OG have had a hectic few months. The new SEA line-up were acquired in November 2025, and immediately made waves with a top-six finish at PGL Wallachia Season 6, featuring a great Group Stage performance from the team.
Then a similar result at both BLAST Slam V, DreamLeague Season 27, and a top-four finish at BLAST Slam VI, seemed to lock them in as one of the better teams in the world. However, since then, OG has struggled. The revival of the organization in SEA has seen them qualify for a lot of tournaments but recently fall by the wayside compared to stronger European competition.
Jaxon.gg spoke to John “Natsumi-” Vargas on March 29, following OG’s elimination from ESL One Birmingham 2026. We talked about the stack’s acquisition by OG, their performance at ESL, and what hero Natsumi- wished would have gotten a little more love in the 7.41 update.
Thanks for speaking with me today. I want to start out with general questions about kind of OG. The new South East Asia line-up with OG was announced last year and there was a load of hype obviously around it, a new era, etc. But now the hype’s kind of died down a little bit. What’s it been like playing under the OG banner? How have you enjoyed it?
John “Natsumi-” Vargas: “I mean at first we kinda got surprised by OG approaching us, like the staff I mean reached out to us. But it’s been good to play in OG. It’s been a pleasure.”
So this was a difficult tournament for you guys. A lot of hard matches. What kind of lessons do think you’ve learned from the event so far?
Natsumi-: “I think we can learn how to adapt fast during a tournament. We should be able adapt faster, but sadly we adapted very slow during the past tournament as well.”
So I’m not sure how much time you managed to spend in the arena or around the area, but how have you enjoyed coming to England, coming to Birmingham, the atmosphere, the fans? How have you enjoyed it here?
Natsumi-: “I haven’t got into the arena yet. But think the people [in the UK and Birmingham] are great. I think they’re really good people. The driver, the delivery guy, fans, everyone was greeting. ‘How’s your day?’ ‘How are you?’ like that. Really good people.”
Image Credit: OG
So I want to talk about the patch. Well, two patches now (7.41 and 7.41a). Do you like mid-tournament patches? Do you like the chaos it creates? Or would you prefer if they just didn’t have these kind of patches during the event?
Natsumi-: “Mid tournament patches can have a negative side and a positive side. For us, maybe it did not work great for us because we weren’t in good shape, couldn’t adapt. So I think this tournament, I prefer it if [Valve] did not patch the game yet. I hope they’d wait.”
The patch seems to have completely changed what carries are being picked. We started to see the Alchemist come back in and all this kind of stuff. Are there any carries coming back into the meta that you’re excited to play?
Natsumi-: “Yeah, I mean right now there’s some new carries popping up. Like some Monkey King. That’s big. Weaver, Weaver also kinda got buffed, and Alchemist. I like these heroes also. I’m good at them and I play them also. So it’s good.”
Is there anything you wish you could play right now that kind of looks like it’s just not going to be viable?
Natsumi-: “Maybe PL, Phantom Lancer. Yeah, I like this hero. It’s not getting picked in every tournament. I don’t know why it’s not getting buffed.”
You know the schedule of the tournaments has been quite intense. There have been one tournament after another and then next month we go straight into qualifiers for DreamLeague and PGL Wallachia and stuff like that. Do you find it’s quite an intense schedule or do you enjoy having so many events to play?
Natsumi-: “For me, I think the schedule is really tight. For us, we would have competed for almost two months already and like in the DreamLeague. There’s one day DreamLeague, scrims, and you’re so tired to play Dota, something like that. And I mean, after every tournament there’s another tournament. You need to fly, travel, and then play again. For me, sometimes it’s draining. I don’t really like the schedule. Sometimes you kinda get burned out, I think.”
Natsumi- and the rest of OG will be in action at the DreamLeague Season 29 SEA Qualifiers and PGL Wallachia Season 8.
Stick with Jaxon.gg for more live coverage of Dota 2 events, news, guides, and more
Featured Image Credit: OG
21+ and present in VA. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
