The Upper Bracket match between Team Secret and Virtus Pro was one of the most exciting games at the Kuala Lumpur Major. The entire series saw the two teams go back and forth across the games, ultimately Team Secret emerged victorious over Team Virtus Pro.
Team Secret dominate Virtus Pro in Game 1.
The first game saw Secret’s MidOne make one of the best performances on the Monkey King. He was able to totally annihilate the opponents with the hero. Virtus Pro had gone for an extremely late game lineup with the likes of Phantom Lancer, Axe and the Tiny-IO combination.
#TeamSecret takes game 1 in under 30 minutes. #KualaLumpurMajor #secretfighting #klmajor #gogovp @teamsecret 1⃣ – @virtuspro 0⃣.
Game 2 is now live ⚡️https://t.co/POOblpibRA & https://t.co/hrkVgXvXAg pic.twitter.com/y7GjScV3t1
— PGL (@pglesports) November 17, 2018
However, with Yapzor and Puppey constantly putting early game pressure on Virtus Pro, their cores never got the space. Without adequate farm, Team Secret was quick to capitalise their lead and move forth to the more and more objectives. The game was over by 29 minutes as Team Secret showed us a very dominating performance in Game 1. Taking down the champions of the previous DPC Season [ despite not winning TI8], Secret announced their arrival on the Dota 2 stage once more.
Virtus Pro pick the Pugna, surprise Team Secret
#Virtuspro dominated game 2 against #TeamSecret @virtuspro 1⃣- @teamsecret 1⃣.#KualaLumpurMajor #gogovp #klmajor #secretfighting #dota2
Let's find out who will be victorious in this last game ⚔️💥📺 https://t.co/POOblpibRA & https://t.co/hrkVgXvXAg pic.twitter.com/mRRxzzvt6P
— PGL (@pglesports) November 17, 2018
The second game was almost a mirror image of the first one. However, this time Virtus Pro had the superior draft and they were able to capitalise on Team Secret’s mistakes. When Secret picked up the Obsidian Destroyer, VP responded with a Pugna pick. The Pugna pick was a very crucial one as his Nether ward decimated opponents. For MidOne, this was a very big problem since he cannot use his Arcane Orb freely. His ability to deal damage without much in terms of consequences was nullified by No[o]ne. He did not die a single time in the game and was actually 8-0 at the end of the Map.
With an adequate pushing lineup Virtus Pro was able to quickly take down towers. They were able to slow siege when all five were up, and once they won a team fight, it was pretty easy to take down objectives. Ramzess Morphling was unkillable on this map and there was simply no counter for the hero. So it was not a big surprise to see Team Secret call out GG in just 24 minutes.
The Final Game: Team Secret win after excellent execution
The third game was unlike the first two. While either one team had a huge advantage in the first two games, the teams were very evenly matched for Game 3. The farm distribution across the heroes and the teams was very even and it came down to certain team fights. However, it was these team fights that saw Team Secret put up some excellent positioning and performance. MidOne’s Ember Spirit was singularly responsible for shutting down Rodger’s Earthshaker. With Virtus Pro relying heavily on Rodger to deal the damage and turn the tides of the team fight, MidOne was crucial to the team fights.
He was always on the lookout for earthshaker using his Sleight of Fist ability to disable his blink. At times he would also get solo kills on the hero. With the Silencer and the Centaur on their team, Team Secret had full control over whether to engage or disengage from a team fight. Their decision making and the way they disengaged from team fights [ once Terrorblade used his BKB and Metamorphosis] was beautiful to watch. Overall, it was the execution, positioning of Team Secret that won them the game. Rodger had a particularly bad time on the Earthshaker, one that he would not want to relive any time soon.
Our first finalist is @teamsecret GG WP 💪⚡️#KualaLumpurMajor #klmajor #dota2 #SecretFighting @virtuspro will fight tomorrow in the Lower Bracket pic.twitter.com/kFOd5arDDb
— PGL (@pglesports) November 17, 2018
For now, Team Secret move to the Grand finals. Virtus Pro is not out of the tournament just yet. They will face off against Evil Geniuses in the Lower Bracket finals. The winner of that match will face Team Secret in the Grand finals of the Kuala Lumpur Major.
