SumaiL streams for the first time in 7 months, gets rampage

Team Secret’s star midlaner Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan went live on his personal stream for the first time since September 7 last year, and wasted no time in putting on a show.

The King put up an excellent Phantom Assassin game just two hours in. Though his team was behind—losing two lanes of barracks in 30 minutes—SumaiL’s play kept them in the game.

SumaiL’s Phantom Assassin gets rampage in losing effort on stream

Setting up to defend the last lane, SumaiL managed to get a triple kill. The Dire seized the opportunity to clear through mid, including taking down the melee barracks, and giving the 23-year-old enough gold to complete his Nullifier. It was a crucial item against a team that heavily relied on going ethereal with Ghost Scepters and Ghost Shroud to prevent attacks, and helped him cleave through the enemy team.

Unfortunately, the rampage proved to be a last-ditch effort from SumaiL to salvage a losing game. After catching SumaiL out without his Black King Bar, the undeterred Radiant team made another incursion into the enemy base, using the pushing power of Shadow Shaman’s Serpent Wards and Death Prophet’s Exorcism on the Ancient to force a fight.

With less space to maneuver this time round, SumaiL, as the most important damage threat on the Dire team, found himself locked down by a barrage of spells, with a Reaper’s Scythe the final toll.

You can watch the full four and a half hours VOD here on SumaiL’s official Twitch channel.

Is SumaiL switching back to hard carry?

Curiously, the 23-year-old, who has been playing mid in his Secret career thus far, is focusing on safelane carries in pubs, including on his latest stream. Meanwhile, teammate Michał “Nisha” Jankowski, who played position one, has switched towards more midlane play, according to Dota 2 Pro Tracker.

This could be a role swap in progress, in response to a disappointing first few months of the all-star Secret roster. The team failed to qualify for the Winter Regional Finals after finishing fifth in the first season of the 2021/2022 DPC, and looked out of sorts at the recently-concluded Gamers Galaxy Invitational Series Dubai 2022.

The competition between the top teams in Western Europe continues to heat up, with teams like Nigma Galaxy seemingly regaining their top form. Though newcomers in Gaimin Gladiators and veteran orgs like Team Liquid alike have found success in Tour 1, it seems nobody is resting on their laurels for the upcoming season, scheduled to begin March 15.