Cover-Credits:
Team Secret made a dominant debut in the DPC WEU 2021/2022 Tour 2: Division I, beating Team Liquid 2-0 in the opening match of the division. The team was ahead throughout the series and never really looked in danger of losing, in both games. This was in direct contrast to the team’s performance in the previous season where they struggled a lot in closing out games.
One of the reasons that could have contributed to a rejuvenated Team Secret is Syed Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan switching to the Carry role and taking up the drafting duties. The player spoke about the recent changes in the lineup in the post game interview.
SumaiL talks about drafting for Team Secret
After the win over Team Liquid, SumaiL confirmed that he was the one drafting for Team Secret instead of Clement "Puppey" Ivanov.
“Yes, I am drafting,” he said. “It’s [a] shared draft, everybody pitches in. We just tried it in the scrims as like a meme, but it kind of [worked out]. We’ll just stick to it for now.”
On being asked about whether Team Secret took inspiration from Boom Esports at the Gamers Galaxy Invitational Dubai tournament, SumaiL said: “For sure they were the team, but I don’t know. We came back, played some pubs and some heroes just felt nicer. So I don’t think we really copied or tried to do it but it naturally became that way. I guess they were just super ahead of the meta."
SumaiL explains the role switch with Nisha
Another surprise that we saw in Team Secret’s series against Team Liquid was that SumaiL was playing as the carry while Michał "Nisha" Jankowsk took over the midlane duties. It worked out really well for the team with both players posting impressive performances in both games.
Valve
The player explained the reasoning behind the role change by saying, “I have been enjoying position 1 more than mid and I think Nisha shares the same feeling so it was a super good change.”
SumaiL also spoke about living with Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang, future bootcamps on the horizon and Team Secret’s current confidence levels.
Team Secret’s next match in the DPC will be against Tundra Esports on March 22nd. Considering the form that the latter displayed in the Gamers Galaxy Dubai Invitational, we expect it to be a cracking series. It will be interesting to see if the team continues to find success with SumaiL in the carry and drafter role.
