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Jerax Reflects on TI8's OG Journey
OG had one hell of a Cinderella storylines in 2018. The team which everyone thought would be one of the early exits at The International 2018, pulled off an incredible underdog story for years to come. Their brilliant yet unorthodox strategies immortalize their names on the prestigious Aegis of Champions.
The Dota 2 community often revisits OG's victory to study the gameplay innovations OG did at their TI 8 run. Recently, Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka, one of the support players of the legendary OG roster, reflected on his former team's achievements.
Jerax at one of ESL One's tournaments. (Credits: ESL One)
Jerax on TI8
Everyone is familiar with OG's story at this point. A few months before TI8, OG's formidable roster fell apart from within. Back then, everyone thought it was the end of OG. However, the team rebuilt their roster. They move a few pieces and combine their old allies with an upcoming talent.
While many doubted OG's last-minute line-up, it yielded tremendous results. Jerax reflects on the experience OG had to go through at the time. The now-retired player commented that the team acknowledged they had to go through the qualifiers. Jerax reveals how the conversation between OG members went back then.
"Guys, TI's gonna come. We have to go through this qualifier. Best of Ones, Best of Threes, standard teams, and we got to go through the qualifiers. It probably gonna be our end or whatever. But, we will give it our best shot".
Credits: Valve
Looking at Jerax's statement, we now know why Sébastien "Ceb" Debs is the one to always give a motivational speech to OG players before the start of an important match.
Jerax On OG's POV for TI8
OG made their way onto the TI8 stage with many unorthodox picks. Their draft at the time featured various "weird" heroes for their midlane. An example of this was a midlane Skywarth Mage during the qualifier match. Reflecting on their draft, Jerax admitted OG was going with the flow and putting confidence in their midlaner.
" I don't even know if we're gonna figure something out. You sort of have to wing it. You have to trust Topias. I'm talking Topson here. He plays some weirdo heroes, and you just have to pick it, and it's gonna work. That's what you're gambling on."
The former two-time Ti champion admitted that OG did not care about the risk factor as they had no expectations of reaching TI. He even expressed that the team was surprised they did so well. The player recalls that their qualifier matches give them momentum heading into TI8.
"It's not a good bet. It's pretty high risk, but the thing is- we didn't care. It doesn't matter. The expectations are zero. If we do well, we do well. We didn't expect to do well. Just getting to TI was already quite a bit for us. That was very relieving, and then whatever happens in TI. That's just a big momentum thing out of all this."
Jerax on OG's Drafts at TI8
The 2018 meta was pretty different from what we have now. Back then, the meta was - win lane, win game. As a result, many teams prioritise picking heroes to win the laning stage. OG strayed off from this approach. They played what they felt like. For many, it was unorthodox, and OG's drafts raised many eyebrows. Nevertheless, they achieved results with their peculiar drafts.
Reflecting on those days, Jerax confessed that he felt OG was drafting wrong. Additionally, the former support player for OG revealed that he even criticized some of the team's ideas about drafting.
"I felt like we're drafting wrong, and I was criticizing quite a bit of some idea because I felt like if you don't address the laning stage, you will play an uphill battle."
However, the player admitted that OG has a loophole, which many teams don't. Their safelaner at the time, Anathan "Ana" Pham, always failed this lane.
"We found a sweet spot for our team. Ana was never the person to win the lane. He does not decide to do that. Sure, he could have worked on it and all that, but at the end of the day, that'll never be his strength as a player."
As a result, OG would not be able to play the meta of the time. Although the team tried the lane-winning drafts, OG focused more on their comfort drafts, building their ideas around them.
"It's just us laning to our comforts and not giving a shit about what other people think about the game. We certainly played the lane-winning things- Topson played those heroes. It was a good fit for that patch"
Jerax On OG Winning TI8
Looking back at his TI8 victory, Jerax revealed it gave him a confidence and morale boost as a player.
" The main thing for me is why it felt so good was the journey we went, as a team. It was a lot of overcoming from things you felt simply you can't overcome. It's hard to describe the feeling that you have after going through all that, and then you make it. It makes it so much better."
Many thought OG's TI8 victory was a fluke. However, the following year, OG dominated TI9 and silenced their doubters. They became the first team to win a TI championship back-to-back. Nowadays, OG has a brand new roster, but its core values remain the same.
Featured Image Source: Valve
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