OG has announced the removal of Nikko ‘Nikko’ Bilocura from its active Dota 2 roster in the organization’s first roster move since its pivot to Southeast Asia.
OG announced that former Aurora Offlaner, Alexander ‘TORONTOTOKYO’ Khertek, will take Nikko’s place in the roster. The TI 2021 winner was removed from Aurora in January.
OG remove first piece since region change
Nikko’s removal signals the roster’s first change since its switch to the SEA region. The experiment thus far has been a competitive failure.
While the Filipino roster undoubtedly has brought new fans and energy to the organization, the roster has declined in form after a promising start in Tier 1 competition.
The roster looked in contention at times at PGL Wallachia Season 6, BLAST Slam V, and DreamLeague Season 27, where they finished 5th-6th.
BLAST Slam IV, a chaotic tournament in its own right, represented the high-water mark of Nikko in the roster, with a 3rd/4th place finish.
But poor finishes at DreamLeague Season 28, PGL Wallachia Season 7, and ESL Birmingham took fans’ hopes away, with Tier 1 now looking like an insurmountable wall for the team.
OG has now looked to update its roster, with the Offlane position as the org’s number one target to turn their fortunes around.
OG stated, “We’ll forever be grateful for his presence as one of the founding members of our SEA chapter. Nikko’s spirit and camaraderie were a blessing during his time with us, and we wish him well in whatever comes next.”
TORONTOTOKYO joins OG on loan
Changes in the Dota 2 7.41 patch gave Offlaners a bit of room to breathe due to changes in the lane equilibrium. Unfortunately, Nikko will not have time to benefit from it with TORONTOTOKYO now in the midlane position.
The Russian joins the roster after being benched in January as Aurora went through their own mini-rebuild. The TI 2021 winner brings more Tier 1 experience to the team, and should bring more Offlane stability, but may also cause issues.
The question of what happens to team synergy and in-game communications is raised, considering the previously fully national Filipino team now has a Russian member.
Coming from a smaller region, the question of whether the organization is going to slowly move back to EU is raised by the choice, but we’ll have to see how OG perform in the server with this one confirmed change.
Fans will have to wait to see TORONTOTOKYO in action as OG will miss the upcoming PGL Wallachia Season 8 due to Visa issues.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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