Not to toot our own horn, but we’ll still toot it: do you remember a month and a half ago when we projected that Team Liquid are going straight for number 1. in Dota 2? Well, we were right. Also, just a month and a half ago Team Secret were still going strong, winning tournaments and awards, and nobody knew they were going to slip down that world rankings towards the end of the year.

But yeah, that also happened: one of the strongest, if not the strongest team in Dota 2, who looked invincible the whole year, didn’t have a very good December, which was just enough to push them down on (some of) the lists. Besides that hiccup (at least we’ll assume it’s just a hiccup), they still were the strongest team of 2020, and that alone leaves them deserving of a thorough analysis at the end of the year. So that’s what we’ll do.

How Did Team Secret Have Such a Good Year?

Today, everybody knows about Team Secret. They are a European organization with an international Dota 2 roster, for which they are most famous for. And although they have many other esports rosters, Dota 2 is where it all begun. The org had been established in 2014 out of the members of Natus Vincere and Fnatic with an idea of a team that would be run by players. And while Kuroky and N0tail, the founders and legendary Dota 2 geniuses, left in the meantime, one of the first members and also one of the greats, team’s captain Puppey, is still part of the roster today and running it.

Roster was founded as an all-star team, and that aura never left it. Right off the bat they were considered the favourites on the biggest tournaments, including 2015 The International, which ended up not working in their favour (The Biggest One remained elusive to them to this day). But, aside from TI, they had their good and better years: it would be hard to say some of them were bad. And as far as today’s roster goes, they just kept rising from 2018 onward. The last to join current roster, MATUMBAMAN, came at the end of 2019 from Team Liquid, but both Nisha and zai joined in 2018. YapzOr, their legendary support, joined in 2017.

The Good, The Better And The Downfall

Team Secret’s 2019 was yet again another extremely successful year, since they won Katowice, Birmingham and MDL Disneyland Paris, but have yet again under-performed (by their standards) when it was most needed, at TI where they finished 4^th even though they were considered favourites. And then came 2020. Which really was their year. While the rest of the world was struggling with the new conditions implemented because of Covid-19, Team Secret was winning tournaments. They were so on fire that they’ve managed to win six online tournaments in the first six months of the year, and all of their finals were won 3 to 0. After that streak, they’ve also broken a seven-year-old record of 83-17 for 100-game best run, going 85-15. It’s safe to say they would again be favourites for TI, but, as we all know, there was no TI this year.

And although there weren’t any new additions to the team this year, there was one big change. As MidOne, who has been with the team for four years, left, Nisha switched from carry to solo mid, and that’s kind of where the magic of 2020 happened for Team Secret. That was, of course, very well recognized across the community, winning him the award for the PC player of the year. But he couldn’t have done it on his own: his teammates also had a stellar year, and fans never forget the amazing contribution from one of the game’s irreplaceable veterans, captain Puppey.

However, their shine started to dim towards the end of the year. First, they’ve placed 4^th at ESL One Germany, and after that, lost both of their playoff games in EPIC League, which was enough to push them down on the rankings. But when you look at their games, dynamic and overall achievements this year, it’s possible they’ve also just needed a break. And possibly they’ve decided it was time they gave other teams a break too. Also, we shouldn’t forget that European scene in Dota 2 is extremely competitive, and this slow-down at the end of the season for team Secret just proves once more how difficult it is to stay at the top.

While we wait to see what’s next from Team Secret and Dota 2, play for free on our Pick6, you’ll always find something for you there.