth. Game 1 was OG’s, won off the back of Topson’s Invoker, but Game 2 was marked by a heavy comeback by EG, especially thanks to s4 on Enchantress. Game 3, while looking initially lost due to SumaiL on Tiny, was marked by a single fight turning the tide, allowing OG’s Spectre to reach the lategame, and become unstoppable, winning them the series.
In the Lower Bracket, VP and Secret progressed, beating OpTic and VGJ.S respectively, before, in what seemed like a trend, being taken down by Upper Bracket teams EG and Liquid.
In the Upper Bracket finals, OG got off to a strong start, beating PSG.LGD’s Drow Ranger composition and going up 1-0. However, PSG.LGD dominated the 2nd game, taking successive pick-offs, and leaving OG nowhere they could be safe, bringing the series to 1-1.
What followed was one of the best games of the tournament. PSG.LGD took the lead early, pushing hard and trying to make sure OG’s Spectre wouldn’t come online. Eventually, seeing an opportunity after getting two pick-offs, they went for the win. After an incredibly long, drawn-out defence from OG, with multiple buybacks on both sides, they were able to take down the opposing cores thanks to JerAx and Topson, before pushing in for an incredible comeback win.
Down in the Lower Bracket, it seemed Liquid would not be able to take a 2nd championship this year, as EG were able to sink them 2-0, first in a long, back-and-forth game, and then in a somewhat one-sided 2nd match. Next up for EG were PSG.LGD but momentum was no longer on their side and they were taken down in two relatively crushing games.
Grand Finals
In the OG v PSG.LGD rematch, with the title at stake, the former once again took the first game of the series, with ana, Topson, and JerAx seemingly everywhere on the map at once, leaving PSG.LGD no room to come back.
Game 2 was marked by a return of the pocket pick Kunkka from PSG.LGD, which dominated Topson in the mid-lane. Through that, they roamed across the map, taking objectives and kills, before forcing out the GG at 38 minutes.
Game 3 was similarly crushing, with PSG.LGD’s supports, fy and xNova, having an incredible game, always creating pressure on the map, and disrupting the teamfights that OG sorely needed to win. From one down, PSG.LGD led 2-1.
Game 4, much like Game 3 of their first series, seemed unwinnable. OG were constantly being picked off, thanks to an early Blink Dagger on Chalice’s Brewmaster allowing him to fight incredibly early. In those opening stages, Ceb (formerly 7ckngMad) was the only saving grace, able to create situations where OG could get pick-offs and stymie the bleeding.
As the game wore on, it was difficult to see how OG could come back but thanks to an outstanding level of play from ana on Phantom Lancer, OG were able to stall, win fights, and eventually, even the series out 2-2.
The final game saw ana being put back on a heavy comfort hero in the Ember Spirit. While the early game was, once again, not great for OG, a bad fight around Roshan for PSG.LGD was able to swing the momentum enough in OG’s favour.
They were able to pick up key items, and, in subsequent fights, were too much for the Chinese squad to handle. ana was effectively unkillable, while JerAx’s Rubick was always managing to steal key spells. PSG.LGD conceded at 36 minutes, making OG the winners of TI8.
One of the greats
No-one expected OG to come this far when, two months ago, they saw two of their key players suddenly leave.
But they powered through, winning the EU Qualifier, making it to Vancouver, and all while playing their own game.
Then they beat every team in the bracket, no matter how much the other team was favoured to win, off the back of their incredible teamplay, and a standout performance from every player at one point or another.
They will now go down in history as one of the best teams to ever play Dota 2.
