Dota 2: OG\u2019s Ceb reveals what it feels like to win back-to-back Internationals ValveOG secured their second Dota 2 The International title in Shanghai this August, and broke one of the game\u2019s longest-standing curses. They are the best team in Dota 2 right now. An underdog run in The International 2018 saw the band of misfits reach the pinnacle of Dota 2 when no one expected it, while a dominant run in 2019 left everyone else in their dust. In a blog post, former coach now player S\u00e9bastien \u201cCeb\u201d Debs broke down what it meant to win in Shanghai for TI9. From the crowd, to the level of teams, everything was turned up a notch for Dota 2\u2019s first International in China, and it made for a very different atmosphere. The Chinese crowd With the International heading across the Pacific for the first time, the crowd was no longer behind the Western teams. China were vocal for their favorite teams, and it took Ceb by surprise. \u201cTI9 was completely different from TI8, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cThe overall level of competition was much higher, just like every year. The fact that it happened in Shanghai\u2026having the crowd cheer against you is a very special experience obviously.\u201d With the roar of the Chinese crowd behind teams like PSG.LGD and Vici Gaming, Ceb said it was difficult to adjust to. \u201cDuring our series vs. LGD, we even got booed while exiting the arena\u2026this was the first time I\u2019ve experienced it, and to be honest, it was quite rough.\u201d Read more: Vici\u2019s Fade retires – \u201cAt the same time, after we won the series, hundreds of Chinese fans were waiting for us backstage to congratulate us and show great sportsmanship.\u201d Being mentally strong This added to the pressure on OG to win back-to-back and break one of Dota 2\u2019s long-standing curses. International champions need to be strong under pressure, and not crack. That is what made the 2019 win so much better for Ceb, who said that every move OG made was analyzed and scrutinized. \u201cBeing able to rebuild the same fire you had when you went for it the first time, dealing with the public pressure and the expectations everyone around you has for your team. All of these things put together made the task very hard to fulfil,\u201d he said. Read more: TI9 sets Twitch viewership record – All of this pressure is amplified in esports, where the support staff teams have at their disposal is lacking compared to traditional sporting outfits. \u201cI can only assume that in traditional sports, athletes have an entire staff helping them out,\u201d he said, \u201c(but) in Dota and esports, we have to write that book ourselves.\u201d The emotions of victory When they won that game four against Team Liquid, every bit of emotion came crashing down, according to Ceb. \u201cThis experience is so intense that you barely get time to really understand what is going on,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just go with the flow and wake up once it\u2019s all over.\u201d Read more: OG superfans celebrate TI9 victory – There is no definitive final quest or challenge to Dota, but Ceb feels like the team had accomplished it. \u201cI\u2019m at a point where I can\u2019t even think of a harder challenge. It almost feels like we\u2019ve finished Dota. I\u2019m sure that feeling is temporary, and it will sooner or later get pushed away by new goals.\u201d As they try and find that next challenge, the OG team is taking a well-deserved break to soak it all in. \u201cWords cannot describe how proud I am of my team. We had to overcome so much together, and we grew a ton.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dota 2: OG\u2019s Ceb reveals what it feels like to win back-to-back Internationals ValveOG secured their second Dota 2 The International title in Shanghai this August, and broke one of the game\u2019s longest-standing curses. They are the best team in Dota 2 right now. An underdog run in The International 2018 saw the band of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}