In Part 1, we chronicled Team Secret's run through The International 5 and the Frankfurt Major. You can read part 1 here.
Stability and adversity
The months after Frankfurt Major were, for Team Secret, the polar opposite of its post-TI5 renaissance. Manager Matthew "CyborgMatt" Bailey, in a Twitter announcement almost immediately following the event, said that no changes will be made to Secret's roster. This time, there was no rebuilding. But there was also no success.
In the two months following Frankfurt, Secret compiled a 15-17 record in professional Dota 2 matches. w33's signature Meepo and Windrunner, as well as MiSeRy's Slardar, were nerfed (their abilities made less powerful) heavily in the new 6.86 patch. The metagame also changed dramatically, favoring extensive early rotations and 4- or 5-man push strategies. The offlane role in particular changed so substantially that MiSeRy looked at times like he's learning from scratch-again. Where just weeks earlier Secret had won consistently by exploiting one-on-one and two-on-two lane matchups, leveraging a just-wide-enough pool of top tier heroes and patiently accumulating a resource advantage, the new patch showed them, at times, almost lost.
Secret also faced serious challenges outside the game. CyborgMatt became severely affected by personal issues and at times couldn't travel with the team. Meanwhile, OG's manager revealed that former Team Secret players Fly and N0tail were owed tens of thousands in prize money from five tournaments in which they competed during late 2014 while she served as the Secret's manager. A detailed timeline, released through social media, documented their efforts to approach the current Team Secret administration and suggested that Zai, Arteezy, as well as KuroKy himself are all owed funds by the organization. The timeline spans nearly 14 months, set off a wave of outrage throughout the Dota 2 community and sparked debate across all of esports.
Amongst the controversy and (ostensibly) distraction, Secret arrived in Shanghai to expectations far below those in Frankfurt. Arrayed against them were five Chinese teams playing on their home turf, two upstart Southeast Asian Qualifier teams with hyperaggressive play styles, and a powerful lineup of Western squads. A panel discussion early in the tournament saw analysts list nearly all the team's players (EnVy in particular) as "Cons" for its chances. Though partly tongue-in-cheek, it was nonetheless telling of how far the team's stock fell among analysts and insiders.
"Scar's contract for the deal includes a clause which will prohibit him from executing Mortal Kombat's infamous Fatalities, a finishing blow that each character has which brutally, in gruesome detail, ends the match."
Secret's Western competition at Shanghai featured faces opposite Puppey in the captain's chair that were as familiar as they are formidable. Peter "ppd" Dager lead a hungry EG squad, featuring Arteezy at carry, that has reached, but fallen in, two straight premier LAN grand finals. OG's Fly captained the defending Frankfurt Major Champions OG. Alliance, reunited with s4 and the roster than won TI3, were returned to glory after consecutive LAN victories at the World Cyber Arena in China and the StarLadder 13 Finals in Minsk, Belarus. KuroKy, Puppey's longtime friend-turned-rival and back (and back again), has led his young Team Liquid through a loaded European Qualifier field. Though placed in a difficult group alongside EG, Liquid was regarded by many as a legitimate threat to make a deep tournament run. Despite a (somewhat controversial) direct invite to the tournament, Secret were prohibitive underdogs.
Group stage chaos
Team Secret played its group phase matches on the opening day of the tournament. On the other side of the group, the unthinkable happened: Chinese favorite EHOME is upset 2-0 by Korean qualifier MVP Phoenix. Secret dropped its first match in Shanghai to TI runners-up CDEC, featuring an odd draft with EternalEnVy on Bristleback, which he'd played only once before in his pro career. Less than a day old, the tournament was already beset by delays and production issues, with frequent delays before, during and between matches. But perhaps, for Secret, the delays are a blessing. Something changes before game 2. Re-embracing a classic teamfight combo, Secret drafted Tidehunter along with Puppey's signature Enigma in game 2, putting EnVy on Clinkz (a hero he briefly made famous in his first LAN victory at Columbus) and w33 on Invoker. Secret dominated early, forcing CDEC to tap out just before 25 minutes. They go back to nearly the same draft in the deciding third game, and w33 and MiSeRy deliver on Invoker and Tide for the second straight game, participating in 18 of the team's 23 kills.
