Team Secret: the beginning of the end or a new Puppey path

The first season of Dota Pro Circuit 2023 is almost over. All participants of the long-awaited The Lima Major 2023 have been determined. However, places are limited and not everyone was able to get an invitation to Peru.
The absence at the Major is not so scary for some organizations, whereas getting into the second division does not bode well for the team. And among these, occupying the last place at the bottom of the standings in Western Europe, is Team Secret.
Source: Liquipedia
The team of Clement «Puppey» Ivanov, who took second place at The International 2022, may already forget about participating in the next two majors.
Problems in Team Secret
Over the years, Dota2 has had a certain approach to recruiting players to top teams. It was relatively simple: take the best players from the leaderboard or smaller teams and build a strong team out of them. The difficulty was only in whether the player himself would want to join and whether he would be paid enough.
Clement was always looking for professionals for his team, and many famous Dota 2 players had the honor to play with him. Some of them really revealed themselves in the game in Team Secret.
Looking back at the earlier years, Team Secret could be considered a team of Dota legends. For many years, the organization won prizes in all major tournaments. At some point, many called Team Secret the “raid boss” in professional DotA.
The players changed, but the status of the star team did not. And for a long time it worked. But the same cannot be said for the last year, given the history of lineup changes.
Dota Pro Circuit 2022
A year ago, the team took 1st place in the first season of the DPC league and 4th at ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021. Team Secret roster at that time was as follows:
- Lasse «MATUMBAMAN» Urpalainen;
- Michal «Nisha» Jankowski;
- Ludwig «zai» Wahlberg;
- Yazied «YapzOr» Jaradat;
- Clement «Puppey» Ivanov;
- Lee «Heen» Seung Gon (coach).
The collapse of the "ideal lineup" began with the departure of two very important players: Zai and MATUMBAMAN. Both esportsmen moved to Team Liquid. It became a sensation and will play a role for both organizations in the future.
Syed Sumail «SumaiL» Hassan and Daryl Koh «iceiceice» Pei Xiang joined Team Secret. They were famous players, so there was a lot of hype in social networks. Given these changes, the young Pole Nisha swapped roles twice with SumaiL. It became obvious that positions 1 and 2 interfere with each other and cannot decide who and where will be better. As a result, SumaiL left, making room for Crystallis. Such a change caused misunderstanding among the fans.
YapzOr was the next heavy loss for the team. The organization claimed that the reason is the player’s state of health, and he is forced to go into inactive for an indefinite period. Valve allowed to make a replacement in the middle of the season. YapzOr had been with the team for more than 5 years, and the loss of such a valuable and experienced esportsman in the middle of the season crippled the team even more.
Baqyt «Zayac» Emiljanov came to position 4. After iceiceice left, Resolut1on came to pos 3, and together with Zayac they formed a good duet on the hardlane.
And now, after such cardinal changes, the team somehow qualified for The International through the Last Chance Qualifier, unexpectedly for many, going through the entire tournament from the very beginning to the Grand Final.
The International 2022
It was hot at the main tournament of the year. What a surprise it was for everyone when Team Secret and Team Liquid began to show incredible results. Second places in the group stage and immediately to the upper bracket of the playoffs. And these are the same teams that did not get enough DPC points and could not pass the regional qualifiers. After the results of TI, critics will again raise the problem of the Dota Pro Circuit system, citing this situation as an example.
In the semi-finals, these two teams clashed for reaching the grand final of the tournament. Everything about it was epic and tragic: the drafts, the game, the meeting of former teammates and the tears of defeat of MATUMBAMAN, for whom this was the last tournament in his career. And now the champion of the first TI and the legendary captain will again fight for Aegis.
However, the ending itself was not as bright as expected. The trophy was lifted by Tundra Esports, leaving DotA fans with mixed feelings.
Dota Pro Circuit 2023
A lot of people noted the excellent performance of Nisha at The International 2022. In many matches, he literally pulled his team to victory. However, apparently this factor prompted him to make his decision, following the example of two former teammates at that time, to move to Team Liquid. And no matter how good Miroslav “BOOM” Bichan was, he failed to fully replace Nisha.
As a result, only the captain and coach Heen remained unchanged in Team Secret during the year. In fact, this is a completely different team, different players, a different pool of heroes, tactics, and so on. But the most important thing is that, in general, the lineup has fallen in terms of the level of play.
Puppey's carelessness
For a long time, various analysts have noticed that some teams like to relax a little at the beginning of the season and play for pleasure, and not for the result. They try new heroes, strategies or just have fun. Especially after The International, where the players did their best, and some even try themselves in new teams. And here is the beginning of a new year, a new season, on the old patch. Many people expected that the teams would not give all the best.
However, the European Region is a place where every mistake and weakness is fatal. So it was last season, where Secret allowed themselves to experiment with strategies and heroes. For example, Puppey recently decided to draft all melee heroes. This in itself is quite rare in professional DotA, as mentioned by Ben «Noxville» Steenhuizen in his tweet.
Source: Noxville on twitter
The change in the lineup and the search for a new game led to the fact that Secret first did not get to the Major, and then to TI 2022, not scoring the required number of points and losing to Entity in the final of the regional qualifier. It was a miracle that after the loss of key players and the renewal of the roster, the team was able to get to The International 2022, taking the last two slots together with Team Liquid in the Last Chance Qualifier.
