Team Secret demolished long-time rivals OG, 2-0, in the Upper Bracket Finals of the OGA Dota PIT Online EU-CIS league to secure their spot in the tournament’s Grand Finals.
Secret had their most dominant showing over another top team in game one of the series. The lopsided affair was over in just 25 minutes, ending with a 34-5 kill score.
OG opened the series with a four-protect-one strategy headlined by Alchemist for Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan. Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng was put on a mid Earthshaker, Sébastien “Ceb” Debs on Dark Seer, Martin “Saksa” Sazdov on a support Pangolier, and Johan “N0tail” Sundstein on Chen to back up their carry.
Secret countered with a hyper-aggressive tri-core of Bloodseeker for Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen, Queen of Pain for Michal “Nisha” Jankowski, and an offlane Dragon Knight for Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg. Meanwhile, Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat and Clement “Puppey” Ivanov brought up the rear on Rubick and Vengeful Spirit, respectively.
Secret took full advantage of the slow buildup for OG’s lineup to dominate the laning phase and get off to a 10,000 gold lead by the 14-minute mark. While SumaiL was still able to get a respectable 18-minute timing on his Radiance, it was not enough to stop the game from quickly slipping away from OG’s fingers.
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While OG did their best to try and claw their way back into the game, they did little to stop Secret from running them over in teamfights, eventually forcing the GG call after 25 minutes.
Matumbaman, Nisha, and zai combined for 30 of Secret’s 34 total kills while having no deaths between them. Nisha led the way with 13 kills, while Matumbaman had 12 and zai added five of his own.
With their win, Secret earned their third straight grand finals appearance after taking the championships at the WePlay! Pushka League and the Gamers Without Borders charity tournament.
Meanwhile, OG will be taking on Team Liquid in the Lower Bracket Finals to try and force a rematch with Secret.