OG announces second Dota 2 team for DreamLeague Leipzig Major

OG won’t be competing at the DreamLeague Leipzig Major, but also they will be.

That was the confusing message delivered to fans of the two-time major-winning organization in a short video on Twitter. The team clarified what their plan is in a post on their official website, announcing plans to sponsor a second Dota 2 team, OG Seed.

“Today, we’re proud to announce OG Seed and we hope that it can become an efficient contribution,” the organization announced. It continued, “Our idea is simple: on top of our original roster, we want to create a team of players we strongly believe in but that haven’t yet reached the achievements they feel they can reach…All the way until the third major of the DPC season, the back-to-back champions will be directing their talent, efforts and energy towards OG Seed.”

For OG Seed, the organization has announced it will be working with the recently announced 4 euros 1 murica team, a lineup that includes a number of veteran players that haven’t been able to find consistent success on an international stage:

• Omar “Madara” Dabachach
• Rasmus “Chessie” Blomdin
• Zakari “Zfreek” Freedman
• Andreas “Xibbe” Ragnemalm
• Petu “Peksu” Vaatainen

It’s unclear what the long-term plan is for OG in this regard. OG Seed is packaged as a way to give back to the Dota 2 scene, but it carries a definitive end date with that “third major of the DPC season” note. It also seems strange that OG would be actively trying to groom likely opponents.

While this harkens back to the days where organizations like LGD Gaming and Fnatic would field multiple rosters, conflict of interest rules implemented in 2017 prevent organizations from doing so. The most likely answer is that this is OG’s way of offering value to sponsors while also allowing the primary lineup led by Johan “N0tail” Sundstein to compete at their leisure. 

Will OG Seed qualify for the DreamLeague Leipzig Major?

As discussed earlier this week, the OG Seed lineup is a solid one. Chessie and Zfreek were the foundation of Complexity Gaming for years and Madara has landed on solid European teams on multiple occasions over the year. Xibbe and Peksu aren’t quite as proven, but could be poised to break out.

That said, they face incredibly stiff competition in the European qualifiers to the event.

The team is going to have to work through the open qualifiers to the event, with a field that is already set to include Team Secret and Nigma. Even if it makes the cut, OG Seed will have to work its way through Alliance, Team Liquid, and more.

The equalizer in all this is the Outlanders Update. The new patch brings enormous changes to the game, injecting a heaping helping of RNG. That could open the door for the team to make its way into the second major of the season.

The open qualifiers begin on November 28.