AMMAR, Yuragi shine as new look OG stomp Team Secret in DPC WEU opener

OG's new roster of Dota 2 pubstars dominated a star-studded Team Secret in a stunning 2-0 upset to cap off the opening day for Division I of the 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit's (DPC) Western European regional league on Wednesday (1 December).

Secret were heavily favored coming into the matchup, as they were able to improve on a roster that already included Michal "Nisha" Jankowski, Yazied "YapzOr" Jaradat, and Clement "Puppey" Ivanov by adding Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan and Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang during the offseason roster shuffle.

Meanwhile, OG fielded an entirely new roster for the season after both Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen and Johan "N0tail" Sundstein took a break from competitive play while Sébastien “Ceb” Debs announced his retirement.

Many were doubtful of OG's new roster, as only support duo Tommy "Taiga" Le and Mikhail "Misha" Agatov had significant competitive experience while their new core trio of Artem "Yuragi" Golubiev, Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov, and Ammar "AMMAR_THE_F" Al-Assaf were all relatively young and inexperienced. Both Yuragi and AMMAR are notably only 16 years old.

However, the new OG did not look inexperienced at all as they dismantled Secret in their DPC debut.

Game one saw Secret pull out a questionable draft that had SumaiL on a mid Grimstroke, iceiceice on an offlane Winter Wyvern, and YapzOr on a position 4 Pudge. Meanwhile, OG managed to sneak AMMAR's signature Timbersaw pick through the draft to make space for Yuragi's carry Razor and bzm's Invoker.

AMMAR's Timbersaw wreaked havoc on Secret, fueling OG's map dominance while remaining the most farmed hero on the map. The young offlaner even pulled out some off-the-wall item choices, buying a Manta Style to dispel Secret's disables and remain free to cause chaos in teamfights.

AMMAR finished the series opener with a game-high 13 kills and 18 assists against just one death, pacing OG's 38-9 kill lead in just under 46 minutes of action.

Secret looked to bounce back in with a more standard draft that had Nisha on Phantom Assassin, SumaiL on Void Spirit, and iceiceice on Pangolier.

Meanwhile, OG proved their game one win was no fluke as they put on another dominant showing to secure the series sweep behind a perfect game for Yuragi on Templar Assassin. With bzm on Ember Spirit and AMMAR on Mars providing a barrage of disables, OG's new carry player simply mowed through a hapless Secret line-up.

Yuragi paced another lopsided 43-14 kill lead for OG by notching a series-high 20 kills against zero deaths, with bzm and AMMAR pitching in by combining for 17 kills and 36 assists.

With OG's resounding sweep over Secret in their DPC debut, the young squad seemed brimming with confidence heading into the new season.

Nowhere did that seem more apparent than AMMAR's post-match interview, where he called out Secret captain Puppey for trash talking him and his teammates in pub games and telling him to "stop the talk" now that they swept him in an official match.

"It's just like any other Dota game, you know? I just want to win against this Puppey guy because he trash talked me so much. So now I'm gonna tell him in ranked games: Hello, I won against you in an official [match], stop the talk," said AMMAR.

OG will be looking to continue their strong start as they take on Team Liquid next on 7 December. Meanwhile, Secret will be looking to bounce back against Alliance on 4 December.

The 2021-2022 DPC season has been split into three Tours for the Fall, Winter, and Spring, with the regional leagues taking place from 29 November 2021 to 17 July 2022. For everything you need to know about the new DPC season, check here.

OG Dota 2 roster:

1. Artem "Yuragi" Golubiev

2. Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov

3. Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf

4. Tommy "Taiga" Le

5. Mikhail "Misha" Agatov

Team Secret Dota 2 roster:

1. Michal "Nisha" Jankowski

2. Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan

3. Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang

4. Yazied "YapzOr" Jaradat

5. Clement "Puppey" Ivanov

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