Team Secret has had quite a journey over the last year after being promoted to the Pro League, winning the DreamHack Valencia Minor and finishing joint-third at the Paris Major only to fail to make it to the Pro League Finals for Season 8 by a hair. They then finished seventh in Europe during Season 9, which led to them being relegated back down to the Challenger League for this season.
Despite this, and the retirement of one of their original players in sTiZze, the team hasn’t stopped fighting. They were invited to the Vegas Minor as a major underdog only to beat six Pro League teams, including the top LATAM teams of NiP and Liquid, as well as the current second-seeded European roster of Looking For Org. This run and their qualification for next week’s Major shows that they can compete with the best teams around the world despite being in the second-tier of European R6.
We, therefore, spoke to the teams most experienced player of meepeY to see how they are preparing for the event and to ask what we should expect from them:
You guys and forZe are the only Challenger League rosters at the Major, making you one of the biggest underdogs. Does this relieve some pressure from your team?
I’m sure the other teams at the event won’t underestimate us and will do as much research into us as we are into them.
How has Ferral fit into the roster?
Smoothly. He has a very aggressive mindset when it comes to helping with callouts which balance out with my more traditional ‘by-the-book’ leading.
Ferral seen second from the left after winning the Paris Major while G2’s analyst
What is your biggest advantage over your opponents at this event?
Not many people expect much from us versus what they’re expecting from other teams we’ll be facing. There’s a lot of pressure on them to perform as they’re “supposed to beat us” because we’re just a “lowly CL team”. Like I said in my first answer, they’ll prepare for us as much as anyone else but there’s still this factor to take into account.
You have quite a history against LATAM opponents, having faced them in every international LAN you’ve attended, with a flawless record against them in the last year (5 wins). What would you say is the key against these teams and will you be hoping for more LATAM opponents at this event?
It’s a Secret! It’s something we’ve been able to successfully execute every time we play vs LATAM and I’m sure it’ll be important for Raleigh.
Last weekend you lost to Na’Vi in the Premiership Finals. What went wrong in this matchup?
Raleigh is around the corner and is much more important than Prem. Na'Vi had nothing to hide so they were free to play at their 100%.
The group stages are to be announced two weeks before the Major kicks off -- how do you go about preparing for an event when you don’t know who you’ll be playing?
You focus on yourselves. You refine old strategies, create new ones. Practice multiple play styles, experiment, see what works and refine it. Teams that stagnate get left behind.
The team groupings for the Six Major
How much of a challenge do you foresee your return to the Pro League being?
Not as ‘easy’ as our last run through but I’m confident in our ability. With this lineup we have an exceptional ability to turn up and perform when it matters (Vegas for example).
Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans?
We have a group of incredibly loyal and dedicated fans that always cheer us on in chat, who always turn up to our streams, who are active in discords and chat rooms, who create the dumbest but funniest copypastas, who are always supporting us through-out our shortcomings and triumphant victories. It’s an honour to have them supporting us.
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The Six Major Raleigh 2019 is taking place from the 12th of August to the 18th, where Team Secret will be pitted against the best teams on the planet, starting off with Rogue and then either G2 Esports or Cyclops Athlete Gaming in Group B, where they will be hoping to advance into the playoffs and better their semi-final finish at last years Six Major. For more content on the upcoming Major, check out the other interviews here or read our interview with the team from back in Season 8 here, their coach Helbee here, or with their fellow Group B team of CYCLOPS here.