Cover-Credits:
By defeating Team Secret in the semifinals, Team Spirit has forced an epic repeat of The International 10 (TI10) grand final versus PSG.LGD at the Riyadh Masters 2022. Spirit and PSG.LGD will now compete in a BO3 grand finals with $1.5 million USD on the line.
The semifinals began with an impressive victory for Secret, who easily won the opening game. But Spirit managed to fight back strongly in the next two games to win the series. Team Secret has hence been knocked out of the event in 3rd-4th place, and will be taking home $425,000 USD in prize money.
Team Spirit vs Team Secret: Match recap and highlights
Recap
In game 1, Spirit went for three melee cores which caused Secret to go with an unusual Earthshaker pick as its position four hero. The lanes did not see much action because the teams were primarily focused on farming, but Secret's map manoeuvres began to earn key kills as the game progressed. Secret outperformed Spirit in teamfights, with Zayac on Earthshaker and Nisha on Zeus doing admirably with their spellcasting securing the win for Team Secret in the opening match.
In game 2, Secret chose a position four Shadow Demon and a mid Storm Spirit. The laning stage witnessed little activity once again with both teams playing for critical item timings. And after Yatoro finally bought his Aghanim's Scepter on Bristleback, Spirit began overrunning Secret and evened out the series.
In the final game, Collapse's Nightstalker completely destroyed Team Secret with spectacular pick offs and even better teamfights. He even managed to secure a rampage, and shut down Secret's cores with ease. Spirit triumphed comfortably in 35 minutes with Collapse finished the game with a fantastic 21-1-13 KDA.
Highlights
Here are some highlights of the series.
Spirit may not have appeared to be the most fearsome team early in the event, but the TI10 champions have steadily gained momentum and are looking like a genuine title contender heading to the Grand Finals against storied rivals PSG.LGD.
