Team Secret's captain, Clement "Puppey" Ivanov, gave an interview after their hard-fought victory against Virtus.pro at PGL Wallachia Season 1 in Dota 2. The esports athlete shared his emotions and named the favorite in the upcoming match between BetBoom Team and Team Spirit.
“There were a lot of different emotions, all sorts. I don't know what to say. I just won the game and played for 90 minutes. It feels good... We didn't even think about exchanging thrones. We had two towers, and VP's players didn't have much damage. We had ways to kill them if they tried. I just didn't have a teleport, but respect them for doing that. Of course, they lost because of it, but respect.
If they hadn't gone for it, would they have lost? We couldn't beat VP for 50-60 minutes, what would have changed? They had good chances. We already had a tough scenario. We could have played another 30 minutes. We made a lot of mistakes, but they went for the respectful idea.” - Clement "Puppey" Ivanov
“I would say that BetBoom Team is currently better, and Spirit seems to have issues when there isn't $30 million at stake. Of course, it's a plus for Spirit, but at the same time, it's a minus (laughs). I don't know what to say, they both play very well. We play a lot of qualifiers against Spirit. We don't play against BetBoom Team, but they are currently better.” - Clement "Puppey" Ivanov
Secret defeated VP with a score of 2:1. In the final map, the teams went for a throne exchange, where Ivanov's team emerged victorious. Next, the team will compete for a playoff slot. Their opponent will be determined on the evening of May 14th after the conclusion of other group-stage matches.
PGL Wallachia Season 1 is taking place from May 10th to 19th in Romania. The prize pool amounts to one million dollars. This is Secret's first LAN tournament in 2024.