Former three position, and Malaysian Dota legend, Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng will return to Team Secret for the upcoming ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore. This marks the first LAN appearance for MidOne since The International 2019, with his return being announced earlier today on Team Secret’s official Twitter.
MidOne will make his return to Team Secret at the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore (Image via Team Secret)
MidOne will stand in for Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat, whose absence is currently unexplained, although the team’s social media jokingly described him as “still busy finishing Death Stranding.”
With YapzOr traditionally taking on a support role, questions remain about where MidOne will play. Team Secret has undergone a reasonable about of shuffling and role-swapping as of late. The recently signed Lasse Aukusti “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalaine moved from Mid to the Carry position, with former carry Michał “Nisha” Jankowski stepping into the Mid role. Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg has also played Support in the past, and could easily step back into the four position, to allow MidOne the offlane role.
Wherever MidOne plays though, he’ll be expected to perform to the team’s high standards. Not only will the ONE Esports Singapore event be his first outing for the squad since being made inactive last month, but it will be the team’s first major competition since taking a break for the first two Dota Pro Circuit events of the season. Secret will be attempting to replicate the early success of last season, which carried the stack as their performance fell off later in the year.
The appearance also marks a quick end to MidOne’s extended break from Dota. He’d previously stepped down from the team, citing extended periods of time away from home, and large amounts of travel as reasons for his departure. Singapore admittedly will be a much shorter journey for the Malaysian player.
MidOne and the rest of Team Secret will be in action from December 17 through December 22 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang. You can catch all of the group stage action live on ONE Esports’ official Twitch channel, from 18:00 local time (SGT).
