Team Secret are close to getting promoted to Div I of WEU

Division II of Western Europe is a lot more contested than we anticipated. Teams like Old G, who looked perfectly capable of getting promoted to Division I, are struggling to maintain their spot in the league. But other competitors, such as Team Secret and D2 Hustlers, are thriving.

In Secret’s case, it would have been quite shocking if they had poor results at this competitive level. Secret ended up here after an abysmal performance in Tour 1. Since then, the team changed several players and reinvented its entire play style. And the results reflect that.

Team Secret’s results in Division II of WEU

Team Secret started their Division II race with one objective: to get promoted to Division I at the start of Tour 2 and then get a real shot at qualifying for The International 2023.

Every professional team in Dota 2 competes hoping to qualify for TI and get a top eight result. Such a scenario would financially justify all the effort that was invested throughout the season. In Secret’s case, the dream is more of a standard or an expectation.

Let’s not forget that Clement “Puppey” Ivanov, Team Secret’s captain, has taken part in every edition of The International and won the first. In 2022, he finished second and won millions of dollars.

When a player of his caliber gets relegated to Division II, there can only be one goal: return to Division I and prove all the doubters wrong.

In their first five Division II matches of Tour 2, Secret defeated Alliance, Into The Breach, PuckChamp, and Ancient Tribe. The only defeat they suffered was against D2 Hustlers, who are currently ranked first in the league with four wins and no losses.

To get promoted, Secret need to finish in the top two. That’s shouldn’t be hard, but it’s not guaranteed either. To achieve their ambition, Secret would have to win at least one of the last two matches in this tour. Ideally, they should win both to avoid a tiebreaker.

The first match will be against Old G, while the second one will be against IVY. The odds of Secret losing against IVY are probably less than 5%. But they could lose against Sebastien “Ceb” Debs’ team. The odds are low, but it’s not impossible.

Ceb is a very strong player and he probably doesn’t want to retire definitively without playing at another TI.

Header: Team Secret