Team Secret emerge victorious at Chongqing Major

gabhernandez Published 29/01/2019

Team Secret earned a position atop the Dota Pro Circuit standings by winning the Chongqing Major.

After getting bumped out of the upper bracket finals by Virtus.pro, Team Secret’s star players found their tournament lives at stake. Evil Geniuses was a threat coming off of a great lower bracket run, but Team Secret quickly asserted their dominance and eliminated the NA hopefuls.

The grand finals would then see a rematch between Virtus.pro and Team Secret, and the series was a nail-biter. Secret was able to overcome Virtus.pro’s raw power with eccentric drafts, flawless gank executions, and solid defense.

Team Secret stomped Virtus.pro in the first game as Michał “Nisha” Jankowski’s Phantom Lancer quickly became unkillable. Virtus.pro crumbled as the game ended in just 21 minutes with a 20-9 kill count favoring Secret.

The second game left fans in awe before it was even underway due to an unusual draft from Team Secret. Secret captain Clement “Puppey” Ivanov picked Drow Ranger for the team’s carry while Luna and Sven were chosen as supports. The three heroes played a tri-lane against Virtus.pro’s Phantom Assassin core flanked by more traditional supports Tusk and Lion.

Although experts on the broadcast panel were quick to question the odd draft, Team Secret made it look sensible. They abused their heroes’ amplified damage and attack speed and Virtus.pro was unable to contest the lane’s surprising effectiveness.

The fast-paced game was ended in just 17 minutes thanks in large part to Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng’s Outworld Devourer dealing massive damage during team fights.

Virtus.pro seemed to find their stride in the third game and quashed Team Secret’s hope of a sweep. The game lasted 40 minutes as Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev’s Phantom Lancer repeatedly managed to escape Secret’s many CC abilities, eventually scaling so far up that Secret could no longer contest the game.

Team Secret bounced back to show that they are the better team during the fourth game with outstanding performances again from Nisha and MidOne. It was Virtus.pro who this time tried a Sven support, combining with Grimstroke and Doom in the hopes of creating big plays on the map. But Secret was having none of it, winning the fourth and final game of the series in emphatic fashion.

Team Secret earned $350,000 and 4,950 DPC points for the win. Both Secret and Virtus.pro locked in their spots at The International through circuit points awarded in the final.

Read Also

Dota 2

ESIC hand down ruling in EWC Dota match-fixing case: Lifetime ban for coach as DarkMago gets a nickel Michael Hassall South American Dota 2 player Gonzalo "DarkMago" Herrera will be banned for five years from competitive Dota 2, with his coach Juan "Vintage" Angulo banned permanently, following the results of an The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) investigation. ESIC handed down the findings and rulings from its investigation into match-fixing allegations leveled at members of South American Dota 2 team PlayTime during the Esports World Cup on Sep. 10, in a ...

News

Polystrike Turns a Dota 2 Mod Into a Standalone Tactical Shooter Hannan Mundia After the community-made mod found success within the community, developer and publisher Robin Entertainment has decided to turn Polystrike into a proper standalone game. Community-made mods of games finding success within the respective game’s community is nothing new. However, only a handful of those mods are able to go on and become a standalone game. One of the more recent examples is The Forgotten City, which started as a mod ...

Dota 2

Team Spirit wins TI15 to lift a record third Aegis of Champions Michael Hassall Team Spirit has defeated TEAM VISION in the grand finals of TI15, The International 2025. In a full five-game series on Aug. 23, Spirit pulled out all the stops and narrowly defeated an incredible VISION team in a back-and-forth series in Shanghai, China. With Spirit’s victory, Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk and Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov become the first ever three-time TI champions, and Team Spirit becomes the first ever organization to lift ...

Dota 2

The International 2026 (TI15) Finals Preview and Predictions Michael Hassall The International 2026, TI15, has reached its final day, and just three teams remain in the fight for the Aegis of Champions. With the lower bracket final and Grand Final still to come, everything comes down to one final day of Dota 2 action. The lower bracket finalists will first battle for the right to reach the main event’s final series, while the winner will advance to face the upper-bracket ...

Dota 2

TI15’s opening ceremony weaves a tapestry of emotion for Valve’s storied title Michael Hassall The main stage of The International 2026, TI15, kicked off today with the traditional opening ceremony heralding the start of the biggest celebration of Dota 2 on the calendar. On Aug. 20 fans in Shanghai, China, and at home, were treated to a rousing 11-minute series of performances and video packages, introducing TI15’s main stage show. Here’s how the magic unfolded: The ceremony began with a graphic which quite literally ...

Dota 2

The International 2026 (TI15) Playoffs preview and predictions Michael Hassall The Group Stage of The International 2026, TI15, is in the books and we’ve whittled down 16 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams to just eight finalists. One of these talented lineups will be the ones lifting the Aegis of Champions come Sunday, Aug. 23, but until then, there’s plenty of playoff shenanigans that could go on. Below we’ve put together a preview of the upcoming Playoff Games, along ...

News

The Esports Nations Cup Has Been Postponed to November 2027 Ben Boland The 2026 Esports Nations Cup has been suspended until 2027. The Esports Foundation announced the delay on August 18, citing ongoing regional uncertainty. The inaugural competition was scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, comprising over 100 national teams and featuring 16 different games, including League of Legends. According to the Esports Foundation, this decision follows ongoing developments in the region and consultation with key stakeholders. Moving the event ...