Team Secret to be tested at ESL One Germany 2020

ESL One is back with yet another incredible online tournament for the fans. Everyone is predicting another Team Secret stomp, yet there is a chance they drop their first event by November 1st.

We are also treated with a long forgotten tournament format. and plenty of the powerhouse teams showing up at full strenght. Additionally, ESL One Germany 2020 features some fairly “unfamiliar” squads looking to mix things up in European Dota 2.

© ESL One

ESL One Germany 2020 format and teams

For 2 weeks, sixteen teams will be playing in a modified Swiss-system format. Each team is assigned one match-up per round, until they accumulate either 3 wins or 3 losses. With 3 clean victories, a team will earn a guaranteed slot in the upper bracket of the playoffs or three defeats will put them up for elimination.

The playoffs are following the standard format, featuring bo3 double-elimination series and a bo5 final.

ESL One invited a spectacular list of teams to this event. Familiar faces include, Team Secret, OG, Nigma, Team Liquid and Alliance. Then, there’s Ninjas in Pyjamas, Natus Vincere, Vikin.gg, HellRaisers, Cyber Legacy and 5men as well.

Filling the remaining spots are the closed qualifier winners: Winstrike Team, mudgolems, Yellow Submarine, EXTREMUM and Tempo Esports. Rest assured, these teams are no pushovers either. The qualifier was as intense as the main event.

The action kicked off yesterday with two openers between NiP/5men and Secret/Tempo. It was no surprise Secret easily manhandled Tempo in a relatively clean series. The NiP’s series was a bit of a surprise, as everyone expected a tied series or 5men victory. However, the Ninjas really put up a good showing and finally put 5men in their place for the first time this season.

Heading into days two and three, we will finally see all the favorites play their opening matches and guesstimate the state of the scene this fall.

The case for Team Secret’s defeat

Secret has been dominating the entire 2020 season. Eight trophies in total and the most recent victory at OGA Dota PIT make them the Odds favorites for the entire Germany event. However, VP.Prodgy showed the gods can bleed after making Secret bleed in both the Playoffs R1 and the finals at OGA Pit. We also have to note both OG and Nigma played without a full lineup, while NaVi was adjusting to a newly signed roster.

Coming into ESL One Germany 2020 every single team is fielding their full lineups. Additionally, Team Secret has been tested so many times this season that they are starting to repeat the same old patterns in each match up.  A mix between a motivated OG or Nigma, and the idle comfort of Team Secret being a dominating force throughout the season, might finally give us a new champion in Europe.

Make way for captain Kuroky

The highly-anticipated return of Nigma’s captain, Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi is upon us! Since the OMEGA League Immortal Division, Kuroky has been absent from the team in many tournaments, sometimes leaving it all to his fellow coach, rmN-. While the coach did admirably as a substitute captain, many fans were itching to see Kuroky back at his monitor screen again. After a two-month injury and recovery ordeal, Kuroky is physically healthy and ready to play.

Since it’s been so long since Kuroky last played, Nigma may be off to a shaky start at ESL One Germany 2020. However, knowing the International 7 champion himself, getting back on his feet is probably not difficult.

And perhaps, with the return of Nigma’s complete roster, we just might see Nigma in another finale clash with Team Secret.

Nobody invited the Bears

Amongst the powerhouse teams who made it into the top 4 finishes at OGA Dota 2 PIT S3, there’s yet a missing team in the bunch. It’s VP.Prodigy, the other grand finalist, who sent chills to even Team Secret during the finals.

Unfortunately, VP.Prodigy’s absence is disappointing news for CIS fans, rooting for the bears. Oddly enough, Virtus.pro was initially invited to the event, but withdrew due to inactivity. It doesn’t seem ESL made accommodations for VP.Prodigy to take the slot instead.

They VP slot was filled by team Cyber Legacy. They may not be a team that many would recognize in recent events. However, there’s no denying that they field a decent line-up of seasoned players.

Beware Dark Horses

Last but not least, let’s talk about the five ‘amateur’ teams in the pack, most notably, the mudgolems. They are stack of multi-national players with some interesting punching power attached to their names. Adrian “Fata” Trinks and Neta “33” Shapira are the two veteran players that the EU is sleeping on. The former NiP/Alliance players have attended past Internationals countless of times. The rest of the roster consists of old EU talent that’s itching to prove their worth on the main stage.

If there’s an underdog team to root and rush in Dota 2 betting, it’s probably the mudgolems.

To catch the games live, visit ESL One’s Twitch channel daily at 14:00 CEST.

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