ESL One Manila: Team Secret is Back!
Just hours after ESL announced that they will use a double-elimination group stage format in their tournament, the premier eSports entity has announced that Team Secret (TS) will accept the invite for ESL One Manila, reversing their previous decision to skip the tournament.
As a result of this, they will join EHOME and Liquid as one of the three invited teams, along with the winner of the American, European, and Chinese qualifiers plus two winners from the SEA qualifiers, making a total of eight teams.
READ: Secret Out, Declines ESL One Manila Invite
So, many will ask why Secret had a sudden change of heart. Here are some points to ponder:
Why did Team Secret decline in the first place?
Many would say that the sheer cost of logistics would deter any team from joining any tournament that is held just one month before a Valve Dota 2 major. However, the main reason that they declined the invite is because Team Secret is not willing to risk losing their momentum by losing outright during the first round of ESL One Manila, thus making it risky for them to come to Manila and play.
Besides, why spend your time and money to join a third-party tournament to get $115,000 as a champion when can use that time instead to prepare for The Manila Major with a first-place purse that is ten times higher?
What does the decision mean for the future?
After ESL reversed their previous decision by switching to a full group stage bracket, more top-tier teams would seriously consider attending an ESL-hosted Dota 2 event regardless of its relative proximity to a Valve-sponsored tournament.
For future iterations of ESL One, more teams will be willing to take the plunge and attend due to the fact that they do not need anymore to worry about getting eliminated in two maps.
READ: ESL One Manila Is Adding a Whole Group Stage Into the Program
Here is their current roster:
Jacky “EternalEnvy” Mao
Omar “w33” Aliwi
Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen
Clement “Puppey” Ivanov
Johan “pieliedie” Åström
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