Gaming
Johan "N0tail" Sundstein has a lot of incredible moments under his belt, but a decisive blocking play at TI8 has stuck with him for years.
A spectacular dive on your opponent's tower in Dota. A miracle goal in the final seconds of a FIFA match. Landing a perfect parry with just a sliver of health to win a round of Street Fighter. We all have moments that we brag about to our friends for years after they happened, retelling every second in perfect detail.
These incredible moments are important points in our personal histories, and esports athletes know this all too well – for them, each moment of play could be a turning point in a game, leading them closer to a trophy or straight out of the competition.
In our new series, In the Moment, we're asking pro players to relive these epic moments and talk us through how it all went down. To kick things off, we spoke to Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, captain of Team OG's Dota 2 squad, about an incredible play that took place during The International 8 back in 2018, in a crucial Grand Final match. Click the video in the player below to watch the whole thing.
A long journey
On August 25 2018, Team OG stepped onstage at The International 8 for their Grand Final against PSG.LGD. OG had reached this point in the competition after an incredible campaign that started way back in the Open Qualifiers, followed by a brutal Group Stage where the team snuck into fourth, before destroying the competition in a series of incredible matches through the Main Event. It's fair to say that the team were ready to prove that they had what it takes to win the competition overall. But PSG.LGD weren't going to be an easy opponent.
"We were playing LGD for the second time," says N0tail. "Already we had history, we respected them and we thought that they were the best opponent and maybe even the better Dota team. We were not comfortable."
An unexpected change
The first match of a series is a crucial one – it sets the pace for the rest of the series, and you can learn a lot about how your opponents are going to play things. And Team OG were in for a surprise when the game got started.
"They did something they had never done before – they switched around the lanes," explains N0tail. "You could smell the desperation on them from the start of the game."
This unexpected lane-swap didn't work well for PSG.LGD, and OG started off strong and maintained a lead throughout the game. Looking to capitalise on this even further, the team decided to take their chances on securing Roshan, a powerful neutral objective that provides a huge boost to whichever team takes it. And that was not something PSG.LGD could let happen.
The moment
With OG swarming Roshan, PSG.LGD had just one play to make – jump in at the last second and steal the objective. But N0tail, having assessed the playing field and the enemy team's heroes, had already devised a plan to shut down any last-ditch moves.
PSG.LGD approached Roshan with just two heroes – Elder Titan, who could stun N0tail and prevent him from responding, and Storm Spirit, who would then jump into the Roshan pit and take the objective from under OG's noses. It would've worked too, had N0tail not precisely positioned himself to counteract this exact play.
The strategy
Just as PSG.LGD commit to their plan, N0tail cancels out the enemy Elder Titan's ability to stun, burning one of his strongest spells in the process. But it wasn't enough to stop them completely – that role landed on team-mate Sébastien "Ceb" Debs, who perfectly timed a Meteor Hammer strike to land in the Roshan pit as the enemy jumped in. The move stopped PSG.LGD in their tracks, allowing OG to finish taking the objective, take out two opponents, and sweep into the enemy base to take the win.
"This was just, I would say, a testament to our strength as a team and how we went into this game – not changing our plan, we didn't change our style at all," says N0tail. "They felt like they had to change up something in how they played. LGD had never done anything like this, they do it first game of the Grand Finals and they lose."
OG would go on to win the series 3-2 and take their first-ever TI trophy, cementing their legendary status. But this short moment in the very first game is what set the pace for the entire series, and gave OG the confidence they needed to take control of the competition.
See for yourself how the moment played out by watching our In the Moment episode in the player at the top of the page.
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