Neslyn A. August 23, 2018
On the third day of the main event, Rogers Arena witnessed the public end of the Notail and Fly friendship.
The winner’s bracket of The International 2018 is a tough road, and it was there that OG met Evil Geniuses.
The teams are two steps away from elimination and fighting for the Aegis of Champions. However, the personal feud between OG and EG might be bigger than the tournament itself.
The friendship of Johan "N0tail" Sundstein and Tal "Fly" Aizik goes back to their Heroes of Newerth competitive days. Eventually, the duo transitioned to Dota 2 and built OG from scratch. Although the players found friendship in their competitive journey, the brotherhood ended when Fly moved to EG in May.
In a TI8 interview, N0tail avoided the discussion of the departure of Fly and S4. Even with the team’s urgent rebuilt, OG remains confident in their current roster.
During the OG vs. EG match, both teams showed impressive plays and executed their strategies well. The first game favored OG while EG took the second game. The teams did not disappoint fans in game 3.
EG had a 20K net worth lead at 40 minutes and were poised to end the game. The successful pick of OG’s cores seemed enough to seal the victory. But after immediate buybacks from OG and a perfectly executed team fight, the tables were turned. OG started to snowball and ended the game with an epic comeback win.
The hype did not end there. When it was Fly and N0tail’s turn for a congratulatory handshake, N0tail’s cold stare towards Fly was felt by the whole arena.
The match clearly carried personal implications for the players involved. OG will now look to translate their win to further success and a possible International title win.