Puppey is the perfect Captain for Team Secret
“I think of Puppey as a big brother, he’s like a walking rock.” said Baqyt “Zayac” Emiljanov, Team Secret’s support. “His personality inspires confidence.” According to Zayac, Puppey’s demanding and disciplined approach has been the source of Secret’s morale. When Puppey had something to say, the team was all ears, as they had no choice but to listen, highlighting Puppey’s leadership skills.
Zayac rates Puppey as the best captain he has played with, as Solo drops to second place. He was particularly surprised by Puppey’s approach to the game. During ESL One Malaysia, Zayac spoke with Puppey, where the support player wanted to dismantle his defeat, as he believed he was part of the problem. As Zayac berated him for his performance, Puppey stopped him and objectively explained why they were rushed in the event by OG.
Aside from dominating the scene with Resolut1on, Zayac has attracted eyeballs with the traditional hat he wears on stage. He revealed that the hat was a gift from his grandmother and a Kyrgyz national symbol. The patriotic gamer wanted to go on stage with a Kyrgyz flag during TI9, but could not, as Valve did not allow players to bring their flags on stage.
Secret looks like a well-oiled machine right now, but there was a moment when the team almost drifted apart after the WEU Regional Qualifiers for TI11. “After we lost to Entity, we distanced a bit, and it was the same for the whole team,” Zayac said. “We began treating each other as teammates and lost that friendly approach.”
In addition to clicking as a team again, Zayac believes that the LCQ helped him calm his nerves. After a Bootcamp period filled with worries of falling short of achieving his dream, Zayac found comfort in the momentum Secret gained and added his confidence has been on the rise ever since they started walking on the stage at TI11.
Tundra is looking Stronger as the Tournament goes on
From a somewhat shaky showing in the DPC to a top-3 placement at The International 2022, Tundra Esports has come a long way since falling out of qualification for TI10. That improvement now includes a decisive 2-0 win over Team Aster that has put them just one win away from the TI11 grand final.
If you look at all the teams playing in TI this year, most of them have a few areas in which they thrive, a huge set of combined heroes or something like great technical skill. Tundra is an outlier in that they don’t have the largest hero pool nor are they the most technical team overall, but they know what they are good at and will outplay you.
A common characteristic you hear when analysts first see Tundra’s drafts is that at least one pick seems atypical or too good to be true. This is because, while Tundra doesn’t have a large pool of comfortable heroes, they are willing to try weird things as long as they fit what they know. But that’s probably a requirement for any team with 33 playing in their outside lane.
That draft style shows that they not only believe in themselves but that their style of play speaks for itself in the game, which was evident in the first game against Aster, as they were able to play at their pace the entire time. They only needed one real fight on the back of a classic skiter, the Chaos Knight, before they went home.
Even when Aster had a sizable lead in the second game and Tundra was playing from behind, none of the players seemed worriedand just kept their eyes on what they had to do next to win. Once they regained the lead, it was that same simple approach that allowed them to execute in the manner necessary to seal the 2-0 win.
Team Secret vs Tundra Esports Match Information
- Date: Friday, October 28
- Time: 11:00pm ET
- Team Secret vs Tundra Esports Live Stream: Twitch.tv
Team Secret vs Tundra Esports Prediction
These are two teams that haven’t dropped a single map throughout the entirety of the upper bracket, making this one of the most exciting matches we’ve had in the tournament so far.
What makes this matchup so interesting is just how different these two teams have played at the tournament. On one hand, you have the aggressive-yet-methodical Team Secret, and on the other hand, Tundra Esports is simply rolling over their opponents due to their superior individual skill.
Even though Tundra Esports has looked great, I don’t think that their mechanical prowess will be enough to overcome a team like Team Secret. After all, it’s not like Secret is bad individually, so it’s unlikely that we’ll see them get completely outplayed by Tundra.
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