Dota 2 – Team Secret Is down to 3 Players, MATUMBAMAN Leaves

After 2 years of solid performances and a 3^rd place at The International 2021, MATUMBAMAN has decided to leave Team Secret. It’s not clear why he did it, just like it’s not clear why his teammate zai decided to do the same. Secret looked stronger than ever with them on the roster and 2022 could have been their year at TI. But despite everything we see from the outside, the team’s roster is clearly not entirely happy with the current state of affairs.

MATUMBAMAN’s Career and Time with Team Secret

MATU is just 26 years old, so he still has at least 5-6 years to play at the professional level before he retires. So far, his best results date from two periods: the Team Liquid years and the Team Secret years.

Team Liquid

MATU spent almost 4 years competing alongside KuroKy and their results together were quite impressive: 1^st place at The International 7, 1^st place at EPICENTER 2016 and 2017, 1^st place at China Dota2 Supermajor, 2^nd place at The Shanghai Major and The Manila Major (2016), and 4^th place at TI8. It’s hard to ask for more. But because of the team’s inability to deliver consistently good results in 2019, KuroKy decided to make a roster change and MATU was the one who was asked to leave.

Team Secret

After joining Team Secret in November 2019, MATUMBAMAN had another fantastic run full of trophies and top results. Among other things, he won DreamLeague Season 13, OMEGA League: Europe Immortal Division, and ESL One Birmingham. Secret also finished 3^rd at The International 10 and was declared the best esports team of 2020 thanks to the numerous titles it won in Europe and CIS in the online era of the game. And not only did it win trophy after trophy. Secret also won in style, going from one flawless Grand Final (3 – 0) to another. And this lasted almost an entire season.

What’s Next for MATU

It’s hard to say what MATUMBAMAN will do next, but one potential destination is obvious: OG. The team had just lost Sumail and is in need of a great carry. Apart from ana, who’s probably not interested in playing Dota 2 professionally at this point, and MATUMBAMAN, it’s hard to think of another player. And in fact, this might just be the reason why MATU decided to leave Secret: OG called and made him a great offer.

With very little time left until the teams need to finalize their rosters, we’re likely to find out in the coming days who will replace MATU and which is his next team.

 

Photo credit: Valve