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Team Secret didn’t miss a step, jumping right into a fight against Team Liquid and absolutely crushing them in two decisive wins at the Dota 2 ESL One Los Angeles Online.
Nisha and Matumbaman barely broke a sweat in either matchup, playing their roles perfectly and dominating their opposition in a pair of strong showings.
Liquid had a good opening in game one, picking some good laning heroes and running a good set of rotations to start the series. But even though they got a few kills, including one on Matu’s Morphling, Secret broke Aydin “iNSaNiA” Sarkohi in a big teamfight win 11 minutes in, which Liquid never fully recovered from.
It wasn’t an easy road to take the first game, but even after losing a mid-game teamfight, Secret held onto their lead and ended up stomping Liquid in the second half. Nisha’s Bristleback became untouchable and the combined zoning of YapzOr’s Earth Spirit and zai’s Pangolier opened the door for Matu to step in and end things.
Letting Puppey draft from a position of power is one of the most dangerous assets to ever give up in Dota, mainly because he can mix in comfort picks and counters without worrying about dropping the series.
A Nisha Monkey King and Matu Medusa were Secret’s last picks to counter Liquid running back the entire first game outside of handing Michael “miCKe” Vu the Anti-Mage, which didn’t work out at all. Secret did give up some early kills in lane again, but the combination of Matu and Nisha dominated the core game and were able to better protect Puppey.
Because his cores were so dominant, Puppey was involved in more of the teamfights without fear of being focused down on his Keeper of the Light, which is one of the most prominent support heroes shown at ESL thus far. That change from game one spelled the end of Liquid, and Secret pushed with their full roster and crushed the entirety of Liquid.
The game collapsed. Secret pushed the high ground and Nisha continued to dominate with Monkey King, going 12/2/12 overall and dealing some massive damage in a key moment to seal the win.
That sweep has Secret sitting atop Group B for the ESL One Los Angeles Online Europe/CIS bracket. They will play again on April 7 at 1pm CT when they face the stand-in heavy Ninjas in Pyjamas roster.
