Team Secret beats OG, finishes perfect DreamLeague Season 14 run

Steven Rondina Published 25/02/2021

Team Secret was historically dominant in 2020, and that hasn’t changed in 2021.

Clement “Puppey” Ivanov and company wrapped up DreamLeague Season 14 with a 7-0 record. The undefeated season establishes Team Secret as the clear favorite to win the ONE Esports Singapore Major, and was secured by a 2-1 victory over OG.

???? @teamsecret are your #DreamLeague S14 DPC EU CHAMPIONS! ????
(old news, we know) pic.twitter.com/XZngplT0A9 — DreamHack Dota (@DreamHackDota) February 24, 2021

Team Secret had effortless control of game one right from the draft. A Slark pick for Lasse Aukusti “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen was a hard counter to Sebastian “Ceb” Debs’ Alchemist and OG inexplicably put Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen on mid Snapfire.

Secret seemed to have a huge advantage in the draft and that panned out in practice as well. Ceb’s farm was largely bottled up, Topson’s Snapfire didn’t make much of an impact, and even Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng’s Monkey King was a non-factor in team fights.

Even when OG got an advantage on the map and killed Roshan, Secret had little difficulty dealing with them afterwards. A team fight around Secret’s tier-one mid tower saw MidOne kited around, killed twice, and the rest of OG mopped up. A GG call came not long after to give Secret the opening win.

.@OGesports is not playing around as they are on a ROLL in this game two! They are currently 20K ahead of @teamsecret ????????????
???? https://t.co/sl3BSJY6Df pic.twitter.com/LQHGhqae4z — DreamHack Dota (@DreamHackDota) February 24, 2021

The script was flipped completely in game two. Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg was the unimpactful Monkey King, dying five times in the first 11 minutes. Topson was a terror as mid Riki and MidOne exploded as a classic carry Gyrocopter. It was a devastating game for Team Secret, and OG forced a decider with little difficulty.

OG seemingly got the better of Team Secret in the draft of game three, but zai found some redemption after a brutal game two. OG drafted Winter Wyvern as a counter to zai’s Enigma, making it very difficult for him to use Black Hole in five-on-five team fights. zai dealt with that by rushing a maxed Necronomicon. With MATUMBAMAN getting a strong start on Ursa, Secret was able to deathball across the map.

With good spacing and positioning, Winter’s Curse was ultimately a non-factor. Secret rolled around from tower to tower and before long, OG had to just sacrifice objectives.

Oh.. OH? OH!!! :O Remember it’s never over until it’s over! @OGesports fights back and holds vs @teamsecret in this game THREE! ????
???? @ODPixel, @Foggeddota ???? https://t.co/sl3BSJY6Df pic.twitter.com/4VukwY3voX — DreamHack Dota (@DreamHackDota) February 24, 2021

OG’s high ground defense was strong and the team managed to keep its melee barracks alive. As Secret started looking to deal a deathblow, MATUMBAMAN ended up getting a bit too confident in his power and was taken down without buyback available. This allowed OG to run across the map and take out two lanes of barracks, but this did little more than buy some time.

Team Secret controlled the engagements and got the better of each fight, taking the victory with MATUMBAMAN boasting 30 kills and 19 assists to just three deaths by the end of the game.

Team Secret looks like the ONE Esports Singapore Major favorite

Europe is the deepest Dota 2 region, which can be seen in the results of DreamLeague Season 14. The likes of Team Nigma, Team Liquid, and OG struggled to get winning records despite arguably all being top-10 teams in the world.

That didn’t trouble Team Secret, though. With a 7-0 record to its name, Team Secret will enter the ONE Esports Singapore Major as the clear favorite to win.

The confirmed competitors for the ONE Esports Singapore Major include:

Team Secret
Alliance
Team Nigma
Fnatic
Neon Esports
Virtus.pro
Natus Vincere

OG finishes the season with a 3-4 record but still has a chance of qualifying for the major. OG will join Team Liquid and Tundra Esports in a round-robin tiebreaker to determine the last European team to enter the event. The winner of that competition will join Team Secret, Team Nigma, and Alliance in the ONE Esports Singapore Major.

Steven Rondina

About Steven Rondina

Steven Rondina is a true lifelong gamer. His earliest memories are of playing video games, and he has continued playing them throughout his life with no plans to stop any time soon. Steven’s favorite franchises in gaming include Pokemon, Dark Souls, and Counter-Strike. He has previously published with Bleacher Report and other gaming outlets.

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