THE NEW LOOK Team Secret has added a new name to their hit list, beating Master’s Shanghai winners Gen G, 2-1, to end their VCT Pacific group stage with a clean 4-0 record.
With the win, Team Secret would finish the regular season as the 3rd seed for VCT Pacific 2024.
Team Secret came out of the gates swinging, taking a quick map win on Sunset, 12-6. Team Secret immediately found their groove as they completed their eco round and took a massive 10-2 lead by the half.
Gen G. would find four straight rounds to start the second half, but it was too late as Secret closed out the series with three consecutive rounds of their own.
The defending Masters champions who would force a decider as they strike back on their map pick Lotus, 12-7. The Koreans would find a strong start of their own, immediately pulling ahead 7-0. Team Secret would stabilize just before the end of the half to stay close at 7-5. It was Gen G who would come out on top as they managed to stabilize on their gun round at the half to close out the map.
Heading into Split, it seemed like Gen G was going to run away with the series as they finished the first half 9-3. Team Secret would claw their way back 11-8 at the half, Gen G seemed poised to win it all after earning match point, 12-8.
A heroic 1 v 4 from Team Secret rookie Brheyanne “Wild0reoo” Reyes extended the series 12-9, while a great read from young gun Adrian “Invy” Reyes the following round decimated Gen G’s economy grabbing massive Judge kills on mid. Gen G would not recover as Team Secret forced OT and eventually took the series win.
Entering the playoffs
“It went really well and we’re really happy about it,” said Team Secret head coach Timothy “dummy” Olson after their series. “I’m really proud of the guys for staying strong mentally on Split and closing it out.”
“For me I think we really had good mental even though we were losing. We just focused on ourselves. We kind of adapted really well on their playstyle and I think that really worked for us.” said Invy.
“I just remember saying that just stay confident on the setups that we are doing you guys are playing exactly the right way, just keep it up don’t worry about it, and stay strong. I think just said guys that’s just four rounds that’s nothing, something like that,” explained dummy on what we said to his boys after Gen G grabbed match point.
Team Secret heads into the playoffs as the third seed and will face Talon Esports in the first round do-or-die on July 12. The winner of the series faces second seed DRX for a spot in Champions Seoul.
“I think we’re very confident after this big win. Like Gen G was the champions for Shanghai so winning against them gave us really a lot of confidence coming into our next match heading into playoffs.” Answered Invy when asked about the team’s confidence heading into playoffs for stage 2.
Coach dummy also said he is confident with his boys going into playoffs and explained that they will continue working on the things they’ve done so far.
“I mean, I just think we need to keep working on the things we have been working on: fundamentals, playing together. That’s what we’re gonna do, and I think we never stopped improving, I don’t think we’ve plateaued yet and that’s why we’re gonna keep doing that. So yeah confident going into playoffs” Dummy added.
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