Now the situation is even worse for the team. After all, last year they stayed in the first division of Western Europe and had a chance to compete for something, now the second season of DPC 2023 is actually lost for them. And this, in turn, is not at all an attractive prospect for the players of the roster.
Although it was the roster, according to most analysts, that became the reason for the deplorable state of the organization in Dota 2. But one should not ignore the character of the team captain himself, which is far from suitable for all esportsmen.
Fatal meeting with KuroKy
The hard way of Nigma
Nigma Galaxy found itself in a similar situation at the end of January, 2023. Last year was a failure for them. The team then found itself in exactly the same position where Team Secret is now falling. The third season of the 2022 DPC, Nigma played in the second division.
Until that moment, the organization gave Igor «iLTW» Filatov a chance to prove himself. Then, already in the second division, they managed to persuade SumaiL to play with them, which as a result returned the team to the first division. Nigma had only one chance to get to The International. But in the lower bracket of the regional qualifiers, they were defeated by Secret.
This season the team started very poorly. The loss of the team’s main star, the legendary Miracle, seemed to be fatal. But his compatriot came to replace him, still young, but already well-known AMMAR_THE_F, or simply ATF.
After the first games, there was an impression that it was not a close-knit team playing, but just random players with a high rating. The commentators begged KuroKy to write GG in every map faster. Critics were already anticipating the complete failure and even disbanding of Nigma Galaxy. Things were so bad that on the second map against Team Liquid no damage was done to buildings. Zero damage to buildings, in a game where the main goal is to break enemy buildings.
Source: Dotabuff
Play with your soul until the end
But the guys didn’t give up. As a result, unexpectedly for everyone, in the match against OG, the Nigma team won with a score of 2:1. Two factors came together. First, OG underestimated the opponent too much, looking at their game and results. And second reason was the signature heroes. The guys decided to simply take their best heroes and play like it was the last time. And they succeeded.
This result shocked many, and especially Puppey, who was preparing to take the last stand against a perked up old friend.
And here KuroKy decided to win back in full. Without a chance for a comeback, he and his team pushed Team Secret to the second division. Also, SumaiL did not stand aside, they simply smashed opponents and eventually died only once in two maps.
It is ironic that the Grand Finalist of The International 2022 was thrown into the second division by the one who got out of there. Now Team Secret needs to repeat the path of Nigma Galaxy. However, there is a nuance.
The future path of Team Secret
Puppey needs to change something
On the example of Puppey and KuroKy, you can see the difference in philosophy regarding the team and their teammates. At a time when Team Secret dominated Europe and showed the highest level of play, Nigma players were going through a difficult time in their careers. But they tried to stick together.
And who left that strong and invincible Team Secret? MATUMBAMAN has ended his career and will no longer play Dota 2. YapzOr is still inactive and has only recently started streaming on Twitch. No more new old lineups.
Zai and Nisha, who dragged their team more than once, have now settled in Team Liquid for a long time and have no chance to defeat any opponents, including their former organization. SumaiL, who shared a place with Nisha, has now finally played in a new team and is unlikely to change anything.
History has shown that not only a cool and legendary captain is important for a team, but also players who want and will play with you to the end.
Moreover, KuroKy and the company were able to find sponsors and participate in the development of DotA in the Middle East.
Obviously, Puppey needs to change something. Now his team does not look like one that can return back to the first division. Indeed, against the background of young, energetic and well-played teams, even its current line-up does not look very confident.
Reshuffles and rumors
If Team Secret want to catch up, get back to the first division, then they need to work with the roster now.
Even though the organization hasn’t announced any roster changes, there have already been some rumors. So, for example, a topic appeared on Reddit, where allegedly Resolut1on wrote in a Twitch chat that he was a free agent. This means that he is no longer part of Secret.
Source: Reddit
However, if this is true, then the question arises about the fate of Zayac. After all, he and Roman almost simultaneously joined the team and are a good pair of players on the complex lane.
Among the community, there are also rumors about a replacement of the midlaner. After the departure of Roman «RAMZES666» Kushnarev from Darkside, many began to suspect that in addition to problems in the former RAMZES666 team, he might have received an interesting offer from outside. And Team Secret fits perfectly into this scenario.
There are opinions that Puppey wants to create a kind of CIS mix by adding one or two young and promising players. Fortunately, the second division is ideal for this kind of experimentation.
In any case, Team Secret will not repeat the fate of Fnatic: disbanding the roster and leaving the discipline after participating in TI 2022 and falling into the second division.

Source: Fnatic on Twitter
Puppey also experienced the worst times after the breakup of Natus Vincere. And we shouldn’t forget that even without DPC points, there is always a chance to qualify for The International through qualifiers.
Conclusions
Despite such a failure, it should be remembered that this is not the end. Perhaps Puppey needs some respite, a timeout. After all, if you look at his entire history, he is the only one who took part in all The Internationals as a player and captain. It’s worth the incredible effort.
This year for Team Secret will be incredibly difficult and painful from the gaming and media side. They may have to start over. You need to either improve, or change players, or look for a new path.