Topias Miikka Taavitsainen (born 14 April 1998), better known as Topson, is a Finnish professional ''
Dota 2
''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota 2' ...
'' player. As a member of OG, he won
The International 2018
The International 2018 (TI8) was the eighth iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, TI8 followed a year-long series of tournaments awarding qualifying po ...
and
The International 2019
The International 2019 (TI9) was the ninth iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament followed a year-long series of awarding qualifying poin ...
.
Early life
Topias Miikka Taavitsainen was born in
Haukipudas
Haukipudas is a town and former municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Oulu and part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. Its shore runs along the Gulf of Bothnia, with the river Kiiminkijoki running through the province. Alo ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
on 14 April 1998.
He has seven brothers and four sisters. At the encouragement of his brothers, he began playing ''
Defense of the Ancients
''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA'') is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mod for the video game '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'' (2002) and its expansion, '' The Frozen Throne''. The objective of the game is for each team to destroy ...
'' when he was eight years old. His father owns a construction company and grew up as
Laestadian
Laestadianism, also known as Laestadian Lutheranism and Apostolic Lutheranism, is a pietistic Lutheran revival movement started in Sápmi in the middle of the 19th century. Named after Swedish Lutheran state church administrator and temperanc ...
family. His parents were doubtful if playing video games as a career would be profitable, but his eventual success of winning tournaments surprised his mother. He originally studied to be an electrician but transferred to a cooking school after one year.
Career
Taavitsainen made appearances on lower-level squads in events before his big breakthrough. While none of these teams made an impact, his gameplay got noticed. His breakout for professional scene moment came in 2017. He had joined the Russian organisation SFT e-sports, where they had decided to pick up an entirely new roster. It was the first time that he had played for a high-tier team. After trying his luck with several teams, he focused on streaming and soon topped the European region by way of MMR. He was then recruited to join OG in 2018.
Prior to
The International 2018
The International 2018 (TI8) was the eighth iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, TI8 followed a year-long series of tournaments awarding qualifying po ...
,
OG lost three members of its roster with co-founder and captain
Fly
Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...
and
s4 leaving to join
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses (EG) is an American esports organization based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1999, the organization has fielded players in various fighting games, ''Call of Duty'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Dota 2'', ''Fortni ...
and Resolut1on being released from his contract. With majority of top level players already being committed to teams for the upcoming competition, OG offered a position to Taavitsainen who was at that point an unproven newbie who had never participated in a major LAN event. Due to such late roster change, OG was no longer eligible to be directly invited to
The International 2018
The International 2018 (TI8) was the eighth iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, TI8 followed a year-long series of tournaments awarding qualifying po ...
and instead qualified through Open Qualifiers.
Following that, OG were then placed into group A of The International's group stage, finishing fourth with a record of 9–7, which seeded them into the upper bracket. There, OG won every series to advance to the grand finals.
Facing the lower bracket winner
PSG.LGD
PSG.LGD is a professional ''Dota 2'' team based in China. They were formed as a partnership between PSG Esports and LGD Gaming in April 2018. PSG.LGD has finished as the runner-up in The International 2018 and The International 2021, 2021.
His ...
in it, whom OG had just defeated in the upper bracket finals, OG won the game one, but lost the next two games.
Needing another win to avoid losing the series, OG forced a late-game comeback in game four, and subsequently won game five in a similar fashion, making them International champions and winning them over $11 million in prize money.
Their victory was considered a
Cinderella
"Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
and
underdog
An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...
success story, as they had come from the open qualifiers and had beaten some of the more favored and accomplished teams along the way.
OG and Taavitsainen continued their reign as
The International 2019
The International 2019 (TI9) was the ninth iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament followed a year-long series of awarding qualifying poin ...
champions, defeating
Team Liquid
Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. With the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', Team Liquid signed their first professional players.
In 2012, Team Liq ...
3–1. In addition, Topson also was named the tournament's MVP.
Playstyle
Prior to
The International 2018
The International 2018 (TI8) was the eighth iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, TI8 followed a year-long series of tournaments awarding qualifying po ...
, Taavitsainen was considered to be one of weaker middle laners due to his unorthodox hero pool, questionable in-game strategic choices, and tendency to lose the middle lane.
Taavitsainen's style has been described a being more selfless than most professional middle laners, focusing less on individual excellence and snowball potential and more on creating space for his team.
References
External links
*
*
{{Professional Dota 2 competition
1998 births
Living people
Dota players
OG (esports) players
Finnish esports players
20th-century Finnish people
Laestadians