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OG Announces New Southeast Asian Roster
After trying without success to regain their position in Western European Dota 2, OG has announced a new Southeast Asian roster. This announcement comes just ten days after the organization dismissed what was left of their most recent attempt at a Western European lineup.
Many other teams have tried to transition regions in the past. However, only a few managed to do it successfully, while most withered and disappeared. The question now is: will OG add their name to the list of successful migrants, or will this become yet another failed attempt?
OG Announces Southeast Asian Roster
This new roster takes the opposite direction of the original OG and aims to achieve consistency through homogeneity. All the players are Filipino, led by Malaysian coach Adam “343” Shah and Filipino manager Isaac “Lane” Alfon. Here is the full roster as stated on OG’s website:
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Pos 1: John “Natsumi” Vargas
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Pos 2: Erin “Yopaj” Ferrer
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Pos 3: Nikko “Nikko” Bilocura
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Pos 4: Timothy “TIMS” Randrup
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Pos 5: Andrei “skem” Ong
It’s a very interesting roster filled with experienced players. Despite that, this new squad has two main goals from day one: overcoming the region’s best teams and stepping up to the level of the top Western European contenders.
If you’ve been paying close attention, you may have realized that this is essentially Team Aureus. Therefore, their starting point in terms of performance is a 7th-place finish at BLAST Slam IV after losing to MOUZ in the Play-In.
Southeast Asia's Potential
Southeast Asia has expanded a lot in recent years, yet it still has plenty of room for improvement. Their early elimination from BLAST Slam IV made it clear that there’s a gap to be filled in the region. For OG, this means that their first objective will be to claim the title of the strongest team in SEA.
To accomplish this, they will need to overcome Talon Esports and Execration, provided those teams stick together. In addition, there’s a great opportunity ahead since Aureus secured a slot in all Tier 1 events through the end of 2025.
Considering that they started by placing Top 8 at BLAST Slam IV, their next step should be to either maintain or improve that position at PGL Wallachia Season 6, which begins next week on November 15th.
Closing Thoughts
OG allows itself to dream once again — this time by taking a different approach and moving to Southeast Asia. The reduced cost of maintaining a SEA roster, along with a regional coach, suggests a return to their former “hands-off” philosophy, with N0tail and Ceb stepping away again.
It’s still too early to say whether they will succeed. However, recent trends show that smaller teams have been achieving surprising results. MOUZ and Heroic both showed impressive improvement over the past month, and OG doesn’t seem to have a clear regional rival to challenge their qualifier spots or invites.
Things will become clearer after the Group Stage of PGL Wallachia Season 6. The tournament was already the stage where Heroic defeated Team Falcons around this time last year. Perhaps we’ll witness another underdog story, with OG rising from disbandment to the top of Southeast Asia — and maybe even Wallachia — in a single stroke of luck.
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Featured Image Source: ogs.gg
