Team Secret will miss out on yet another TI, as Clement “Puppey” Ivanov’s squad crash out of the Western Europe Qualifier.
Clement “Puppey” Ivanov and his Team Secret squad have come up short at the Regional Qualifiers for The International 2025. While the Western Europe qualifier continues alongside the Southeast Asia qualifier, a few teams have already fallen. Among the casualties are MOUZ, Virtus.pro, and AVULUS. However, the bigger story is the elimination of Team Secret early in the qualifier.
Another year without Puppey at The International
The International 2025 is quickly approaching, and for a few teams, a direct invite has secured their spot. For many others, the regional qualifiers would be where they would make their final stand as they fought for the remaining available spots at the prestigious Dota 2 event.
We have already seen qualifiers wrap up in North America, South America, Eastern Europe, and China. All of which had only a single qualifier spot available. However, for the next few days, all attention turns to Western Europe and Southeast Asia, where the qualifiers are still running. While SEA has not seen any major upsets, the other side has, with Secret crashing out in the first round.
The elimination of Secret comes just a few days after they were also eliminated from the running for the Esports World Cup 2025. With a year of extremely poor qualifiers and no showings at any major events, Secret’s struggles continue.
Without qualification for TI 2025, this will be the third year running that the team will miss out on the event. TI 2022 was their previous attempt, which saw them take a spectacular second place behind Tundra Esports.
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Moving forward for Team Secret
Following the qualifier eliminations, Secret will need to dig deep to find something to shout about in 2025. Currently, there are no events that will feature the team, but chances are high that they will continue to look towards qualifiers. With tournaments such as BLAST Slam IV and V offering European qualifiers, Secret might have a chance to finally get on the scoreboard.
One of the biggest issues with the team’s qualifier hopes was explained by Ilya "Kiritych" Ulyanov. In a post made via his Telegram, the recent Secret-carry broke down why he thinks the qualifiers fell apart. The player speaks about exhaustion, especially after having played DreamLeague Season 26 with BetBoom Team.
With a roster assembled over a few days merely for the qualifiers, Secret needs something to uplift them. Unfortunately, it feels as though it is merely a name, grasping at straws.
With the two biggest tournaments of 2025 out of reach, could this spell the end for the long-standing Dota 2 love-affair for Puppey and Team Secret? Or will we see a rebuild that takes the legendary captain to the top once more?
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