picture courtesy of Epicenter
In a classic matchup, Team Secret met the North American giants in the semi-finals of EPICENTER: Moscow 2017and were subdued by two almost identical drafts.
In the first semi-final of EPICENTER: Moscow, Evil Geniuses has been able to clean sweep Team Secret and knock them out from the tournament on the back of a cheesy Drow strat in both the games they played. Evil Geniuses now sit proudly in the Grand Finals of EPICENTER Moscow and await their next opponent, either of Liquid or LGD.Forever Young.
Game 1
The draft for Game One looked interesting from both the sides, as Evil Geniuses went for a Drow strat against Bristleback, and tried to ban as many Yazied 'YapzOr' Jaradat heroes as they could, in the Clockwerk, Nyx and Keeper of the Light. Secret decided to go for a rather niche Skywrath Mage for YapzOr, and a last pick Phantom Assassin for Noah 'MP' Pyo to counter the Drow Ranger.
The early game was quite a passive one for both the sides, with not a lot of action taking place. The mid-lane matchup of Syed Sumail ‘SumaiL’ Hassan’s OD against the Ember Spirit of Zheng ‘MidOne’ Nai was very one-sided for the side of EG, as SumaiL was able to almost double the last-hits of MidOne, and also continuously threaten him with the help of Ludwig 'zai' Wåhlberg on his Sand King. With what the aim of their lineup looked to be right from the get-go, EG looked to take full advantage of their Precision Aura early on and push a few towers before the Secret cores could do anything to respond to this aggression. However, Team Secret were able to soon respond to this aggression and punish EG’s over-extensions.
Roshan was a hot point of contention for both the teams as EG were deterred from taking it by Secret’s vision and after a successful fight near the Dire shrine for Team Secret where they were able to kill both of the EG cores, Team Secret were the ones who were able to secure the Aegis on their Phantom Assassin.
Secret got to learn the hard way that without taking out the SumaiL OD in teamfights, there was little that they could do and two successive teamfights were dictated by SumaiL on his OD as Secret looked to chase him and punish him before the fight started but EG’s reinforcements were quick and they were able to take teamfight after teamfight. A fight in the middle lane had a similar story as EG was able to turn the fight around, kill the Secret heroes and march down the midlane to claim the Tier-3 tower and as a result, finish off a Shrine also.
EG now looked to be in the driving seat of this Game One as they steered ahead in networth. With Roshan respawning again, Secret knew they couldn’t give it up without a fight and with a clean Smoke play, EG were able to land a four-man coil and drop the Golem, wiping almost the entire Secret lineup and securing the Aegis for SumaiL’s Outworld Devourer and Cheese for Artour 'Arteezy' Babaev’s Drow Ranger. Now an unstoppable force, the EG lineup were able to push down two lanes of Barracks and as Secret tried to engage in a haphazard teamfight, they knew the game was over and had to call GG.
Game 2
The draft for Game Two raised the brows of casters and analysts alike, as EG went for almost the same draft substituting the Outworld Devourer with a Lina. Secret also went for a questionable PA repick as well as a signature Rubick for YapzOr.
Team Secret knew the horrors of this Arteezy Drow and looked to make life hard for her by an aggressive tri-lane of Tidehunter, Rubick and Treant in their offlane. The mid-lane was again heavily favoured towards SumaiL as he had the favourable matchup against the Razor so the Secret supports looked to give MidOne the help he needed on his Razor to at least break even with the SumaiL Lina. The offlane for Evil Geniuses was a 1v1 of Saahil 'UNiVeRsE' Arora on his Puck against MP on his PA and the lane looked to be heavily favoured for Evil Geniuses especially because of the Precision Aura on the Puck. Again capitalizing on the Precision Aura, EG were able to grab the early lead as well as a few towers for their side, before the Secret cores had any answer to it.
After a rather even fight in the middle lane where all the major cooldowns were expanded from both the sides, EG were able to realize the window of opportunity they had, and looked to take Roshan. Secret tried to contest it but the ensuing teamfight proved to be absolutely disastrous for them as they lost four heroes and also had to give away the Aegis to the SumaiL Lina. Farming all the lanes and both the jungles, EG were able to win the economy game and continued to increase their networth lead. Roshan was the center of attention for both the teams and a long action-packed fight around it by both the teams which was almost turned around by YapzOr on his clutch Rubick plays, it was EG who were able to come out on top and get both the Aegis and the Cheese for their side.
EG were showing that they were too strong to be swayed by a mere well-contested teamfight and were able to further showcase their strength and regain their confidence by pickoffs and securing a 25K networth lead, with SumaiL having transitioned into a heavy right-clicker with a Daedalus up his sleeve. While Secret was starved out in their base by EG, YapzOr was able to get an Aghanim’s Scepter on his Rubick. However, Secret’s miserable condition meant that they were unable to contest Roshan when it respawned and EG were able to quickly take it down and get a second Cheese on Arteezy as well as secure the Aegis for their upcoming high ground siege, which came in the Top-Lane where EG were able to claim one set of Barracks. However, Secret were able to pull off a miraculous defense in the bottom lane but it came at the cost of their Buybacks.
EG were able to rinse and repeat, as they waited out the Roshan timer and were again able to get an uncontested Roshan and were now able to finish off the Barracks in the Bottom Lane as well. With a successful teamfight in the middle-lane, EG were just too strong with 3 Cheeses and the Aegis on Arteezy’s Drow Ranger, and Secret had no choice but to call GG.
