Cover image source: @CLEMNTINATOR
As Team Secret took on VP in the grand finals of the Chongqing Major, all signs pointed to a VP victory with the CIS squad already looking ominous. The two teams had faced each other in the Kuala Lumpur Major finals earlier, with VP walking away with a 3-2 win on that occasion. However, captain Puppey and his goon squad were hungry for revenge, and it showed in the way they turned on the heat in yet another thrilling encounter between the two top sides.
However, unlike KL, it was Secret who found themselves in the lower bracket this time around, having lost to 2-1 to VP in the upper bracket finals. But just like KL, it was EG who faced the defeat once again, ensuring that their third place curse continues to haunt them. Secret expended little in bringing down their NA rivals as Nisha and Yapzor’s Gyro + Io walked over EG in game 1. A clutch Zai Vacuum was enough to seal game 2 for Secret as he trapped Arteezy on a cliff during a make or break teamfight for EG.
This is EG’s second third-place finish in 2/2 attempts at Majors and they will be left wondering just what went wrong after putting in stellar performances all throughout the playoffs.
In the grand finals, Puppey’s work in the practise room would be evident off the bat as Secret found themselves up 2-0 against a shocked VP. A 21-minute win in game 1 came courtesy of Nisha’s PL, who was left largely unchecked an un-countered by VP’s draft. Game 2 saw a 4 position Luna coming out of Secret allowed them to establish laning dominance and early objectives with only Pasha coming out with farm for VP. While his Doom usage helped VP stay afloat, Secret had free reign every time it was down. At the 16-minute mark, VP were forced to use to Doom on a hasted 5-position Sven just to prevent him from running away from 4 heroes and Secret instantly capitalised, forcing the gg within the next minute.
With their backs against the wall, the defending DPC champions, mounted a comeback from 2 raxes down to take the win in game 3. Another cheese strat from Puppey saw Nisha on Visage as Secret tried to push early with and Undying and a Shadow Shaman. However, VP weathered the storm early, giving up key objectives, allowing both Noone and Ramzes to find the time and space to come online. While Secret would continue to pressure relentlessly, even they knew that they were on a timer and were forced to tap out once they started losing the teamfights.
But, Secret had more pages left in their book as they played an impressive game 4 to take the series. Midone’s OD dominated Noone’s DP in the mid lane while Pasha too was shut down on his Doom. Secret exploded in the mid-game after a convincing laning phase and with Io to back up their cores, the map got smaller and smaller for VP. By 20-minutes or so, Secret were asking questions that VP were simply not willing to answer and they lost a massive teamfight setting themselves further behind. They would go on to lose more fights in the next 10 minutes, as the Secret cores ran unchecked in the teamfights, with Zai’s Puck providing all the control required for Nisha’s PA to clean house. With no way to take an engagement, VP found themselves in an unfamiliar situation and were forced to call the gg as Secret’s lead was too much and their heroes were nigh unkillable.
Team Secret are the Grand Champions of The Chongqing Major. Congratulations. #ChongqingMajor #DPC #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/u70fO8RULA
— Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) January 27, 2019
With this Secret, take 350k USD, 4950 DPC Points and are currently tied with VP for first place om the DPC leaderboard.Unsurprisingly, in third place is EG, who finished third in both the Majors. This concludes our coverage for the second set of DPC events for this season, the Bucharest Minor and the Chongqing Major. We now look ahead to the Dreamleague Season 11 Stockholm Major and the Starladder Minor, the qualifiers for which will kick off on the 1st of February.