Is Old G Crumbling or is this their New Dawn?

Old G, a team that includes two back-to-back Ti champions, Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen and Sébastien “Ceb” Debs, has recently made headlines for the wrong reasons. The duo has had a rocky road since they decided to enter back into the professional Dota scene in the 2022-2023 DPC Season.

The team didn’t qualify for the Division II seat in the Winter Tour. In the Spring Tour, they qualified for the Division II spot. However, they quickly got disqualified for failing to play the tiebreakers series. Not wanting to go through the same stress again, Old G bought a Division II seat for the Summer Tour. However, Old G’s faces some uncertainty in their team despite performing well in the Summer Tour.

The Game

Despite being one of the highly anticipated matches at Division II, the series between Old G and Nigma Galaxy didn’t go as fans thought it would. At the start of the match, Old G’s long-lost soft support player Aramis joined Old G’s side. However, after the end of the drafting phrase, he disconnected from the match. After some considerable time of pausing the game, the team played the match against Nigma Galaxy as four players.

Ceb, on the offlane Venomancer, also controlled the soft support Bounty Hunter supposed to be played by Aramis. Despite trying their best to stop their bleeding, it wasn’t enough. Taking full advantage of having one more player, Nigma Galaxy played a fast-paced game, highly pressuring Old G’s offlane. When the team tried to respond to Ceb, Nigma Galaxy quickly switched the pressure to the lane, which only had one hero.

Nevertheless, Old G played marvellously, but Nigma Galaxy took objectives since they have a player advantage. Since they had fewer numbers, Old G couldn’t force any team fights, either.  The only team fight Old G forced ended heavily backfiring upon them, and Nigma Galaxy’s offlane Axe got a Rampage. After desperately trying to hold onto the match, Old G tapped out at 20 minutes. Game 2 was auto-forfeited for Old G since they had insufficient players, thus, giving the series to Nigma Galaxy.

Silver Lining and Uncertain Future

Old G’s safelane carry player Volodymyr "No[o]ne-" Minenko has expressed his statement at Aramis’s surprise departure from the team earlier this month. However, there is a silver lining to Aramis’s brief return to the team. Due to Aramis’s stint, the team can use a standin for their remaining matches. The DPC rulebook allows teams are allowed to use four substitutions. Although Aramis will not return to Old G, rumour has it Vladimir "RodjER" Nikogosian will join Old G for the remaining two matches. Old G's upcoming series is against Level Up, an undefeated team at the top of Division II WEU groups. The team is currently in fourth place with three wins and two losses.