Team Secret heads to Shanghai for SL iLeague StarSeries Season 3

SL iLeague StarSeries Season 3 European Qualifier was a nail biter for Team Secret, Ad Finem, Cloud 9 and Na’Vi. Evenly matched and too close to call, it was within the final matches that Team Secret secured the second place position. The European mix joins Wings Gaming, VGJ, iG.Vitality, Team Liquid and TnC Pro in Shanghai, China February 23-26th. One more team will be directly invited. One more team from Americas – either Team NP or Digital Chaos will qualify. Qualifiers end tonight, February 2nd.

SL iLeague StarSeries Season 3 European Qualifier played out right down to the wire.

Team Secret, Cloud 9 and Ad Finem were neck and neck right through to the end, with Na’Vi scrambling behind them, posing as a potential threat to usurp one of the teams and also change the point distribution.

With the split 1:1 between Na’Vi and Cloud 9 and Team Secret’s dominance over Ad Finem 2:0, Secret were able to clinch their place in the main event.

Team Secret have earned their right to compete alongside Team Liquid for the $300,000 prize pool.

Team Liquid recently had unleashed an onslaught of aggression, precision and talent during the group stage of the qualifiers to seize the first spot for SL iLeague StarSeries Season 3 earlier in the week.

SL iLeague StarSeries Season 3 European Qualifier

There have been a total of 3 phases for the European Qualifiers

Phase 1

• Two open qualifiers
• Dec 26 – Dec 30
• Single-elimination brackets
• Best-of-one matches
• Finals Best-of-three
• Winner of each open qualifier advanced to Phase 2
• Open Qualifiers #1 – LQ
• Open Qualifiers #2 – Digital Company

Phase 2

• Invitation Qualifier
• Jan 05 – Jan 19
• Two single-elimination brackets
• 6 invited teams – FRIENDS, EMPIRE, Horde, Vega Squadron, January 25th, Cloud 9
• 2 teams from Open Qualifier – LQ, Digital Company
• Best-of-one matches
• Winner of each bracket advanced to Phase 3
• Bracket #1 – Horde
• Bracket #2 – Cloud 9

Phase 3

• Group Stage
• Jan 24 – Feb 04
• 6 invited teams – Alliance, Team Liquid, Team Secret, Ad Finem, Na’vi, Vega Squadron*
• 2 teams from Phase 2 – Horde, Cloud 9
• Round-robin group
• Matches are two game series
• Top two teams qualify to LAN Finals

*Vega Squadron replaced Virtus.Pro

SL iLeague StarSeries Season 3

Eight teams will compete in the third iteration of the joint series between Starladder and iLeague.

The LAN finals are to be held February 23-26 in Shanghai China at the International Gymnastics Center with eight teams competing for the $300,000 prize pool.

The International Gymnastics Center was built in 1997 and is 24,900 square meters to accommodate up to 4,000 viewers.

• Direct invites: 2 teams – Wings Gaming/TBD
• China: 2 qualified teams – VGJ/iG.Vitality
• Europe: 2 qualified teams – Team Liquid/Team Secret
• America: 1 qualified team – TBD
• South East Asia: 1 qualified team- TnC Pro

Team Secret

Team Secret at MDL 2016

Secret were among the first to announce their roster for the 2016 fall season.

During the drop period, Artour “Arteezy” Babaev, Jacky “EternalEnVy” Mao and Sam “Bulba” Sosale parted ways with the team – eventually joining Evil Geniuses, Team NP and Team Liquid, respectively.

The new lineup included three SEA players – former MVP.Phoenix members MP and Forev, and ex-Fnatic player MidOne – as well as two European players and members of the team’s previous roster, Puppey and pieliedie.

Earlier in October the team took their first championship title in the FACEIT Invitational after sweeping through Vega Squadron 2:0.

Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann replaced Lee “Forev” Sang-don on Team Secret after the team’s failure to qualify for the Boston Major. KheZu made his debut with the team at the ROG Masters Asian tournament.

The team was unstoppable, claiming their second championship title of the new season at the ROG Masters Asian Tournament with a 3:0 victory over Execration in the grand finals.

Team Secret roster:

Clement “Puppey” Ivanov
Johan “pieliedie” Åström
Pyo “MP” No-a
Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann
Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng