Everything you need to know about OG: Europe Closed Qualifier profile

Click here for all links to all sixteen of the team profiles for the Europe Closed Qualifier for ESL One Rio.

Rank (HLTV/ESL): #16/#26

Invite or Qualifier: Invited

Lineup

• Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt
• Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen
• Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangså
• Issa "ISSAA" Murad
• Mateusz "mantuu" Wilczewski
• Casper "ruggah" Due (coach)

Most recent results

• ICE Challenge 2020 = 5-6th (LAN)
• BLAST Premier Spring Season 2020 Week 3 = 2nd (LAN)
• IEM Katowice 2020 Europe Open Qualifier #2 = 5-8th (Online)
• cs_summit 5 = 3rd (LAN)

Brief rundown

The OG roster has been long-awaited and delivered in London, with a 3-4th place finish at the ICE Challenge 2020 and managing to qualify directly for the Spring Finals of BLAST Premier Spring Season over Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves.

With former ENCE in-game leader Aleksib at the helm, the strengths of the other two players in the core trio, experienced kingmaker NBK and star rifler valde, have been showcased. After stunning top teams by taking the all-Finnish roster to the grand final of IEM Katowice 2019, Aleksib will be looking to replicate the run and go one further in Brazil.

The downfall of ENCE, troubles in the Team Vitality camp and North’s unpopular rebrand have been seen as karma for their former players.

After both FaZe Clan and Complexity Gaming showed the world what European mix teams could do on the international stage, OG were able to strike twice against Evil Geniuses and put up a strong fight against G2 Esports, with the French core now speaking English after signing CR4ZY players last year and have become the fifth best team in the world right now.

Player to watch: mantuu

The AWPer for OG, mantuu has already gone toe-to-toe with some of the best snipers, kennyS and CeRq. His strengths in ESL Meisterschaft saw Spring 2019 and Summer 2019 in the hands of ALTERNATE aTTaX after finishing second in Winter 2018. The team has since gone back to runners-up in Winter 2019 which many would say isn't a coincidence.

He is far from a one-trick pony, able to put up the numbers even without the AWP in hand. While he was not OG’s initial choice, mantuu’s current form doesn’t make him look like a backup plan.

GINX prediction

OG had to rebuild from the bottom and they are definitely hungry for success. A top eight position for the team should be guaranteed, but nothing can be certain when it comes to online play.

Their position in the ESL World Ranking helped secure a place in the reworked global ESL Pro League Season 11 as well as in the Closed Qualifier and OG's foundations should see them make a strong run all the way to the Minor and beyond.