OG (esports)

European esports organization with Dota 2 and other teams.

OG Esports is a professional gaming organization with roots in Europe and Southeast Asia. Founded in 2015, they are most famous for their Dota 2 squad, which claimed back-to-back championships at The International in 2018 and 2019. The group also competes in Counter-Strike 2, Rocket League, and Honor of Kings.

Quick Facts

Location

Europe; Southeast Asia

Founded

August 2015

Championships

2× The International (2018, 2019) (Dota 2)

Coach

Mikhail "Misha" Agatov (Dota 2), Casper "ruggah" Due (CS2)

Games

Dota 2
Counter-Strike 2
Rocket League
Honor of Kings

Owner

The Chiliz Group (51%)

Partners

Melbet
Socios.com
Dexsport
Secretlab
TMGM

Facts from the source article.

History

OG was originally formed as "(monkey) Business" in August 2015 by Tal "Fly" Aizik, Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, David "MoonMeander" Tan, Fritz "Frtz" DG, and Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen, all former Team Secret players. After a strong performance in the European qualifiers for the Frankfurt Major, the team adopted the name OG. They won the inaugural Dota 2 Major Championship in Frankfurt in November 2015, earning $1 million. At The International 2016, OG finished 9th–12th after receiving a direct invite. In August 2016, MoonMeander, Miracle-, and Cr1t- left, replaced by Gustav "s4" Magnusson, Anathan "ana" Pham, and Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka. OG then won the Boston Major in December 2016, their third Major championship. They reached the grand finals of the Dota 2 Asia Championships but were swept by Invictus Gaming, then won the Kiev Major against Virtus.pro. In May 2018, OG signed James "Swedish Delight" Liu for Super Smash Bros. That same month, Fly and s4 left for Evil Geniuses, and Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok joined VGJ.Storm. Due to post-deadline roster changes, OG lost eligibility for a direct invite to The International 2018 and had to play through open qualifiers. They quickly signed Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen, Sébastien "Ceb" Debs, and ana, who returned from a break. After finishing outside the top eight in the Dota Pro Circuit standings, OG earned their spot at The International 2018 by winning the European open qualifiers.

Rosters

In December 2019, OG formed a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, signing Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt, Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangså, Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, Issa "ISSAA" Murad, and Mateusz "mantuu" Wilczewski. Casper "ruggah" Due was added as coach in January 2020. In September 2020, ruggah was implicated in the coaching bug scandal, leading to a ban from one Valve-sponsored Major by the Esports Integrity Commission and Valve. In February 2021, NBK- was removed from the active roster, followed by ISSAA. Nikolaj "niko" Kristensen joined in March 2021, and Shahar "flameZ" Shushan a month later. In January 2022, OG traded Aleksib for Nemanja "nexa" Isaković from G2 Esports. After failing to qualify for the PGL Major Antwerp 2022, OG benched valde and niko in May 2022, replacing them with Adam "NEOFRAG" Zouhar and Maciej "F1KU" Miklas. Later, mantuu was replaced by Abdulkhalik "degster" Gasanov. On 8 June 2023, niko became a free agent. On 19 June 2023, OG announced plans to rebuild around F1KU, nexa, and Iulian "regali" Harjău after flameZ left for Team Vitality. On 20 June, NEOFRAG and degster were transfer listed. On 30 June 2023, OG signed regali, Nils "k1to" Gruhne, and Dion "FASHR" Derksen, with nexa returning to the active roster. NEOFRAG transferred to Into The Breach on 11 July 2023. On 14 November 2023, FASHR was benched, and nexa returned to G2 on 21 November. Bram "Nexius" Campana was signed on 21 December 2023, and Nikita "HeavyGod" Martynenko joined on 4 January 2024. On 18 January 2024, OG announced its first Rocket League roster, competing in the North America region.