Team Secret are the ESL One Hamburg 2018 Champions

Many dota 2 fans were caught by surprise when Team Secret won the Major tournament, ESL One Hamburg 2018. The European dota squad took home their first prize of $125K, beating Virtus.Pro in the final match.

Reaching the Finals is tough enough but you can never think it is impossible to achieve. Last year’s ESL One Hamburg 2017, the final featured Team Secret who at the time struggled to counter-act against the strong team VP who won the match 2-0.

The European dota squad started off the Group stages with a win-loss standing of 8-2. Taking part in the Group A series, Secret outplayed top units like Evil Geniuses, Mineski, Vici Gaming, Alliance and PaiN Gaming. Kicking off the event in the Upper brackets, Virtus.Pro defeated Team Secret 1-2 and due to this result many gaming fans thought that Team Secret would not have the strength to win the ESL One Hamburg.

Moving forward to the Lower Brackets, Secret continued to play outstanding team plays. They went through the whole event beating top dota teams like the Evil Geniuses, Pain Gaming and Virtus.Pro  with an unbeatable 2-0 score.

Although the unit were in the Lower brackets, Team Secret fought back hard like never before. In fact, their impeccable teamwork is a result of their chemistry together and stepping in when someone needs help. All the way through they never let the pressure of the tournament get to them, they just played their favourite esports game.

Better luck this year proved to be possible for Team Secret for they reached the finals once again. A second chance to win the ESL One Hamburg title was even closer when they met their match in Vici Gaming.

The final match was a back-and-forth intense battle from both sides, having the determination to win. Game one saw Team Secret take over early in the match and held on the lead to close the round with 1-0 after 49 minutes. The second match was even more intensified and fierce that endured for over an hour that was won by Vici Gaming to make the score a tie. The third game was mostly dominated and in favour of Vici Gaming thanks to great gameplays from as Zhang ‘Paparazi’ Chengjun who carried his team to a win with the hero, Luna with a 2-1 defeat.

The match was a best of five and with two more games to take place, the outcome was destined to change. In Round four, Team Secret fought back with Michal ‘Nisha’ Jankowski who played Terrorblade was the immortal hero in the game to carry his unit to another victory. Game five saw Vici Gaming play a Roshan move but Ludwig ‘zai’ Wahlberg’s Magnus did a reverse polarity that destroyed VG. Another 20 minutes lapsed and the game was over.

From a losing score of 2-1 to a winning record of 3-2, Team Secret beat Vici Gaming. The European team were crowned the Dota 2 Champions of ESL One Hamburg 2018. While VG took the second place claiming their spectacular prize of $65K.

The MVP player of ESL One Hamburg was awarded to Team Secret Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng who won a Mercedes Benz car worth $50K. In an interview with Daimler.com, Secret MidOne expressed his joy about being the most valueable player. “I am elated about the MVP title. Even though in our sport it’s always the team that wins, I am all the more delighted that the fans and experts voted for me. It’s always been my dream to drive a Mercedes. That I now accomplished this through professional gaming – just incredible.“