Dota 2 fan-favorites Team Secret decimated the competition and claimed the top spot, closing out the first season of the WePlay! Puskha League.
Despite going up against some stiff competition, Team Secret — lead by Dota 2 veteran Clement “Puppey” Ivanov — seemed to have no trouble getting by their opponents and taking home the WePlay! Pushka League first-place trophy.
Some of the biggest names in the CIS and European Dota 2 scene joined the tournament as well, including Team Liquid, Virtus Pro, Na’Vi, and OG.
Team Secret remained unfazed, though, as they blew by the group stages and went on to bag the US$70,000 [AU$109,125] prize.
Group stages
The European-based team shared a group stage bracket with Alliance, Team Liquid, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Nigma, OG, and OG Seed. Anyone familiar with competitive Dota 2 knows that those are some pretty tough teams to go up against.
Team Secret still managed, however, to finish strong as they went into the playoffs with the top spot and a record of 5W-1L. Their only loss was at the hands of fellow veteran Team Liquid.
Secret vs Na’Vi
Puppey began his playoff run against Na’Vi, his former team. Na’Vi just couldn’t seem to make the transition to the mid-game as they were outplayed at every turn. While both matches ran in excess of 30 minutes, the games still felt one-sided all throughout.
Secret vs Team Liquid
Their second game would be against the only team in the tournament that managed to beat them in a series — Team Liquid.
The result would be different this time around, however, as Team Secret convincingly took both games off the back of Lasse Aukusti “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen’s spectacular performances on Death Prophet and Troll Warlord.
Upper bracket final
The next match-up would be against VP.Prodigy in the Upper Bracket Final. The first match could have gone either way with MATUMBAMAN and mid-laner Michał “Nisha” Jankowski struggling during the early game.
Luckily enough, both cores managed to bounce back nicely as Team Secret managed to pull away from VP.Prodigy after they committed to a disastrous team fight at the 31-minute mark.
The second game wasn’t nearly as close, with MATUMBAMAN and Nisha more than making up for their previous early game woes. Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat also brought his A-game, managing an incredible stat line of 7/0/13 on his support Witch Doctor.
WePlay! Pushka League season 1 grand finals
After losing in the Upper Bracket Finals, VP.Prodigy succeeded in overcoming Team Liquid for a chance to get back at Team Secret in the WePlay! Pushka League grand finals.
Unfortunately for VP.Prodigy, this wouldn’t be the Cinderella story they were looking for, as Team Secret showed no mercy in annihilating them across all three games.
Not only did their cores have no trouble securing farms during all the matches, but their supports also managed to make VP.Prodigy’s lives an absolute nightmare — a well-deserved albeit anticlimactic championship victory for Team Secret.
Securing first place in the WePlay! Pushka League marks the second time this year that Team Secret has earned a major championship title.
Team Secret is currently competing in the “AMD SAPPHIRE OGA DOTA PIT EU/CIS Region” and “Gamers Without Borders” tournaments and have yet to incur a loss.
Image courtesy of Team Secret/Twitter