Ceb Will Stand-In For OG At Stockholm Major

Sébastien “Ceb” Debs will stand-in for OG at the upcoming DPC Stockholm Major, the European Dota 2 team confirmed on Tuesday, May 10. Moreover, former team captain Johan “N0tail” Sundstein will serve as a replacement coach.

The Stockholm Major is just around the corner, but unfortunately, many teams have been dealing with issues in the days leading to the first Dota 2 Major of the year. OG has revealed that the team captain Mikhail “Misha” Agatov won’t be able to travel to Sweden, and neither could the team coach Evgenii “Chuvash” Makarov.

OG have not shared further details about why Misha and Chuvash weren’t able to travel to Sweden. However, it is likely that it has something to do with the fact that both are Russian citizens.

This means that it is likely that Sweden might have denied them entry into the country due to the policies introduced due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Unfortunately, captain Misha and coach Chuvash’s visas have both been denied. They will therefore not take part in the Stockholm Major,” read the announcement.

“Both the OG family is never far away. For the first time ever, the fathers of our colors will come carrying the banner themselves alongside our young prodigies.”

To fill in the vacant spots, OG called in two veteran players and two-time The International champions, Ceb and N0tail, who will take over for Misha and Chuvash, respectively. While both are former players, only Ceb will step back into the arena, whereas N0tail will take over the coaching role within the team.

Although the return of Ceb and N0tail is exciting, the news hardly comes off as a shock. Since OG revealed that Misha wouldn’t be able to attend, many rumors suggested OG could replace the team captain with Ceb.

Moreover, Ceb was spotted playing with the team as no.5 in pub games, a position he will play that role for the upcoming Major. This also means that OG won’t be swapping players around to fit in the new lineup.

This will mark the first time Ceb will play for OG since The International 10. After the tournament, the French Dota 2 legend announced his retirement from pro Dota and has been since taken over other responsibilities within the esports organization.

N0tail retired from professional play at the same time as Ceb and has since served as a coach of OG Seed. Now, the former captain and co-founder of OG will step in to lead the main roster for the first Major of the year.

Knowing that N0tail has been very active in assisting the team and the current roster since his retirement, this role should suit him.

With Ceb taking over for Misha, he will team up with a young lineup of Artem “Yuragi” Golubiev, Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov, Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf, and Tommy “Taiga” Le, hoping he can lead the team to OG’s first tournament trophy since The International 2019.

The Stockholm Major will kick off on Thursday, May 12, where OG have been seeded into Group A. In the group, the former TI champions will get paired with beastcoast, BetBoom Team, Evil Geniuses, T1, and Tundra Esports.

On the other side, Group B will feature Fnatic, Gaimin Gladiators, Mind Games, Team Liquid, Team Spirit, Thunder Awaken, and TSM.

The 14 Dota 2 teams will compete over 11 days, through two stages, including the Group Stage and the Playoffs. The top eight teams will be awarded a share of the $500,000 prize pool and 3,530 DPC Points, with the champions taking home $200,000 and 680 DPC Points.

OG’s first match of the tournament is scheduled for Thursday at 12:00 CEST when they face off against beastcoast.