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Its better than what I thought was going to happen, honestly.Thats how Johan n0tail Sundstein, one-role player and founding member of OG, described the outcome of the roster shuffle season. After every International, Dota 2 teams begin to unscramble and reassemble, piecing together new squads and losing dead weight in order to better themselves in response to the 2016 season. After a disappointing 9-12th place showing at TI6, OG was on tenuous ground.Post-TI shuffle is always weird, Sundstein said. You can never try and fully predict whats gonna happen. You can have a couple of ideas and you might get some of them right. But its just a very unpredictable thing. How it turned out, though, was pretty good in my opinion.The former OG was an all-star team, the victor of two Majors and poised for the top. Now only Sundstein and captain Tal Fly Aizik remain; but in the gap left by the shuffle, the team has found new talent, and already took third at one international LAN. OG may have been wounded, but it continues to be a contender headed into the 2017 season.Pocket acesThe key to OGs new look is its newcomers. Sundstein and Aizik are joined by three players who all bring their own quirks and abilities to the table. Jesse JerAx Vainikka is the most recognizable quantity, coming off a breakout season on Team Liquid to play four-role support. Sundstein described Vainikka as one of the best support players of last year, but for Vainikka himself, hes still finding his footing on the squad.While Vainikka returns to a comfortable role, Gustav s4 Magnusson is challenging himself with a new venture into the offlane. It was a shift Magnusson said hes been thinking about for some time, but moving to OG gave him the chance to leave his comfort zone in the mid lane. From my perspective, I view S4 as one of those guys that keeps track of the map, said Sundstein of Magnussons new role. I see him shine a lot more on heroes that punishes teams for a lack of focus, or when they split up, because he has such good control of whats happening everywhere, not just next to him. If I had to put a role on somebody who had that quality, what role would fit them best is offlane. Right now all the initiation happens from the offlane: Slardars, Clockworks, Nyxs, the jumpers are usually in the offlane. So for me, its kind of natural. Its been very natural having S4 as an offlane player.Magnusson echoes Sundsteins sentiments; the playstyle that he excels in lies more in the offlane, and so hes taking up the challenge. For me, the offlane role and the heroes that are being played there fits me perfectly, so thats a big reason why I wanted to switch the lanes, said Magnusson. I thought more about the heroes [themselves] rather than the lane when I made the decision. Playing it now, Im enjoying the challenge to perform and show people that you can do something different with enough practice. Im very hard on myself because I feel like thats how I will improve the most.With two aces from other teams, it might be fitting that OG would seek a third. Instead, the team went in a different direction for the mid lane vacancy. A relatively unknown player at the time, 17-year-old Anathan ana Pham, was sitting on the Invictus Gaming bench when OG captain Aizik first took notice of him. After TI6, Aizik recalled the conversation and got in touch.I couldnt think of a veteran player who was not already on a team that I would be extremely happy in having, so having some new talent was the next go-to idea, Aizik said. I wanted someone who is dedicated, talented and also daring. I saw all these qualities in [Pham], despite his young age.Many players, especially in the mid lane, are young upstarts. Look at EGs Syed Sumail SumaiL Hassan or Abed Abed Yusop, who made a name for himself on Execration at TI6.When I was younger, I used to play [Pham]s role, said Sundstein. I was the guy who was gonna focus purely on mechanical skill, purely on my own read on the game. Back then, you arent really trying to replicate scenarios as a player, at least not intellectually. Youre doing it all instinctively. All you do is play. All you do is mechanics. Youre, in a way, in-tune with the game, and that goes away the older you get.Pham was the wild card for OG, so bringing him on was certainly a gamble for the team. He had some impressive showings against Newbee as a sub for IG, but lacked seasoned experience. For Pham, theres been some culture shock, from getting adjusted to American pubs (which he says are less team-oriented than Chinese pubs), to overcoming the distance hes traveled. Jumping from his homeland of Australia to China for a year with IG, and now to the West to play with OG.Homesickness strikes me occasionally, but I guess thats part of the job, said Pham. When I first joined OG, it was quite a shock to myself. Entering that level of Dota is challenging for me. This is the first time Ive played pro Dota in an English-speaking environment, and its definitely much easier. There is a lot of room for me to improve, but I feel like my journey has been going really well.Beyond the metaThese aces came together for a third-place finish at MDL, a solid outing for the team where it took games off Newbee, Team Secret, EG and Vici Gaming. Despite a 2-1 loss in the losers finals to Evil Geniuses, Sundstein is content with his teams performance regardless of the outcome.All tournaments are unique, said Sundstein. Our performance against the teams at MDL, the way we lost games, the way we won games, it was very good for me. I found myself being very happy after the tournament.Where OG will seek to improve over the coming weeks, and even throughout the year, looks very different from previous seasons. In many different patches, the game was defined by heroes that were strong on the patch, and the pros who could play them. All pro players nowadays have a strong understanding of the game and individual heroes. The mechanics arent an issue anymore; its what teams are doing once mechanical skill isnt a defining factor.What I think is really important for us is how to take it to the next level, in terms of getting on the same page, working on communication, said Sundstein. And then the biggest thing, for me, is how youre feeling mentally, how youre mentally going to prepare yourself, work on atmosphere. These things are what I think is gonna matter most for us.Even during the offseason, the players of OG have been hard at work. The last couple months since the conclusion of TI have been quiet from a tournament standpoint. This is usually a time when players might take time off. Sundstein says hes been working on renovating his new apartment, where he and his