Notail on Possible Return: 'I Don’t Think I Can Go Down This Path Again'

Two-time The International champion Johan “N0tail” Sundstein revealed that Old G’s status remains up in the air after they failed to qualify in the Division II of the Dota Pro Circuit Western Europe 2023 Tour 1.

N0tail, together with long-time teammate Sébastien “Ceb” Debs, discussed the team’s future and what it felt like to finally play competitively again during the recent episode of the Monkey Business podcast.

The 29-year-old hard support, who took a health break during the 2021 season, formed Old G alongside former OG teammates Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen and Ceb. They were joined by Volodymyr “Noone” Minenko and Arif “MSS” Anwar.

Old G made it through the open qualifiers of the WEU Division II but failed to get past the closed qualifiers. The team actually had two chances to enter Division II. However, they lost to Ooredoo Thunders and Monaspa in the upper and lower bracket finals, respectively.

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N0tail, who revealed that he got motivated to get back playing after watching The International 11, said that he was happy to play competitively again and experience the atmosphere that pulled him to the game before.

“But truthfully, I was really thankful and very happy to have gotten the experience. I wasn’t sure at first, but after watching TI11, I felt things that I have not felt in a long time,” said N0tail.

“It gave me a lot of motivation to try. After trying and getting a chance to once again play on a high competitive level, it made me think about a lot of things,” he added.

However, he also said that at this point, playing at the highest level is not something that he wants to go through again which is why his status in Old G, just like the team’s, remains uncertain.

“What I definitely do not want to do right now is to sacrifice everything again to achieve my full potential. I know [if] I will go down this path again if I continue, it’s a treacherous thing. I know all of us in Old G felt the same when we lost twice in the Closed Qualifiers, more than it should have,” he said.

“Overall I’m happy but moving forward, I don’t think I can go down this path again. What’s going to happen to Old G and everyone’s future is still up in the air.”