MATUMBAMAN schools NiP with mid Lycan in Omega League

The ending of the “Zoo Meta” seemingly meant the end of Lycan’s relevance in professional Dota 2, but Lasse Aukusti “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen must not have read those patch notes. In Team Secret’s second match of the Omega League Europe Immortal Division, the star player ran wild on Ninjas in Pyjamas using the split pushing specialist. 

Though Michał “Nisha” Jankowski has been getting most of Secret’s reps in the mid lane, MATUMBAMAN took Lycan mid to face Ondřej “Supream^” Štarha and his Queen of Pain. That’s a tough matchup for MATUMBAMAN in most cases, as Queen of Pain’s ability to ignore harassment from Lycan’s wolves and effortlessly clear creeps and deal damage using Scream of Pain put melee hero Lycan at a disadvantage.

Supream^ was leading MATUMBAMAN in farm and XP until he hit level six. A failed gank attempt by NiP turned into an absolute disaster when MATUMBAMAN double dipped on tower dives, exploding Supream^ under his tower with a freshly completed Necronomicon.

That was a huge demonstration of game sense from MATUMBAMAN, but he also flexed his mechanical skills soon after. In a team fight in the bottom jungle, MATUMBAMAN rushed down Supream^ once again but missed the kill by a sliver of health. He didn’t walk away empty handed though, as he microed his wolves for a kill on NiP’s Charlie “CharlieDota” Arat on the complete other side of the map.

Those plays helped Secret make its way to a lopsided 2-0 victory over Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Secret shares the top spot in Group B with OG, with both teams having a 2-0 record in the round robin so far. MATUMBAMAN and co. will be in action on August 22 against Vikin.gg. Given his play early in the tournament, the former Team Liquid star could be a big factor in Secret’s success throughout the event.