Team Secret CEO Reveals Reason for Not Joining the Wild Rift Sibol Qualifiers
After the conclusion of the League of Legends: Wild Rift Sibol Qualifiers, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Team Secret, John Yao, explained why the team did not participate in the qualifiers event. Through a video posted on the official YouTube channel of Team Secret, John stated that the schedule for the Wild Rift Sibol Qualifiers was in conflict with the team’s schedule in preparation for the Wild Rift Champions Southeast Asia (WCS) 2022 - Philippines. He believes that the 31st Southeast Asia (SEA) Games should be less prioritized than Riot's Wild Rift SEA championship.
Team Secret prioritizes Wild Rift SEA championship over 31st SEA Games
Through a YouTube video posted on 7th Feb, the CEO of Team Secret explained why the team did not prioritize the 31st SEA Games. According to him, the upcoming Wild Rift Champions Southeast Asia has more value than qualifying for the upcoming 31s SEA Games.
“I think in general, these SEA Games and stuff, they’re like nice tournaments but it’s very hard to assign legitimacy to them from a community standpoint,” stated John Yao.
He added that the community may not consider teams who win the SEA Games as the “SEA Champions.” John further elaborates that the community regards SEA Champions as the teams who win official tournaments such as the Dota Pro Circuit for Dota 2 or the WCS 2022 for Wild Rift. “To us, those tournaments, those circuits, and those leagues are the most important thing. Everything else is secondary,” stated the Team Secret CEO.
John also added that if the 31st SEA Games’ schedule did not conflict with official Riot Games esports events, the team would have participated.
“If a clash (of schedules) in any way interferes with the training for the normal tournament circuit, for the actual SEA Championship and for worlds (World Championship), essentially for all those games, that takes priority over SEA Games,” stated John Yao.
Team Secret aims to dominate the WCS 2022 - Philippines
The YouTube video also gave fans a quick peek at what Team Secret has been up to and what changes they can expect to see in the future. According to the team’s captain James "Hamezz" Santos, Team Secret is currently looking for a new 6th man after the departure of Morris "Code" Raymundo. The team is also open to the possibility of acquiring an analyst and a coach for the team.
Hamezz added that the team is currently training hard for the upcoming WCS 2022.
“We’ve been scrimming with a lot of Chinese teams and other top teams in Southeast Asia and I could say we did well in those scrims,” stated Hamezz.
According to the team captain, they are currently experimenting with unorthodox team compositions and playstyles that might be viable in the upcoming tournament.
While fans will not be seeing Team Secret in the upcoming 31st SEA Games, the Philippines determined a solid lineup composed of the Wild Rift teams of LF Adoption for the Men’s division and Grindsky Eris for the Women’s division. Fans will be seeing Team Secret competing in the upcoming WCS 2022 - Philippines for the chance to win a ticket to the Wild Rift Icons Global Championship 2022.
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