Team Secret eliminated from TI6 contention after remarkable series

LGD Gaming saw Team Secret eliminated from TI6 contention, in the very first day of the Main Event. Secret will still be walking away with at least $100,000, but money is no object here. No doubt, the early exit bears great significance for all five players on Secret’s lineup. This is the first time in The International history that Clement “Puppey” Ivanov doesn’t reach Top 8.

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

UPDATE (August 13th):

TI6 final standings, updates and highlights – HERE

Every single move Team Secret made over the past year has been carefully scrutinized and chronicled time and time again: their unorthodox ways of plucking other teams’ brightest players when least expected, their seemingly inflated egos, their rises, their falls, and their rises again. Regardless of individual talent, let Secret’s TI6 fiasco be yet another reminder that whatever pedigree a team may have, at kickoff – especially during The International unforgiving best-of-one knock-outs – it’s 5 vs. 5 and anything can happen.

Team Secret’s current lineup has never really fallen into place. Arteezy has been rather inconsistent, BuLba has been underwhelming and struggling to adapt, pieliedie, EternaLEnVy and Puppey have been lacking their usual spark. Their agonizing phase is reflected in their recent disappointing performances during The International 6 Group Stage. They placed in the bottom four teams in their group and got locked into the Main Event’s best-of-one Lower Brackets, only to be knocked out contention on the very first day.

They put up a great fight against LGD – in fact, they might have delivered the single most intense match we’ve seen in recent Dota 2 history. However, Secret compromised their TI6 journey long ago, even before their disappointing group stage.

Secret drafted Shadow Demon, Alchemist, Terrorblade, Beastmaster, and Vengeful Spirit, while LGD went for Mirana, Kunkka, Juggernaut, Ember Spirit, and Winter Wyvern.

LGD’s well coordinated and beautifully executed rotations caught Secret off guard from the very beginning. Ten minutes in, xiao8’s offlane Mirana was already racking up the farm, finding kills and doing unbelievable damage. Secret were already losing map and game control.

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

They started to get themselves back into the game – ever so slightly, around minute 16, forcing the Chinese team to move around the map. However, with very scary item builds coming out from LGD, the Chinese had 24 kills to 3 on the board by minute 24. More importantly, the were closing in on a 10k advantage. Arteezy’s Alchemist was still topping the networth charts, with close to 16k, but wasn’t even close to being tanky enough. LGD didn’t have what it took to go for Tier 3 yet either.

Minutes later, LGD found a one-for-one trade, but Secret got away with minimal losses. The Chinese team’s Ember Spirit would be getting more and more dangerous as time went by.

Secret didn’t seem to have solutions and jumped into aggressive initiations. pieliedie kept them in the game, time and time again. Puppey also stepped in when his team needed him the most and started finding kills. Still very much behind, Secret managed to hold their own, defend themselves well and hold back LGD’s advance for a while.

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

Constant back and forth action on the top lane – Secret were holding the base 62 minutes in. They were constantly on the back foot against LGD, consistently trying to hold the Chinese off. LGD were 20k ahead by now, but Secret surprisingly managed to punish their aggression to start tipping the scales.

Secret found themselves two kills around minute 66. LGD retaliated with four pick-offs, Arteezy’s Alchemist included. Minutes later, Secret started to fall apart. xiao8 sealed the deal for LGD at minute 69, and Team Secret called their last “GG” at The International 6.

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

Secret took a few good team fights, for a second it even looked like they were about to stage a spectacular comeback and steal the game from under LGD. However, the Chinese showed great coordination and constantly kept Secret in checkmate.

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

Team Secret

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

Team Secret at ESL One Manila © ESL

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

Team Secret has had sub-par performances and disappointing results since they initiated a big roster shuffle after the Shanghai Major, that tore apart Evil Geniuses and created Digital Chaos.

They set off yet another unexpected shuffle right in the middle of the Manila Major, when Secret’s Team Director, Kemal Sadikoglu, took to Twitter to announce Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora’s departure to EG.

Team Secret sought out a replacement: former EG player Kanishka ‘Sam’ “BuLba” Sosale. In a timeless loop of exchanges, Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling then registered as Team Secret’s sub, having been let go from EG after being replaced with Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg.

As the Shanghai Major champions, they would have been directly invited to The International 6, had they not made roster changes outside the transfer window. They were forced to take the long, sinuous road to TI6, through the Open Qualifiers, and ended up being the first team to qualify for the Main Event out of the European region.

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

Team Secret roster:

Clement “Puppey” Ivanov
Jacky “Eternal Envy” Mao
Johan “pieliedie” Åström
Kanishka ‘Sam’ “BuLba” Sosale
Artour “Arteezy” Babaev
Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling – substitute

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

The International 6

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

The International is the annual Dota 2 tournament hosted by Valve Corporation. The International made its debut in August 2011, with a total prize pool of $1.6 million.

Last year’s event, The International 5, took place between August 3rd-8th at the KeyArena – a multi-purpose arena in Seattle, Washington, with a maximum capacity of over 17,000. The Dota 2 community contributed with a staggering $16,829,613 to the $1.6 million base prize pool, making the total prize fund of almost $18,429,613 million the largest in esports history at that time. The International titleholder is North-American team Evil Geniuses.

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6

This year’s main event will take place at the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington, between August 8th-13th. All 16 participating teams will advance to the main event and will receive a share of the TI6 prize pool.

The International 6 prize pool has outpaced The International 5 one from the very beginning. As of July 27th, the total TI6 prize pool has already broken last year’s record, thus becoming the largest in esports history.

Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6 Team Secret eliminated from TI6