N0tail Explained

Id:N0tail
Johan Sundstein
Inactive:yes
Birth Date:1993 10, df=yes
Nationality:Danish
Team:OG
Game:Dota 2
Role:Support, Captain
Years1:2012–2014
Team1:Fnatic
Years2:2014–2015
Team2:Team Secret
Years3:2015
Team3:Cloud9
Years4:2015–present
Team4:OG
Highlights:

Johan Sundstein (born 8 October 1993), better known as N0tail, is a Danish-Faroese professional Dota 2 player for OG. As a member of OG, he has played in four iterations of The International, winning in 2018 and 2019, and has also won four Major championships.

Early years

Sundstein was born on 8 October 1993, and raised in Denmark to Faroese parents;[1] [2] former Faroese prime minister Jógvan Sundstein is his grandfather.[3] Sundstein first began playing video games when he was two years old. Sundstein left high school early to fully devote himself to esports.[4] Sundstein became one of the youngest professional Heroes of Newerth player at the early age of 15, playing the role of solo middle back then. He started by playing random pub games on HoN servers and later on decided to match up with Jascha "NoVa" Markuse and Tal "Fly" Aizik. They were recognized by the manager of Fnatic, who took them under his wing as an unofficial side project. This set off the beginning of Johan's professional career in esports.[5]

Professional career

Heroes of Newerth

N0tail, at the age of 15, met Jascha "NoVa" Markuse and Tal "Fly" Aizik in-game where they decided to start playing together. The trio became an unofficial side project of Fnatic manager Danijel "StreeT" Remus. After changes in the existing Fnatic Heroes of Newerth roster and the performance of N0tail and his friends, the group merged with the original Fnatic players Henrik "FreshPro" Hansen and Kalle "Trixi" Saarinen.[6] Soon, the squad began to achieve wins in online tournaments, obtaining their first LAN victory in DreamHack Winter 2011. Along with his team Johan was able to secure 1st place victories in four consecutive DreamHack events.[7] [8]

Dota 2

Due to decreasing activity in the professional Heroes of Newerth scene, N0tail decided to transfer to Fnatic's European Dota 2 team together with Jascha Markuse, Tal Aizik and Adrian Kryeziu on 30 March 2012.[9] After a hard start to DotA, N0tail and his team Fnatic.EU won Thor Open LAN on 9 December 2012, beating No Tidehunter, now known as Alliance.[10] Since Fnatic.EU won the LAN, they mostly dominated the pro scene until The International 2013, in which they placed 7–8th after losing to team Orange, which turned out to currently be the Fnatic squad.

One year later after not winning any premier tournaments and placing 13–14th in The International 2014, N0tail announced that he is leaving Fnatic together with Fly to create Team Secret, inviting Puppey, s4, and Kuroky to join.[11] After a number of good finishes in five tournaments, Puppey decided to kick N0tail for Arteezy in preparation of the Dota 2 Asia Championships. N0tail decided to join Cloud9, replacing Aui 2000.[12] Following multiple disappointing finishes and 9–12th place in The International 2015, Cloud9 released its squad.[13] On 28 August 2015, it was announced that N0tail, together with his teammate Fly which was also kicked from Team Secret, have created (monkey) Business, a team featuring Miracle-, MoonMeander, Cr1t-, Fly, and N0tail.[14]

Following promising performances, (monkey) Business proceeded to become OG. They quickly became the first team to defend a Major title in Dota 2 history after winning the Autumn Major in 2016. Despite a slow start during The International 2018's group stage, OG finished fourth and were seeded into the upper bracket of the main event. Considered underdogs during their entire time at the event, OG and Sundstein advanced to the grand finals and won the tournament by defeating PSG.LGD in the best-of-five series 3–2.[15] [16] The following year, he won The International 2019, making him and the rest of the team the first repeat winners of an International.[17] N0tail was featured in Forbes 30 under 30 category at the age of 25.[18]

Achievements

PlaceTournamentDate
7–8The International 2013August 2013
13–14The International 2014July 2014
9–12The International 2015August 2015
Frankfurt MajorDecember 2015
7Shanghai MajorMarch 2016
Manila MajorJune 2016
ESL One Frankfurt 2016[19] June 2016
9–12The International 2016August 2016
Boston MajorDecember 2016
Kiev MajorApril 2017
7–8The International 2017August 2017
Mars Dota League MacauDecember 2017
The International 2018August 2018
The International 2019August 2019

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Johan Sundstein . . Danish . 25 March 2022.
  2. Web site: Um "OG" og Jóhan Sundstein: – Søga er skrivað . https://web.archive.org/web/20190905114709/https://www.in.fo/news-detail/news/um-og-og-johan-sundstein-soega-er-skrivad/. 5 September 2019.
  3. sosialurin.in.fo: Jóhan Sundstein: Eg geri bara tað, eg elski og dugi best , 25 August 2019. ("Jóhan Sundstein: I am only doing the things, I love and am best at")
  4. Web site: Sønnichsen . Thomas . Dansk mangemillionær kravlede over hegnet for at spille computer som 4-årig . Sport TV2 . 31 August 2018 . 31 August 2018 . Sundstein childhood.
  5. Web site: 2020-06-16. Player Spotlight: N0tail – A Testament to Never Giving Up. 2021-01-27. Hotspawn.com. en.
  6. Web site: Fnatic.N0tail interviewed by AFK Gaming. . 7 October 2013. 16 August 2016.
  7. Web site: FnaticMSI.n0tail Interview. fnatic.com. 1 December 2011. 16 August 2016.
  8. Web site: Fnatic wins Heroes of Newerth DreamHack Winter 2011. 26 November 2011. www.neutralcreeps.com. 16 August 2016.
  9. Web site: How Heroes of Newerth led OG to Dota 2. www.redbull.com. Ben. Sillis. Jon. Partridge. 18 February 2016. 16 August 2016.
  10. Web site: Thor Open tournament goes to fnatic. Christoph. Helbig. 9 December 2012. www.gosugamers.net. 16 August 2016.
  11. Web site: Fnatic parts with BigDaddy & Fly. 27 August 2014. 16 August 2016.
  12. Web site: BigDaddy-N0tail to Cloud 9. Sovann. Kim. 2 January 2015. www.gosugamers.net. 2 January 2015.
  13. Web site: Cloud9 officially disbands. Orall. Pranjal. 14 August 2015. 16 August 2016.
  14. Web site: Monkey Bzns is created. . 28 August 2015. 16 August 2016.
  15. Web site: Mike. Stubbs. 25 August 2015. Ana is our MVP of The International 8. Red Bull. 28 August 2018.
  16. Web site: Dota Team. 27 August 2015. The International Grand Champions. Dota 2. 28 August 2018.
  17. Web site: S. Good . Owen . The International crowns its first two-time champion . Polygon . 25 August 2019. 2019-08-25 .
  18. Web site: Apduhan. Neslyn. N0tail goes from TI champ to Forbes 30 Under 30 – DOTA2. 2021-01-27. WIN.gg. 26 November 2018 . en.
  19. Web site: Taylor. Cocke. OG побеждает на ESL One Frankfurt, продолжая победную серию. esports.yahoo.com. 20 June 2016 . 12 July 2016.