Like EHOME before them, Secret was utterly unprepared for MVP Phoenix's early aggression. It runs w33's Invoker in both games, regarded as extremely powerful in that metagame but extremely slow to develop. Both matches end before 25 minutes. Secret must now face EHOME in a final, critical best-of-3 group phase series. The winner advances to the tournament's upper bracket, guaranteed a best-of-3 series which it can afford to lose and still remain in the tournament. The loser faces a one game, winner-take-all elimination match in the lower bracket. Fans of the team, initially elated at the chance to face MVP rather than presumptive tournament favorite EHOME, waited anxiously through an extended delay.
With its tournament fate in the balance, Secret delivered. Pieliedie played one of the finest matches of his career in game 1, participating in 14 of the team's 15 kills as Vengeful Spirit (the next closest players had eight). Secret finished the match behind in kills, 15-16, but won the fight that matters, taking a dramatic engagement at 23 to 25 minutes outside the Radiant base to break open a game that had been deadlocked at 20:00. The second game wasn't close, as Secret returned to the Enigma/Tide/Clinkz combo and brought back w33's signature Windrunner in a 35-minute win that propelled it into Shanghai's upper bracket.
Chaos reigned in the final three days of group phase play. Production problems and delays plagued numerous matches. Host James "2GD" Harding was relieved of his duties on day 2 amid a firestorm of controversy. In an unprecedented move, Valve co-founder and Managing Director Gabe Newell announced via Reddit post that the entire production company that had, to that point, worked with Valve and Perfect World on the tournament would be dismissed. The two Southeast Asian qualifier teams, projected by many to finish in the bottom four of the 16-team field, finished top two in their respective groups, while four out of the five Chinese teams competing were knocked into the lower bracket. Shockingly, Chinese teams, almost all of which were projected to finish in the top half of the field, finished the event 2-11 in series against international competition. Out of 43 games (maps) played onstage at the Mercedes-Benz Arena during the tournament's playoff phase, the five Chinese teams appeared in only eight games combined.
When the dust settled, only four of the eight directly invited teams advanced to the upper bracket. At the main event, Secret headlined the second day of play, facing off against OG in a rematch of the Frankfurt Grand Finals. OG dropped only a single game in its group, a 75-minute comeback by LGD that proved to be the longest game of the tournament. In sharp contrast to Secret, OG gave little away in its drafts, picking Batrider in the first phase of all five games. Just below it in the bracket, EG loomed as the winner's likely next opponent.
OG took the first game of the series in a 27-minute match that was deceptively close, and strangely reminiscent of Secret's opening day win against EHOME. In a surprise pick, OG unveiled N0tail's Legion Commander, who despite a highly unusual third-item Blink Dagger build and winning his first duel just after 22 minutes, was instrumental in locking down a Secret lineup built for mobility, featuring w33 on Ember Spirit and EnVy on Weaver. Yet again, multiple pauses delayed the match, as glue used to assemble the onstage booths caused a severe reaction in EnVy's eyes. Worse, EnVy's play may have been affected. Despite an 8-15 kill and 4k Net Worth disadvantage, OG took a fight at 23 minutes outside the Dire base and claimed Secret's top barracks, with EnVy expending buybacks following a Duel loss to N0tail after the barracks had fallen. Two minutes later, as he and MiSeRy's Nature's Prophet split pushed bottom, EnVy sacrificed himself for the radiant barracks, appearing to forget his buyback was still on cooldown for more than 4 minutes. OG promptly walked into the Dire base and ended the game.
Like its opening series against CDEC, a different Team Secret showed up in game 2. Puppey drafted a five-ranged hero lineup featuring w33's Outworld Devourer, MiSeRy reprising his role on Prophet and EnVy on Drow Ranger. Secret surged to an early laning phase lead, and at 7 minutes, OG offlaner David "Moonmeander" Tan, made a critical gamble, teleporting to the mid lane with his Tidehunter still 38 experience points (less than one creep!) shy of level 6 and Ravage. w33 responds instantly, trapping Tide with Astral Imprisonment. OG lost three heroes and the Dire courier in the ensuing chaos, handing Secret a 7k Net Worth advantage only 8 minutes into the game. Pieliedie, who played nine of Secret's 12 main event games in Shanghai on Lion, delivered statistically his strongest performance on the hero, with 3 kills and 15 assists to only one death. Secret made good on their massive early advantage, tying the series.
