Cover-Credits:
Valve and Team Secret
Team Secret announced on Twitter that it has parted ways with its offlaner Roman "Resolut1on" Fomynok and support player Baqyt "Zayac" Emiljanov. Notably, these roster changes have been a hot topic since February after Team Secret in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Western Europe (WEU) 2023 Tour 1: Division I suffered relegation to Division II. After finishing 8th in the standings, it became evident that the Team Secret roster needed rejigging and the team has confirmed the first of these changes.
Thanking Resolut1on and Zayac, Team Secret wrote on Twitter, “It wasn't an easy decision to make but today we wish farewell to our offlane duo, Resolut1on & Zayac. They will be placed on the inactive roster until we can find a fitting home for them.”
Puppey thanks Resolut1on & Zayac
Team Secret also shared captain Clement "Puppey" Ivanov’s message to Resolut1on & Zayac where he thanked them for joining the team and helping achieve success “in a year where it seemed impossible.” He also recalled the awesome experiences they shared together as teammates and expressed sadness over things not working out.
Notably, Resolut1on joined the team during Riyadh Masters 2022 as a stand-in for Daryl "iceiceice" Koh and after a strong performance, the team finished third-fourth at the tournament, with the highlight of defeating PSG.LGD.
Team Secret’s roster changes in 2022 & dream run at TI11
With both Resolut1on and Zayac having great synergy, it pushed Team Secret to officially sign the player in August 2022. While Team Secret had a relatively slow year in 2022, after the addition of Resolut1on, it had a good run towards the end after achieving 2nd place at The International 2022 (TI11) after having fought all the way from the Last Chance Qualifiers. However, the team proceeded to look for a new mid-laner after the departure of mid-laner Michał "Nisha" Jankowski, after three years.
While Team Secret roped in Miroslav "BOOM" Bičan in the place of Nisha who joined Team Liquid, it has not worked out as intended and it is pretty evident Nisha’s departure has affected Team Secret’s performance.
Interestingly, according to Dota 2 Pro Tracker, BOOM has been playing a lot of offlane heroes, indicating that he may be making the shift from mid-lane to offlane.
While Team Secret bidding adieu to its offlane duo and with BOOM spamming offlane heroes, it looks like Team Secret may be on the hunt for a new mid-laner and a support player. Additionally, it is also rumored that mid-laner Armel "Armel" Tabios, who used to play in the South East Asia (SEA) region for the now-disbanded Fnatic, will be joining the lineup.
Fans are also speculating about the return of long-standing pro player and former Team Secret support Yazied "YapzOr" Jaradat. However, YapzOr, who took a break from pro play last year due to health issues, has repeatedly made it clear that he is not ready to return to playing professionally on his livestreams.
