TI9 OG vs TI10 Team Spirit: Topson compares which is the stronger team

In the recent episode of OG’s podcast, we got a little spicy debate. Which team would win head-to-head, the TI9 OG or the TI10 Team Spirit? Former OG midlaner, Topson and OG CEO, JMR Luna talked about the hot comparison.

Amongst a myriad of topics involving Topson’s personal life, Patch 7.31, his OG moments and so much more, OG's community manager, Josh, gave Topson a couple of questions from fans. One of the questions asked was, “Which team do you think would win if there’s a match between the 2019 OG roster and the current Team Spirit?”

Here is what Topson had to say.

Initially, Topson said that the question was ‘weird’ because both rosters played on a different Dota 2 patch. It is indeed hard to compare two teams’ performances which played on different patches as the game itself changes.

Rather than specific gameplays, he compared both forms based on the TI run.

“If you don’t consider the patch, of course, it would be TI9 OG. We stomped TI9 right?” Topson laughed. “But Team Spirit kind of stomped TI10 too, I guess it’s hard to say.”

JMR Luna gave his argument on why TI9 OG was better.

“Did Team Spirit stomp TI10?” JMR Luna replied, ”because they dropped to the Lower Bracket and you guys were so close to beating them when Collapse pulled everybody," said JMR Luna, referring to OG's Lower Bracket match against Team Spirit. In the first game of the series, OG was already pushing Team Spirit's high ground when Collapse pulled out his signature Magnus stunt. He used Skewer to drag SumaiL's Tiny all the way to their fountain and reversed the momentum of the game.

"Then they 2-1 Secret. I mean, they deserve to win, I’m not taking any credit. They found a way to outsmart everyone. But you guys just walked TI9,” JMR Luna added.

Topson agreed, “That’s true, we had our own thing for TI9 and we just let everybody try to beat it and nobody could. So I’ll have to go for our TI9 magical run.”

During TI9, OG was certainly unstoppable. They continued their TI win streak from the year before to complete a full Upper Bracket run. They defeated Team Liquid 3-1 at the Grand Final with ease.

As opposed to Team Spirit, they had many do-or-die moments at TI10. They dropped to the Lower Bracket from the very beginning and were always a game away from being eliminated. The Grand Final against PSG.LGD was a close contest, with Spirit defeating the Chinese giants 3-2. From this perspective, OG’s TI8 form was more similar to the TI10 Team Spirit.

“A lot of TI8 games were one bad move away from losing. We were getting stomped and somehow, we managed to endure it. Obviously, you don’t want to be in that position in-game. So you kind of leave it up to chance. TI8 was... I guess we got really lucky.”

At TI8, OG had a lot of great comebacks, but it also means they were always a moment away from loss. Even though they didn't drop to the Lower Bracket, their Upper Bracket run was filled with crazily intense matches; one that comes to mind would be the Upper Bracket Final against PSG.LGD.

JMR Luna felt that TI8 OG has a lot of similarities to TI10 Team Spirit. “That’s what I felt about Team Spirit. Not lucky but I feel you guys were always able to outsmart like you were never fully dead. Because Team Spirit, in my opinion, should have lost a few of the series but they found a way.”

At TI10, Team Spirit put on one powerful performance and even broke the record for most Rampages at a TI. But it didn't mean there were no scary moments for the team. At some point, Team Spirit could have lost an elimination match, but through sneaky Skewers or great warding vision, Team Spirit turned the tides.

The thought of TI champions competing against each other in their scariest form is always a fun topic. People would constantly put one team against the other and decide which team would be better, but of course, we can only speculate.

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