Cover-Credits:
Following its loss to Nigma Galaxy in the Western Europe Dota Pro Circuit (WEU DPC), Team Secret has officially been relegated to Division II for the upcoming Spring Tour. Having made significant progress from last place at The International 2016 (TI6) to becoming TI finalists at The International 2022 (TI11), Team Secret became the center of attention after parting ways with star midlaner Michał "Nisha" Jankowski.
While the team did find a suitable replacement in Miroslav "BOOM" Bičan, the roster change has not worked out for the team so far as the team had a total of 1 win and 6 losses during the regional league.
Team Secret vs Nigma Galaxy: Match recap and highlights
Recap
This series was important for both teams, as victory for either team will basically confirm their survival in Division I for the upcoming Spring Tour.
While Nigma Galaxy had one remaining series against Entity in the upcoming week, Team Secret needed to win the series in order to force possible tiebreakers.
Game One
Team Secret drafted the duo of Tiny and Monkey for BOOM and Remco "Crystallis" Arets while Nigma Galaxy opted for comfort picks by choosing Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf’s infamous Razor and Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov’s Nature’s Prophet.
While Team Secret were able to take objectives in the early stages of the game, Nigma Galaxy ended up dominating the game as its core heroes aggressively picked off Secret’s heroes one by one. Additionally, Syed "SumaiL" Hassan’s Keeper of the Light was unstoppable with 12 kills and 14 assists at the end of the game.
Team Secret were forced to tap out after 37 minutes, with Nigma Galaxy securing Game One.
Game Two
Game Two was no better for Team Secret, despite having drafted the trio of Bloodseeker, Lina and Visage as Nigma Galaxy once again dominated the game from the get-go, retaining ATF’s Razor.
While BOOM’s Lina had a slightly better performance in the midlane, he was unable to help his team as SumaiL’s Leshrac went on a rampage in Game Two. Despite Team Secret’s attempts to delay the game for its core heroes to hit their item timings, Nigma Galaxy were simply looking like the better team compared to their performances at the start of the season.
With the game all but lost, Team Secret were forced to accept defeat after 36 minutes while also accepting their fate as the team is now relegated to Division II.
The MVP of the series was undoubtedly Syed "SumaiL" Hassan, as the proclaimed “King of the midlane” has a combined KDA of 25 kills and 30 assists while only dying once.
Highlights
Here are some of the highlights from the series.
Following the match, Team Secret will join Into The Breach in Division II for the upcoming Spring Tour. However, many believed that Team Secret will be able to return to Division I by the time of the upcoming Summer Tour.
As for Nigma Galaxy, they will be unable to qualify for the Lima Major. However, the team might be able to cause an upset if they defeat Entity on 29th January as it would deny the latter a spot at the upcoming Major.
