Team Secret earn DreamLeague Leipzig Major finals spot

Steven Rondina Published 25/01/2020

Team Secret is looking like the best Dota 2 team in the world right now.

Clement “Puppey” Ivanov has led his team to the grand finals of the DreamLeague Leipzig Major. This comes at the expense of Vici Gaming, who Secret defeated for the second time in the event.

Game one was an exceptional showing from Secret cores Michał “Nisha” Jankowski and Lasse Aukusti “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen. The duo comfortably topped the net worth charts, with Nisha raking in gold as Arc Warden and MATUMBAMAN scoring loads of kills with Monkey King.

The game started to skew more and more heavily in Secret’s favor and a double damage rune on MATUMBAMAN let the team start forcing high ground. They picked up a pair of barracks and stayed on the offensive. Vici Gaming was never able to force them back, resulting in a GG call.

Vici Gaming clapped back in game two. For a little while, at least.

While Nisha was rock solid in the mid lane as Magnus, the side lanes went in favor of Vici Gaming. This gave the Chinese side a substantial net worth lead heading into the mid game. MATUMBAMAN helped swing the game around from there though, using Faceless Void’s Chronosphere to prey upon Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang.

That evened the game up, but Vici Gaming wasn’t out of the hunt yet. Zhou “Yang” Haiyang made big plays on Timbersaw to take the lead back, but only briefly. A team fight broke out around the dire-side shrine, and while Xiong “Pyw”‘ Jiahan was able to hit a four-man stolen Chronosphere as Rubick, MATUMBAMAN’s aggressive play kept the rest of Vici Gaming from being able to capitalize. That led to a team fight win that sent the game spiraling towards a 2-0 series victory for Secret.

Team Secret looking unstoppable in DreamLeague Leipzig Major

The performance of Team Secret continues what has been an almost flawless performance at the DreamLeague Leipzig Major. The team bested Vici Gaming and beastcoast to take an upper bracket spot, and have encountered little resistance in the playoffs with previous wins over Fnatic and Alliance.

This makes for an important rebound performance for Secret. The team took the MDL Chengdu Major off and returned for the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore. The team was forced to compete with a substitute at the event, which resulted in an underwhelming fifth-place finish.

Now at full strength, Secret looks ready to break the record for most Dota 2 major victories. The team now kicks back and waits to see who it will face in the grand finals. Evil Geniuses and Vici Gaming are set to face off in the lower bracket finals.

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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