It was extremely difficult for us to find working dynamic without Ana. I had to change my playstyle drastically when playing without him.

It was difficult for us to find our playstyle with Pajkatt. He has been in many different teams and he has his own ideas about the game and how to play it. Sadly they were different than what we believe in and it was difficult for us to adapt to it. And also for me I had to play a very different style than what I was used to when playing with Ana. I had to play more farm heavy oriented style and it put a lot of pressure on me.

ILTW is a great player. He is a young player but has a lot of talent and motivation. We had a bit of a language barrier with ILTW and it was a problem sometimes. Overall playing with ILTW was a great experience but it never felt as natural as it was with Ana.

Winning TI is every pro player’s dream so when it happens it hits you hard. I’ve had to fight hard with myself to keep going and keep giving my all after TI. Sometimes it feels like it would be easier to just give up and start doing something else because Dota takes almost all the time if you want to keep staying on the top. I think we have fought very well against that and we are ready to fight till the last breath this TI =)

Yes I am very confident in our team and we definitely have what it takes to win another one. I don’t put any extra pressure on myself overthinking about winning a second TI. We just go there to do our best and see how far that gets us. Being confident plays a big part in how far we can get.

I think we are very close with all the other top teams. All we need is a good bootcamp before TI and we can easily become the best team again.

I haven't given it too much thought to be honest. But I do see it as a problem that needs to be dealt with. Probably cutting some money from TI and giving it to minor and major qualifiers would be a good start.

Mostly he helps Johan and Sebastian with drafting. He also helps us if we get problems with the dynamic shifting in the wrong direction or if someone is feeling that he is being disabled by someone, etc. It’s easy to share these issues with a coach and he helps solve these problems.

We haven't started our bootcamp yet so I'm not really sure what's good yet :D. But what I see is that teamfighting supports have become way more powerful with the addition of the second tome and the team with stronger early timings usually finds it easier to execute their plays.

Some teams also play very defensive and are always looking to have the late game timing and heroes that are very good at relieving pressure, and defending towers so their core heroes get to where they need to be. So overall I feel like teams are looking to be more greedy with their drafts this patch.

Hmmmm .. *thinking*

Okay i got one for Jesse -- getting coffee every time we are about to leave and thus we end up waiting for him longer.

Ana -- shouting DUUUUD every time he’s playing pubs.

Seb doing

gasp

every time something mildly interesting happens.

Tituan speaking in his french accent *laughs*

I don’t know if I have any for Johan :(

It’s very difficult for teams to find a good moment to change players because the schedule is very strict. Of course it is unfair to the person that is getting kicked and not able to play in the event that he helped qualify. But in the end every team just wants to succeed and sometimes they feel that change is necessary.

My top 3 would be Team secret, LGD and Vici Gaming

Thanks to all the fans who keep cheering for us even in our hard times. It gives me the much needed motivation to keep going =)

Topias "" Taavitsainen was kind enough to sit down for an interview with Esports Heaven amidst his busy schedule for The International 2019. Topson talks on the roster changes OG went through this DPC season, the challenges he faced to stay motivated after winning TI8, meta and more.Topson and his team, OG, will be going into TI9 as the reigning champions. Esports Heaven wishes Topson and OG the best of luck!If you would like to know more about my work, you can follow me at. You can head over to our Dota 2 hub for more content. Headline image courtesy: Valve