In a thrilling game 3, Puppey stuck to his guns, again drafting OD and Drow, and this time EternaLEnVy comes up huge. Fly and OG opted for a risky draft, last picking Terrorblade for Miracle, who had only one previous professional appearance on the hero. The game was tense and nearly dead even at the 12-minute mark, when Secret, in a masterful shot-calling display, stole a huge stack of ancients on OG's side of the map, then promptly turned, smoked and took an uncontested 13-minute Roshan. Opting for an unconventional but effective Aghanim's/Maelstrom build on Drow, EnVy made one of the plays of the tournament at 33 minutes, using fast fingers on his Black King Bar to dodge a Blink-Echo Slam from an Invisibility Rune Earthshaker. OG lost four heroes in the ensuing engagement, handing Roshan, a 20k Net Worth lead, and essentially the game to Team Secret.
But Secret had no time to rest. Its day 2 start leaves only hours to prepare for its next match, an upper-bracket semifinal showdown with archrival EG. In its first two matches at the Shanghai Main Event, Secret would face both of its past two opponents from Frankfurt.
The opening game against EG featured an unusual draft from Puppey. EG punished Secret heavily in the early game, with Batrider initially dominating w33's Earth Spirit mid while EG notched two kills on EnVy's safe lane Spectre in the game's first 6 minutes. By 20 minutes, EnVy and w33 ranked seventh and eighth in Net Worth out of 10 heroes, ahead of only the two teams' hard supports. Secret trailed by 5k Net Worth, with the lone bright spot a recently completed Radiance on MiSeRy's Lone Druid.
Thirty seconds later, Secret turned the game. EG was caught out chasing four Secret heroes at the river mid, and the combination of w33's Magnetize, Radiance burn, EnVy's Haunt, and a pieliedie Finger of Death on Arteezy led to a 4-0 fight in Secret's favor, despite a near perfect Vacuum-Wall combo from EG's Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora on Dark Seer. Fewer than 7 minutes later, in a virtual replay of the same engagement, Secret again wiped four EG heroes in the Radiant jungle. Magnetize dealt almost 3k damage to EG heroes in each fight, and Secret, showing tremendous team discipline, never surrendered its advantage.
Game 2 saw EG roar back to tie the series. To (heavily) paraphrase ppd, it's hard to win in professional Dota 2, and nearly impossible to win the same way twice. With the notable exception of EG picking Enigma first phase, Puppey again opted for a similar draft, repeating the Earth Spirit mid, Lone Druid offlane and substituting an EternaLEnVy Anti-Mage for Spectre. EG are ready. Despite giving up First Blood to Anti-Mage after an extended mid lane chase, it dominated the laning phase, finishing both Vladmir's Offering on Arteezy's Lycan and Mekansm on Enigma before 10 minutes, and took an uncontested Roshan a minute later after a successful smoke gank on AM. EnVy completed his Battle Fury just after 17 minutes, seconds after the rest of his team were wiped by EG in the Radiant jungle and one minute before EG barreled into the Radiant base. This time, EG's early lead held up.
In a strange parallel with its deciding game against OG, Puppey went back to comfort heroes for his superstars, putting w33 on Invoker for already the sixth time at Shanghai, while giving EnVy his first (and only) game of the event on his famed Ember Spirit. Here again, Secret's opponent took an atypical, somewhat puzzling draft in the deciding game, with EG putting Clinton "Fear" Loomis on his once-renowned Nyx Assassin for the first time in more than a year, and left young superstar mid player Syed "SumaiL" Hassan on Pugna for the first time in an official match.
Sumail died twice in the first 5 minutes, first to an Invisibility rune on pieliedie's Lion setting up a Sunstrike and a Teleport assist from MiSeRy's Nature's Prophet, and again to nearly the same combo, keyed by Puppey's Night Stalker just after the first night began. Leading 2-1 in kills and dead even at Net Worth just before 10 minutes, Secret reeled off four kills in 60 seconds in two different lanes, propelling w33's Invoker to a significant gold and experience lead over Arteezy's Sven. From that point in the game, Secret notched 10 of the next 11 kills, with the lone EG response a Nyx Assassin pickoff of MiSeRy in the Radiant jungle. Sumail finished with 12 deaths, his third-highest total in 200 professional matches played in the past year. EG fought valiantly, but Secret's mid lane advantage proved decisive. Secret, incredibly, were on to the upper-bracket final, guaranteed of at least a top 3 finish in Shanghai.
There and Back Again: Clement "Puppey" Ivanov and Team Secret concludes tomorrow when Alan "Nahaz" Bester takes you through the final phases of Team Secret's Shanghai run.