Team Secret are the first to secure one of the two Last Chance Qualifiers slots into The International 2022 (TI11) and keep their captain’s streak of attending all TIs alive.
TI11 will mark Clement "Puppey" Ivanov eleventh consecutive presence at The International, continuing his unmatched legacy in the game. 2022 has been one of the most challenging years in Team Secret’s existence. Several roster changes, some deemed for lack of synergy and results, others forced by Yazied "YapzOr" Jaradat’s health issues, kept Puppey struggling to navigate the DPC year. Last Chance Qualifiers were truly the only way for Secret to secure a spot at TI11, and despite the bumpy year, once the time has come, the reinforced roster, with Roman "Resolut1on" Fomynok joining mere weeks before the big battle, made a strong upper bracket run.
Team Secret claimed their spot at TI11 with a commendable victory over Virtus.pro in the LCQ upper bracket finals.
Team Secret
vs
Virtus.pro
The series started with a scary Tiny-Luna draft from Virtus.pro, who were looking to find the initiations angles on Secret’s carry Sniper. They ran a Disruptor-Undying duo support and an offlane Beastmaster, which should have technically given them the vision on the Sniper. VP kept the pressure on Secret’s mid and safe lanes, drawing the entire attention there while their Luna had pretty much free farm.
However, the successful kill trades from the early game tricked VP into a rather greedy itemization strategy, four of their heroes going for Blink-BkB first items, and once Secret grouped up for fights, they quickly learned that they lack in damage and sustainability departments. Even though VP managed to hold the gold and XP advantage for the entire match, and even claimed the first lane of barracks, a single team fight close to the 40-minute mark, opened the option for Team Secret to force a push for the high ground through the mid lane and go straight for the Throne after the tier 3 tower was down.
Despite the loss, their Luna game went pretty much smoothly, so VP went with it in the second game as well, along with the same Disruptor-Undying openings. However, they let the Primal Beast slip through the first phase of bans and Secret could secure plenty of comfort picks, including the PB, with which both Michał "Nisha" Jankowski and Resolut1on dominated through the LCQ, and Puppey’s signature Chen to top it off.
On the back of Secret’s first two picks, VP went for more of a reactive draft, trying to protect their Luna as much as possible and that led them to the same result. While they had strong saves and control spells, between a mid-lane Tusk, a core Undying and a Clockwork-Disruptor support duo, they couldn’t survive the early onslaught brought by Secret’s mid lane Lina and Reso’s Primal Beast.
Virtus.pro will have another shot at claiming a spot at TI11 via lower bracket finals. They will go for the second try later today, against the winner of – Team Liquid
vs
Vici Gaming, so stay tuned!
