OG has decided to replace support player Mikhail “Misha” Agatov with Dota 2 coach Evgenii “Chu” Makarov following the team’s failure to qualify for the Lima Major. Misha has been a core part of OG since the original roster retired, and he’ll continue helping the organization as a coach.
Despite helping OG secure excellent DPC tour finishes throughout 2022, Misha ended up missing most of the LAN events due to Visa problems. This caused OG to play with stand-ins in offline tournaments. This is the second roster change for OG after a successful 2022 season, as OG previously added Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin to the offlane position.
Visa issues haven’t impacted OG’s just yet in 2023, but that was mainly because the team failed to qualify for the first Major. Missing the trip to Peru may have caused OG to take a deeper internal look, deciding that another roster change may have been in order before the second tour.
Considering Western Europe evolved into the most competitive Dota 2 region over the years, competing teams have to bring their A-game throughout an entire year. In the last couple of months, Misha’s overall game impact as a position five player started getting criticized by the fans, and given OG’s track record of performing just fine without Misha, the team appears to have decided to experiment with his slot to see whether they can find a better formula.
In an October 2022 interview with Dot Esports, n0tail spoke very highly of Misha, as he was the person that they wanted to build a team around after the original roster retired. The fact that Misha remains on the roster as a coach goes to show how much OG respects his game knowledge and ideas, and Misha agreeing to switch positions seems to show respect for the team.
