Team Secret take first series in DPC Tour 3

After coming back to Division I, Team Secret has taken their first series win of the tour. 

Few would have predicted Team Secret's fall from grace in the first tour of the 2023 DPC season, but the team had more difficulties gelling with Miroslav “BOOM” Bičan replacing Michal “Nisha” Jankowski. 

 It seemed that The International 2022 runner-up team lost this post-TI shuffle game. 

• Read Team Secret relegated to Division II of the WEU DPC League after a second-place finish at TI11

Trying to make further adjustments to dig themselves out of any hole and get back on the path towards The International, Team Secret then announced that both Roman "Resolut1on" Fomynok and Baqyt "Zayac" Emiljanov had been benched until the organization found a “fitting home for them.”

The offlane duo was replaced with Daniyal "yamich" Lazebnyy and Filipino player Armel "Armel" Tabios. 

They were able to then clinch 1st place in Division II of Tour 2 and promote back up to Division I for the third and final tour of the DPC season. 

But since making their return to compete in Division I with the other top EU teams, Team Secret seems to be struggling. It took four series and a second week of play to see their first series win. 

Just last night Team Secret was able to sweep through D1 Hustlers (formerly named D2 Hustlers and the other team that was promoted along with Team Secret). In both games, the TI runner-up team absolutely shellacked D1 and ran all over them. 

While the sweep gave them the win, it feels slightly nominal. It did give them a win and a slight boost in ranking (maybe even confidence?), but D1 Hustlers were the team pegged most likely for Team Secret to be able to beat. 

In October 2022,  Team Secret went all the way from the TI11 Last Chance Qualifier to the grand final, which few would have predicted.

• Read Should Valve have dropped LCQ from The International?

So what has happened? Why are we seeing such a highly decorated captain and veteran of the scene, Clement "Puppey" Ivanov who competed in his eleventh consecutive presence at The International, barely taking wins in league play?

Is it that Team Secret had gotten ambivalent about competing after TI? Doubtful considering Puppey is quite competitive and has an unrivaled legacy in Dota 2 at this point. 

Was losing Nisha detrimental to the team's success? Possibly as Nisha was a beast at TI11, but it isn't exactly as if Team Liquid are destroying their opponents and racking up the titles.

Could it be the lack of high-level scrims or competitive games when teams drop to Division II? The caliber of competition in Division II is certainly below what they would be used to and perhaps not quite as challenging. Division I teams may choose not to scrim against them also thinking that their fall from grace was indicative of the team's diminished talent or aptitude. 

• Read Is the DPC Division II where Tier 1 teams go to die?

Perhaps it is the lack of third-party events to compete in to keep fresh and on their toes? ESL- DreamLeague was only open to Division I teams and Team Secret didn't compete in any other matches between falling to Division II at the end of January and the start of Tour 2 in April. 

• Read What's to blame for the lack of third party Dota 2 events?

While there are many questions and few answers, Team Secret is in dire need of some wins this Tour if they hope to make it to a Major this year, let alone The International. 

They are currently sitting in 2nd to last places, one spot above D1 Hustlers. They have only three more series to play and one of them is against Tundra.

• EntityvsTeam Secret  Friday, May 26th at 18:00 CEST
• Team SecretvsQuest Esports Monday, May 29th at 21:00 CEST
• Tundra EsportsvsTeam Secret Friday, June 2nd at 15:00 CEST