Almost five years since he last played with OG, Topson has returned to the team he helped win back-to-back Dota 2 world championships.
Two-time The International (TI) champions 
OG have finally revealed their new international roster for the 2026-2027 competitive Dota 2 season, headlined by the return of mid laner 
Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen almost five years since he last played with the team.
OG have also added 
Valery “SSS” Lazarev, on loan from 
PARIVISION, as their new offlaner, while 
Ivan “OneJey” Zhivitsky has taken up the position 4 support role. Rounding out the squad are carry player 
John Anthony “Natsumi-” Vargas and position 5 support player Rolen Andre Gabriel “Skem” Ong, the only players remaining from OG's roster for the 2025-2026 season.
The team will also have a new coach in Igor "kaffs" Estevão, who coached the South American squads of 
HEROIC and 
LGD Gaming.
OG switches to international roster headlined by Topson following failure at TI 2026
OG's pivot to an international roster comes after an unsuccessful outing with an all-Filipino roster during the 2025-2026 season. After years of struggling to compete in Europe, OG announced its move to Southeast Asia in September 2025 with a roster featuring Natsumi, Erin Jasper “Yopaj” Ferrer, Nikko “Force” Bilocura, Timothy “TIMS” Randrup, Skem, and coach 
Adam “343” Shah.
OG had a solid start to the season, as they finished in the Top 6 at PGL Wallachia Season 6, BLAST SLAM V, and DreamLeague Season 27 to close out 2025 then managed a 3rd-4th place finish at BLAST SLAM VI last February. However, the rest of the year saw the team produce mostly disappointing results, as they failed to even make it to the Top 8 of the six Tier 1 tournaments they attended prior to TI 2026.
OG also tweaked its roster in an effort to improve their performance, as they benched Nikko and signed Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek in April. That stint with TORONTOTOKYO lasted under two months as the team's poor results continued, with OG eventually returning to an all-Filipino lineup by signing Marc Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto in June.
While OG managed to qualify for TI 2026 with Raven, the organisation's return to Dota 2's annual world championship return after four years only yielded an abysmal result. OG bombed out in 14th-15th place after losing to 
GamerLegion in Round 5 of the Group Stage. Earlier this month, OG revealed its intention to rebuild by parting ways with Yopaj, Raven, Tims, and 343.
Topson notably returns to lead the new OG roster after unexpectedly getting pulled out of his two-year retirement during TI 2026. Topson became a last-minute stand-in for LGD after mid laner 
Santiago “TaiLung” Agüero Gustavo was banned from competing in the tournament and all future PGL-organised events mere days before it started due to “issues of competitive integrity.”
Despite having to play in the game's biggest stage on such short notice, Topson helped LGD survive the Group Stage and come within touching distance of the Playoffs. However, they fell in the Elimination Round to tournament favourites 
Team Yandex, a commendable result when considering Yandex went on to claim third place in TI 2026.
It seems that short stint with LGD has once again sparked Topson's desire to compete professionally, as he now returns to the team he once claimed back-to-back world championships with.
OG's new roster with Topson is set to make their debut in BLAST SLAM VIII, which kicks off on 29 September.
The announcement of OG's new roster is the latest shift in the ongoing post-TI 2026 roster shuffle. Check out GosuGamers' post-TI 2026 roster shuffle tracker to keep track of how the competitive Dota 2 landscape will look like for the 2026-2027 season.
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