Dota 2 giants OG make change after TI 2023 heartbreak

❘ Published: 2023-09-14T14:16:52

cover art featuring OG's Dota 2 roster for the upcoming DreamLeague Season 21.

OG - Twitter/X

OG have announced the signing of Ivan ‘MinD_ContRoL’ Ivanov from Nigma Galaxy on loan for the upcoming ESL Pro Tour DreamLeague Season 21. Ivan will replace Dmitry ‘DM’ Dorokhin as the offlaner on the team.

One of the old guards of the professional Dota 2 scene and former TI champion, MinD_ContRoL, will join OG for the remainder of the season on loan. MinD_ContRoL will replace DM, who has been moved to the bench after the team failed to qualify for TI12 – the first time since 2015 that the organization won’t be at Dota 2’s biggest event.

This won’t be Ivan’s first stint with OG, as he recently played as a stand-in for the roster at the ESL One Berlin Major. Although the team did not make it into the top four at the tournament, OG’s performance was significantly better, earning them their highest finish of the season at 5th-6th. That was also the only Major that the team qualified for during a rough season.

image of MinD_ContRoL, Nigma Galaxy's offlaner.

MC will be joining the OG roster for DreamLeague Season 21.

MinD_ContRoL joins OG on loan for DreamLeague Season 21

After Nigma Galaxy’s poor run throughout the year resulted in an early end to the season, MinD_ContRoL will be looking to add another accolade to his name with OG at the upcoming DreamLeague Season 21. However, this move is expected to be a relatively short one, as it would be very unlikely for the Bulgarian to depart Nigma Galaxy.

Nevertheless, it is safe to say that with MinD_ContRoL and Sebastien ‘Ceb’ Debs in positions three and four, respectively, OG can go a long way in the tournament. Additionally, DreamLeague Season 21 will be a chance for OG and MinD_ContRoL to alleviate the pain of missing out on TI12.

While this will be OG’s first time missing TI, MinD_ContRoL has failed to qualify for the showcase for three years in a row, earning a runner-up medal when he was at the tournament last time, on Team Liquid.

Many will be curious to see how the Nigma Galaxy offlaner performs with the rest of OG. After all, contrary to what Kuro ‘KuroKy’ Salehi Takhasomi said during the grand finals of TI9, MinD_ContRoL has to play with, and not like, Ceb.