Puppey Shares His Thoughts on the Form of the New Team Secret Roster

With a top eight finish, Team Secret’s campaign at the ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 came to an end recently. Even though the final result may not appear optimal on paper, the team, initially met with skepticism regarding its composition, improved during the course of the tournament. Team Secret's captain Clement "Puppey" Ivanov discussed the new lineup, especially getting to reunite with Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng, during an interview at the event. Puppey said that despite old players rejoining, it's always a fresh start, and so far the team has done “better than expected.”

Puppey says it is working better than expected with the new Team Secret lineup

At ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, Puppey was interviewed by the Spanish broadcast talent about playing with MidOne again before Team Secret's final series with Team Liquid which it lost 2-0.

“I mean every roster has a new beginning even if I am playing with the same players I played already before. I think it’s different now. So far, it’s been working better than expected.”

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In the wake of The International 12 (TI12), Secret parted ways with its two Southeast Asian (SEA) players: Armel "Armel" Tabios and Saieful "Fbz" Ilham. In their place, Miroslav "BOOM" Bičan and MidOne, both with previous stints on Team Secret, assumed the position three and one role respectively.

In contrast to BOOM, who spent seven months from December 2022 to June 2023 for Secret, MidOne was a core part of the team between 2016 and 2019, during which he broke through into the top tier of competitive Dota 2.

In addition to winning other tournaments, MidOne achieved a lot of success with Secret by winning three Majors in DreamLeague Season 8, the Chongqing Major, and the MDL Disneyland Paris Major.

Since MidOne and BOOM both have not been in the best of form in the past year, and Secret's performances had also declined in 2023, this team received a lot of criticism when the roster was put together.

Nevertheless, the team garnered admiration by securing a spot in ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 through a competitive Western Europe qualifier, and the team’s performance at the main event showcased notable progress. Eager to continue their upward trajectory, Team Secret is next expected to participate in the qualifiers for DreamLeague Season 22.