The road to Bucharest — Team Secret
Yuriy SheremetLast time, we learned about the first team from Europe in the column «The road to Bucharest». Now, it is time to take a look at the serious heavyweight.
It is Team Secret and it is their road to Bucharest. Have a nice read.
The team’s portfolio
Let’s look at the main aspects of the team before the start of the main review. The information about them is summarized below.
- The date of the club’s foundation: August 27, 2014;
- The roster for The International 10: MATUMBAMAN, Nisha, zai, YapzOr, Puppey, Heen (coach);
- The region: Europe;
- How the team made it to The International: the 8th place in the DPC rating;
- The main achievements: the 2nd place at The Frankfurt Major 2016, the 1st place at The Shanghai Major 2016, DreamLeague Season 8, The Chongqing Major, MDL Disneyland Paris Major, DreamLeague Season 13, the 4th place at The International 2019.
Having got to know in their absence, let’s move to the detailed review of the history of Secret.
The first appearance
The public heard of Secret for the first time on August 27, 2014, after the end of The International 2014. After the beginning of the traditional transfer period, Puppey left NaVi and decided to make his creation.
The debut roster of Team Secret included all stars of that time: KuroKy, s4, Simbaa (Fly), Puppey, BigDaddy. The first test for the superstar roster was ESL One New York 2014 where Secret held the top 4. Then, there was StarLadder StarSeries Season 10 and the 2nd place there.
It is obvious that the results were unsatisfying for such famous players. They led to the first changes: BigDaddy and Fly left the team and their slots were taken by Arteezy and zai.
With this roster, Team Secret made its debut at Dota 2 Asia Championship 2015 where it reached the top 3. The Secret machine started working just in 3 months.
The international roster won 4 tournaments in a row, including The Summit 3, MarsTV Dota 2 League 2015 Spring and ESL One Frankfurt 2015, which were popular at that time. Such a bright performance before The International was noticed and Valve gave Secret the fully-deserved direct invitation to the main tournament of 2015.
Secret came to The International 2015 as one of the main favorites but everything went wrong at the event. And it did not happen immediately.
Puppey and the company placed 2nd in the group stage, which allowed them to advance to the upper part of the bracket. Problems began right there.
Secret lost to EHOME in the first round, after which they somehow dealt with Invictus Gaming in the lower part of the bracket. VP that no one believed in, including Secret, was the next opponent. It played a bad joke with Puppey and the company.
Secret lost to VP in the third round of the lower bracket, which eliminated them from the tournament, having reached the top 8. Such a performance was very far from the desired result.
The period of reshuffles and the search for an optimal roster
After the end of The International 2015, there was no sign of the star roster of Secret. Puppey was the only participant of the original roster and he was joined by EternaLEnVy, w33, MISERY, and pieliedie.
In Secret’s case, such a roster change only benefited. Puppey received full leadership and did not have to split it with Fly and KuroKy who had already created their own teams.
However, Puppey’s leadership was pretty controversial from time to time, about which EternaLEnVy would talk later but we will discuss it later. At that moment, Secret was entering the season of the Majors.
The first one was The Frankfurt Major 2015. Secret finished second and it seemed that the roster was working. It was confirmed in Shanghai a bit less than three months later.
Despite the season 2016 starting not very good (the top 6 at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 1, the top 8 at MarsTV Dota 2 League 2015 Winter), Secret managed to solve the situation at The Shanghai Major 2016. Secret shone brightly in China and achieved their first victory at the Major.
After the memorable victory, things went worse. Secret did not place higher than 6th at the upcoming tournaments and The Manila Major 2016 was a real disaster – the champions of the Shanghai Major held the top 16 there.
Such gloomy results led to roster changes, which left the team without chances to receive invitations to The International 2016. Having assembled the new roster quickly (Arteezy, EternaLEnVy, BuLba, Puppey, and pieliedie), Secret went to conquer the open qualification.
The team passed it easily and the European closed qualifiers too where Secret found no competitors. However, Secret faced failure at The International — another top 16.
Secret needed serious replacements.
The season 2017
The first attempts to bring the team back after a few years of total losses at TI happened in 2017. The next roster was assembled for the new season: MP, MidOne, KheZu, YapzOr, and Puppey.
Secret was playing with this roster until the end of The International 2017. During the season, the brightest achievements were the 3rd-4th place at EPICENTER 2017, the 3rd place at DreamLeague Season 7. The team had another loss at The International 7 but it was not that devastating as at the previous events of the series — the top 12.
Another row of replacements happened after 2017. Ace and Fata joined the team, and MP and KheZu parted ways with the club smoothly.
The season 2018 and the key change of Secret
The number of Majors and Minors was off the chain in 2018, so Secret had a good opportunity to test the changes. And they did it.
They were not too successful but there were positive moments: the victory at DreamLeague Season 9 and the top 4 at China Dota2 Supermajor allowed Secret to advance to The International 2018 directly.
The main tournament of the season was played better than the previous events of the series. Secret held the top 6, which became the best results since the creation of the team.
Puppey was on the right path, so the work did not stop.
Ace and Fata left Secret at the end of the year and their slots were taken by Nisha and zai. The era of Secret began.
The age of the domination
The season 2019 started very successfully for Secret. The team achieved victory at The Chongqing Major, after which it won ESL One Katowice 2019. The team placed 4th at DreamLeague Season 11, which was quickly overcome by the victory at MDL Disneyland Paris Major and ESL One Birmingham 2019.
A direct invitation to The International 2019 was not even discussed. Secret was one of the strongest teams in the world in 2019.
The tournament was very good for Secret. The team entered the top 4, which became the best result at the championships in the TI series in the history of the club.
After the end of TI9, Secret made a single replacement: MATUMBAMAN arrived instead of MidOne. The team welcomed the Finn in the appropriate way, having won DreamLeague Season 13.
It seemed that Secret’s pressure could not be stopped but then, the coronavirus pandemic began. Despite there being no international events, local championships were regularly hosted in the European region. It was enough for Secret.
The team prevailed at 8 tournaments in a row in a year, including BLAST Bounty Hunt, OMEGA League: Europe Immortal Division, and the others. Secret had no equals.
The season 2021 and a spot in The International 10
Secret failed two tournaments at the end of 2020 being bored and having reached the top 4 and the top 6 there. Everything changed with the start of DPC-2021.
Secret defeated the best teams of Europe in the first season, taking a slot in the playoffs of the first Major of the year without chances. At the event, Secret showed its level: the top 4, considering the absence of the practice against teams from the other regions, was a pretty respected result.
Secret relaxed in the second half of the year and held the top 4 in the home league. It was enough to proceed to the second Major of the tournament but Secret did not shine there too.
Puppey and the company held the top 16 in Kyiv, which did not stop them from proceeding to The International 10 directly. Later, Secret would participate in ESL One Summer 2021 where they held the top 12 but it was important because the main event is just ahead.
See you soon on EGamersWorld.
Yuriy Sheremet – Expert in mobile gaming and esports among shooters and MOBA games.
At EGamersWorld, Yuriy, as in 2020 when he joined the portal, works with content, albeit with adjustments to his area of responsibility.