In the world of team esports, how much impact can one man have? For Dota 2 fans who have followed the incredible career of Sébastien “Ceb” Debs, it’s hard to overstate the response. The beloved OG offlaner, the first two-time champion of The International, and now the returning king.
Few have managed to cultivate such legendary status in the esports community, but the Ceb name ignites a sense of wonder and recognition throughout the profession. From a career that began in 2011, through trials and tribulations that catapulted him and his team to esports fame for a decade, to his work developing OG’s newest stars, Ceb’s career has not stopped. easily defined by a single success.
Ceb has recently come out of retirement again and joined the active OG team after some time away from the main stage. His name has been all over the place again in the last year, but if you’ve missed any point in his epic story, this new documentary CEB: A Major Comeback details the ups and downs of his motley career.
Check out CEB: A Major Comeback below and read on to find out more…
1 hour 24 minutes
CEB: A Major Comeback
Dota 2 player Sébastien Debs returns from retirement to help his team win at an ESL One Stockholm Major.
Who is Ceb? Lets start by the beginning.
01
2011-2018: Early successes and Ceb’s rise to OG
His career began in 2011 with Team Shakira, where he played under the name 7ckingMad, before moving to Mortal Teamwork via a brief spell with Western Wolves. It was in mTw that Ceb really shone, as the team was considered a serious contender for The International in 2012, defeating their rivals NEXT.kz in the West Qualifier finals. Unfortunately, like many young esports teams, mTs went under, forcing Ceb back to the newly reformed Team Shakira.
After several name and roster changes, Ceb’s team had garnered exciting wins and heartbreaking losses. After several mergers, the team was DD.Dota for a while, and then rose from the ashes to become Sigma, the team with which Ceb had his first successes.
After leaving the team, and a small change in function – working as an analyst at the Shanghai Major – he was hired as coach of the OG Esports team. Suddenly, Ceb’s self-confidence returned and the world began to pay attention to him. His coaching and encouragement saw the team rise to incredible heights: dominating and winning at the Frankfurt, Manila, Boston and kyiv Majors. However, prior to 2018’s The International, OG saw their roster turn upside down, with key players such as Gustav ‘s4’ Magnusson and Tal ‘Fly’ Aizik leaving, and suddenly a void had to be filled.
Since joining OG, Ceb’s name has become synonymous with the team
©Red Bull
02
2018-2020: Hits with OG and an unbeatable performance at The International
Despite stopping playing entirely when he became a manager in 2016, Ceb faced his first official matches during The International in 2018. Held in Vancouver, TI8 was at the time the biggest esports tournament ever held, with a prize pool of more than 25.3 million dollars and people watching it from all over the world. OG had started shakyly, making it through the Open Qualifiers, but went on to dominate time and time again in the Main Event, taking on PSG.LGD in the Grand Finals for their first win in a two-year streak.
TI9 broke their own record for being bigger than the year before, welcoming back OG with Ceb still in the oflane. As the team gained confidence, with their most iconic lineup to date, they soon battled their way to the top of their group table and once again took no prisoners in the main event. OG was the first and last team to win back-to-back at The International, and Ceb’s participation made him feel like he could take on anything.
There was a tournament where I woke up with my alarm set and fell asleep, and then I was like, wait a minute, what’s happening to me?
Ceb’s fire was burning, and his motivation was like a superpower, pushing him every day to be better, to play more and try harder. It seemed to her that it would last forever, but a big announcement was coming that would shock all OG fans.
With Ceb playing in the offlane, OG became the TI first back-to-back champions
©Red Bull
03
Turning point: Ceb decides to retire
When you’ve achieved your dreams -and then some- how do you keep the flame burning? What to do from there? Ceb’s career had hitherto been blessed with aggressive momentum, both in good times and bad, but this speeding train was beginning to slow down. He had not only achieved great success, but for a decade, he had been playing the sport he loves as a full-time job. Understandably, the glow in him began to wear off a bit and exhaustion set in.
Ceb made it clear to his team and the public that he was not going to let his love of the game boil down to something he did simply for a living. The time had come to retire. In his own words, “there was a certain day when everything changed. Normally, before a tournament, a big LAN, a Major or a TI, you know that the best players are going to be there, so I would get up two hours before before the alarm clock went off and I had a hard time falling asleep. I kept thinking.”
“There was a tournament where I woke up with my alarm set and fell asleep, and then I said to myself: wait a minute, what is happening to me? This is very different. Not well”.
He also realized that it was affecting his relationships, including his longtime girlfriend, and was preventing him from carrying out a normal daily routine. For Ceb, the sacrifices she had made for Dota had lasted too long. Through OG, he released a statement announcing his retirement: “We played as modest, we played as favourites. We compete with the hunger and fire of emerging teams, and we compete with the confidence of current champions. It’s as if we would have gone through most of what competitive Dota has to offer.”
Ceb and N0tail have played together in all kinds of circumstances.
©Red Bull
04
A change of scenery: Ceb is “bitten by the bug”
His friend, colleague, and confidante Johan ‘N0tail’ Sundstein had also retired from professional esports, dedicating his time to the things he had always wanted – surfing, gardening, paragliding – but he realized that Ceb was not living the same life. experience. Even though professional Dota had taken up most of his time, there was a competitive element to his personality that wouldn’t go away. He had what N0tail called “the itch” to return to the arena.
By then, their beloved OG looked quite different, with a five-man roster revamp that included two 16-year-old prodigies. As the documentary shows, this new lineup was a huge risk, initially causing considerable upset among fans.
We compete with the hunger and fire of emerging teams, and we compete with the confidence of reigning champions.
After two years of pandemic closure, the ESL Major in Stockholm in 2022 was going to be the first and highly anticipated in-person event to break the streak. The new OG still had a lot to prove, and the stakes weren’t much higher than that for a LAN debut. Unfortunately, OG underwent one more change as captain Mikhail “Misha” Agatov and coach Evgenii “Chuvash” Makarov were unable to attend, leaving N0tail as coach and the retired Ceb to make his return.
Ceb’s career has been packed with excitement and change
©Red Bull
05
Ceb’s big comeback with the new OG team
Ceb’s return to the team gave the younger players confidence, encouraging them to play like never before. OG began to build momentum in the Group Stage, finishing second overall and heading into the Main Event with unmatched energy. Despite a momentary stumble in the Playoffs, where it looked as if the team would be eliminated, they charged back, only losing one more game on their way to the Grand Final.
Ceb’s comeback has been bigger than anyone anticipated
©Red Bull
OG learned from each of their mistakes with these two veteran players guiding them, and Ceb’s unique and aggressive playstyle gave them the upper hand. Having a legend on your team can go a long way in intimidating the competition, and very soon OG would be taking on Team SoloMid in the Grand Finals.
This amazing formation, which had aroused ridicule and doubts even among its own followers, showed what it was made of during the finals of the first Major in its history. Winning the entire tournament and holding the trophy high, the influence of Ceb, the legendary player, and the flexibility and hard work of the new roster produced a result that surprised everyone.
Ceb’s career has been full of emotion and drama and more detail than can fit in one article. Watch the documentary above to find out more about how the young French player became a Dota 2 legend.
This story is part of
CEB: A Major Comeback
Dota 2 player Sébastien Debs returns from retirement to help his team win at an ESL One Stockholm Major.
