Team Secret Win Captains Draft 4.0 After Two Impossible Comebacks

Captains Draft 4.0 was a high quality Dota Pro Circuit LAN event organized by DotaCinema and Moonduck. With a fantastic production led by Shannon “SUNSfan” Scotten and Jake “SirActionSlacks” Kanner, 8 of the world’s best teams, $300.000 on the line and breathtaking matches, this was a truly memorable tournament.

No doubt, even before the competition started, almost everyone had Team Secret as the clear favorites to win this one. Finalists at the ESL One Hamburg Major and winners at DreamLeague Season 8, the Europeans were the team of the moment, sitting at the number one spot in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings.

Team Secret kicked off their Captains Draft 4.0 campaign with a win against Team Empire followed by 2 shaky performances which resulted in 2 losses: one against Mineski and another one against Vici Gaming. This second loss, against Zhang “Paparazi” Chengjun’s team, was a glimpse of what was to come in the Finals.

Secret finished 3rd in their group and it was looking like their poor track record at Dota Pro Circuit Minor events was going to continue. They had obtained poor results at their previous 3 Minors (StarLadder i-League Invitational Season 3 (3rd-4th), PGL Open Bucharest (5th-6th) and Perfect World Masters (5th-6th)), so a below average placement at Captains Draft 4.0 would not have been entirely surprising.

But, as soon as the Playoffs began, Team Secret went into high gear. They won against Evil Geniuses (score 2-1) and then eliminated their Group Stage nemesis Mineski (score 2-0). Their opponent in the Finals was going to be Vici Gaming, who had had a field day against compLexity and OG.
The Bo5 between the two finalists began with a game in which Vici Gaming had a 15K net worth advantage at the 26-minute mark, and a Faceless Void – Doom – Medusa lineup. Just 15 minutes later, the game ended, but the winners were Team Secret.

The next 3 games were once again dominated by the Chinese team, who won the first 2 and had a 22K net worth lead in the 3rd. But, once again, Secret somehow managed to pull off a victory.
Clearly demoralized and going up against Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard’s signature hero (Meepo), Vici Gaming got destroyed in the 5th game of the series and lost a match they should have won with ease.

Following this championship victory, Team Secret increased the difference between themselves and the second placed team in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings and are now sitting at the number 1 spot with 4140 points.

If the Captains Draft 4.0 tournament taught us anything, it’s that “fortune favors the brave” and “victory belongs to the most persevering” (Napoleon Bonaparte). Team Secret never gave up, never stopped believing and their unshakable confidence was the only thing that saved them not once, but twice in the same match. Going forward, they will definitely have to patch a thing or two in their gameplay (Vici Gaming did a perfect job at exposing and exploiting their weaknesses), but in the meantime, they are the number one team in the world.

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