girlfriend will be staying. Furnishing, new locks, all the trials and tribulations of new property ownership - but he still finds time to boot up Dota 2.I dont think any pro player really escapes the game, said Sundstein. They might want to take some time off, but I dont think any of the tier one players actually spend more than one week without playing a single game.For players like Sundstein, Aizik and the rest of OG, they have reached the upper tier of Dota teams. The issues of the past, like making enough tournament winnings to survive or struggling to juggle competition with a day job to support yourself, are gone. Theres only one goal in mind: the Aegis in Seattle. Already, OG is juggling scheduling, planning tournaments and boot camps.Building a green dreamThe unofficial motto for OG has been Dream Green, a saying for fans to put their hopes towards the teams success. But the green dream has been something else for founding members Sundstein and Aizik, as well as manager Evany Chang. Its been a lot harder than I anticipated, Sundstein said. Its been very hard, trying to create an org that you want while being a player. But I stand by what we do. We did it to try and do the right thing, and going into tournaments with your own organization, knowing that youre not dealing with some people you might not want to be dealing with, its a much nicer feeling. I do not regret what we did, but like I said, its been a lot harder than I originally thought.Sundstein has been in the scene for many years now, and has seen the ups and downs, the good and bad. For Sundstein, he has his own vision: an organization needs to have something to offer to players, to better them both inside and outside the game, and avoid taking advantage of its players. An organization might poach one of the best teams, and give them half of what they deserve, or half of what the organization should be offering them, said Sundstein. The organization might be making a lot of money off this one team, knowingly, but they get away with it because young players, young scene. This scholarship, this opportunity, isnt what its supposed to be yet.Team manager Chang, who has also dealt with hardships in the past, reiterated the teams drive to help players in the long run. She says she hopes to see OG establish itself among top names, such as EG and TL, with continued hard work from the organization.When it comes to victories, though, Sundstein doesnt seem as dead-set on the prize. The success will come. Winning is not everything, Sundstein said. I think thats a stupid thing to say, because I feel like a lot of games are being ruined by this idea of points, ranked matchmaking systems, MMR, tournament placements, of being above others. I think thats becoming too much, and people are forgetting theyre actually playing games.Wholesale Fake Yeezy Free Shipping .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Fake Yeezy Online . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. The Czechs pulled two back in the ninth, but Shusters team of third Jeff Isaacson, second Jared Zezel and lead John Landsteiner ended with another point to secure the last Olympic berth on offer. http://www.fakeyeezydiscount.com/ . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. Cheap Fake Yeezy For Sale . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Fake Yeezy Boost 350 .C. -- When North Carolina freshman Ryan Switzer reported to training camp in August he was a little miffed to learn he was third on the depth chart at punt returner.DETROIT -- The Los Angeles Kings scored soon after the puck dropped for the first time in Detroit, and that was almost enough to finish off the offensively challenged Red Wings.Derek Forbort had a goal 21 seconds into the game on the first shot, Nic Dowd scored a tie-breaking goal late in the second period and Tyler Toffoli scored twice in the third, lifting Los Angeles to a 4-1 victory Thursday night.We were good all night, and even when we took penalties we were good on the kills, Toffoli said. The Buffalo game was really a wake up for us, and we stepped up. We cant stop now, though. We have to turn this into a streak.Los Angeles opened a nine-game trip that will last two-plus weeks with a 6-3 loss to the Sabres.I dont consider this a long trip, Kings coach Darryl Sutter insisted. Everybody here is used to traveling.The Red Wings had two shots in the first, their lowest total for any period this season and added just six more in the second.I was pretty much a spectator, said Jeff Zatkoff, who stopped 17 of 18 shots he faced. The guys did all the hard work and didnt leave me much to do.Detroits Jimmy Howard stopped 27 shots.Forbort put the Kings up early in the game, shooting through traffic and past Howard. A few minutes later, it looked like they were going to take a two-goal lead on Anze Kopitars shot that hit off the left post and caromed off the right post just outside of the goal line. The referees decision on the ice held up after video review.Detroits Mike Green made it 1-all with 7:13 left in the first period, taking advantage of a perfectly placed pass in front of the net by Luke Glendening, who created space behind the net by stoppinng quickly with the puck in the corner and reversing the direction he was skating.ddddddddddddThe Red Wings, though, could not generate much more offense during a game in which they gave up goals over the first two periods to players who had combined to score just three goals over the first two months of the season. They came close to scoring midway through the third period when Gustav Nyquist drew iron on a shot.Desperate to score trailing by two goals, coach Jeff Blashill pulled Howard with about 5 minutes left to add an extra skater and the Kings ended up taking advantage with Toffoli shooting into an open net.We hadnt scored and we hadnt generated much, Blashill said. I felt like it was the right decision. I would do it again in a heartbeat.Detroit has lost four straight, all at home, and has scored no more than one goal in a game during the slump.The Red Wings were 0 for 4 on the power play, dropping them to 0 for 13 over the last three games with an extra skater. They have scored only one power-play goal in the last eight games.Were losing a lot of games because of that, Nyquist said.Game notesLos Aneles ended a seven-game losing streak against the Red Wings. ... The Kings scratched F Devin Setoguci, F Andy Andreoff and D Kevin Gravel. ... Detroit scratched D Alexey Marchenko, D Brian Lashoff and F Tomas Jurco. ... Los Angeles had dropped three of four.UP NEXTKings: Play at Pittsburgh on Friday night.Red Wings: Host Anaheim, their fifth and final game of a home stand before playing 10 of 11 games on the road. ' ' '