In the first half of the season, Team Secret and Virtus.pro comprehensively dominated the Dota Pro Circuit ranking. The teams made it to the grand finals of the first two major competition and after the tournament in Chongqing had an equal number of points. In Stockholm Secret finished at fourth place and lost the first to VP by the slightest margins. But in Paris, The EU side reigned supreme in the competition to not only win the title. Yet also managed to establish a respectable lead at first place in the ranking.
Poor performance by Virtus.Pro
Considering VP’s performance in the current and past seasons, eighth place at MDL Disney Major seems like a very poor result for the CIS team. Prior to this, VP made it to the finals of the major five consecutive times. They also did not fall below sixth place in major LAN tournaments for almost three years, and in Paris, VP didn’t even make it to the top four. It is understandable, since sooner or later everyone makes mistakes. When a team is at the top for too long, then each opponent trains day and night to beat it. Valve announced to release a new patch before EPICENTER. We believe that Virtus.pro will have to work hard to prove that the eighth place in Paris is nothing more than an accident and an unfortunate coincidence.
We finish our #MDLDisney run in the 7th-8th place. Thanks to @MarsMedia for the fairytale tournament. Thank you all for the support and see you in Moscow ? #GOGOVP pic.twitter.com/KT7UKE9b8F
— Virtus.pro (@virtuspro) May 10, 2019
Unstoppable Secret!
As for Secret, the EU side didn’t have any problems at all at this tournament. They confidently won both matches of the group stage, and then, without any defeat, they comprehensively dominated the Upper Bracket. Secret lost only one map to all the teams that are ranked in the top four of the DPC rankings. Although they did not manage to meet Virtus.pro, all other opponents were outclassed by Secret.
It seems that in the current team led by Clement Puppey Ivanovno shows little to no signs of weaknesses. Regardless of the results of EPICENTER, at The International 2019 we are well prepared to see Secret crowned the champions of the competition. The side has never managed to finish it the top 4 of the biggest tournament of the year. Meanwhile, the recent results of the team indicate that they are well capable of lifting the trophy.
WE ARE YOUR #MDLDisney MAJOR CHAMPIONS!! ?#SecretFighting pic.twitter.com/Itxtk3sp2Y
— Team Secret (@teamsecret) May 12, 2019
MDL Paris Major ended on May 12th. In the grand finals of the tournament, Team Secret beat Team Liquid with a score of 3: 1. Secret won $ 350 thousand and 4,950 points of Dota Pro Circuit. On the way to the grand final, Team Secret beat PSG.LGD , OG and Evil Geniuses. Meanwhile, Liquid lost to EG in the first round of the upper bracket, and then made it to the grand final through the lower bracket, by beating paiN Gaming, Vici Gaming, OG, PSG.LGD and Evil Geniuses. Lets see which team will shine in EPICENTER.
