Team Secret Dota 2 exits scene for now

Pour one out for one of the true OGs of the modern esports era, as Team Secret have announced that they will be going on hiatus in Dota 2 for the foreseeable future.

The organization broke the news today via their official social media accounts, saying that while they are “still interested in compelling opportunities”, they would be “passive in seeking a return to the scene”. This therefore marks the official end of Team Secret’s tenure in Dota 2, at least for now,

Legendary in every sense

Trust that I will not stand here and watch anyone possibly forget that Team Secret as an esports organization got its start in Dota 2. After both Natus Vincere and Fnatic underperformed severely at The International 2014 (TI4), right when Dota’s popularity started to really explode with regards to the industry as a whole, Kuro Salehi “KuroKy” Takhasomi and Johan “n0tail” Sundstein hatched a plan to make their own team.

Until next time, Dota 2.

A lot of you have been wondering about the status of our Dota 2 division. We are still interested in compelling opportunities, but remain passive in seeking a return to the scene.

Thank you for all the support, and hope to see you later 🖤🤍 pic.twitter.com/L310No628B

— Team Secret (@teamsecret) February 7, 2026

This team was to be run by players and not corporate suits or some larger organization — at least, that’s how it was envisioned by the two at the time. Bringing in his former Na’Vi teammate Clement “Puppey” Ivanov in with him, KuroKy revealed in late August that year that the club was to be named Team Secret.

Their debut in esports was one of the hottest topics at the time. Boasting an all-star cast, including KuroKy going back to playing carry (the position with which he made himself a household name in DotA Allstars), the sky was truly the limit for their 2014 roster. Aside from KuroKy, Puppey, and n0tail, two more of Europe’s finest players in the form of Gustav “s4” Magnusson (a former International champion himself) and Tal “Fly” Aizik also joined in.

This lineup had an incredible run in the 2014-2015 season, winning multiple tier 1 events and entering TI5 as one of the heavy favorites. But interestingly, the roster that played at TI5 wasn’t even the same as they one that they’d started the organization with. Instead, Artour “Arteezy” Babaev was now at the 1 spot, thus putting KuroKy at soft support, while Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg replaced Fly, who at the time was playing from the offlane position.

KuroKy left the organization thereafter, leaving Puppey to run the team on his own alongside figureheads like Matthew “Cyborgmatt” Bailey and, two years later, CEO John Yao.

Always the bridesmaid

Unfortunately, even with the adjustments to their roster, Team Secret did not live up to the expectations that they had built up for themselves over the course of that season. They only managed to finish in the top 8 at TI5, which was a disappointment to say the very least.

Even more unfortunate is the fact that this would become a recurring theme with Secret in particular as far as Dota 2 was concerned. Not a single iteration of this team, whether it was the one with Jacky “EternalEnvy” Mao, nor the one with Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng, ever managed to bring a second International title to Puppey and a title at all to Team Secret.

The closest that they ever came to finally getting it done was at TI11, where they faced the first major Tundra Esports roster born out of the old mudgolems lineup. Secret had both Michał “Nisha” Jankowski and Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok as their two best players at this time, with Nisha breaking out into a superstar from the mid lane and Resolut1on making a return to his peak form.

Alas, Tundra had completely solved the Wraith Pact metagame that had developed at TI11, and swept Secret clean in three games in the grand finals. Secret never recovered from this setback, missing all three years of The International that came thereafter.

The lean years

Thus began the darkest era in Team Secret’s Dota 2 history. From 2023 onwards, Puppey would struggle mightily to keep rosters together — with the organization becoming a revolving door for both washed up pros that wanted to regain their former glory and for up and comers that needed experience playing at the highest level.

Their fans had very little to cheer about in this era, as the team would stumble even in basically every qualifier tournament that they played in. Puppey kept experimenting with different lineups year in and year out, but like with OG at this time as well, nothing really worked out the way anyone had hoped. Ironically, OG are thriving in Dota 2 right now with their acquisition of Team Aureus, while Secret are closing their doors on the game.

Thus, it’s no surprise at all that they’ll be refraining from signing Dota talent from here on. Puppey himself hasn’t been an active player since December last year, and has instead jumped ship to PARIVISION to serve as their coach after the departure of Filipe “Astini” Ribiero. I’m not sure Puppey still has ownership of Team Secret given the possible conflict of interest here, but if he does, then I hope that Secret will find a way to return to Dota someday.