bzm, Ari, and Timado shared their perspectives on the issues facing the 2024 OG roster

bzm: There was a bit of stubbornness on the team; we had only one approach to the game, and if it didn’t work, we’d get flustered.

Ari: I wouldn’t say things were constantly bad for us. There were moments when things were going really well—for example, in Birmingham and during our preparations for the tournament in Riyadh—and back then, it felt like we were a Tier 1 team. Then things took a turn for the worse. We probably lacked structure, a clear understanding of our own identity, and a clear path to achieving results.

Based on my experience with Tundra and 1w, I can say that here there’s a more cohesive structure, greater clarity in the distribution of roles, and a better understanding of each player’s contribution to the team. I think that’s the reason why things didn’t always work out for us. You could say that’s what caused the instability.

Timado: From my perspective, there were things you [Ceb] expected from me, but I didn’t fully understand them at the time. Over time, my understanding grew, and now I ask the same of my other teammates. I’ve observed this; it happens in my current team too: for a long time, you try to get everyone else to see things from your perspective—so much so that you fail to notice other aspects. In my opinion, at OG, we never really broadened our perspective; instead, we kept trying to figure out whether our initial perspective was correct.

Timado: We practice a lot together. Among Tier 1 teams, you [1w Team] practice with us more than anyone else because BuLba is friends with Moonmeander and Neto [33].

Ari: When I have a connection with an opponent, it gets more interesting. When you’re in a match with five players you’ve never met before, there’s absolutely no interest at all, but if you run into friends, you immediately want to win and take them down.

Timado: He likes to steal rating points from his teammates—I just remembered that.

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Ari: There was a recent instance when Parker was our stand-in. We were playing a public match before an official match—on one side was bzm, for whom this was a 40-rating match, and on the other side were me, Neta [33], Whitemon, Parker, and one other guy. Basically, that was our whole team, and we were supposed to win. But bzm was playing the game of his life, while my guys were just throwing it. I felt like I was the only one trying to win. Parker picked Axe as the carry, and Whitemon played Sniper in mid. It was the worst experience of my life, and they took 40 MMR from us and gave it to bzm. I was truly furious at the time. I think it negatively affected my performance in the official match.

Timado: At TSM, we had some kind of ban on playing with two teammates because something had happened to us too. Things like that happen all the time in pubs.