On the first day of December 2022, Team Secret announced the departure of Nisha, citing that they respect the carry player’s decision to pursue other goals. However, this was no ordinary announcement of a player’s departure, as the team captain, Clement “Puppey” Ivanov had a few words for his royal teammate.
Amidst the post-TI roster shuffles occurring throughout the Dota 2 scene, hes departure from Team Secret is not one that fans expected. After all, Team Secret won first runner-up at the International 11 (TI11), which surpassed their past TI results. What makes Secret’s TI11 run even more special is that this is a team that competed in TI11 Last Chance Qualifier just to qualify for TI11.
Nisha leaves Team Secret
Words from Puppey on Nisha’s departure
Puppey wouldn’t be the only one missing Nisha under Team Secret’s namesake. The prodigy contributed to Team Secret’s success since the year 2018, right after TI8 concluded with Team Secret’s fifth-place finish.
Since then, Secret consistently climbed the ranks at every TI, but never truly make it to grand finals until TI11. While Team Secret did lose an overwhelming 0-3 loss against Tundra Esports at TI11, there’s no denying Secret’s accomplishment. Additionally, the meta at TI11 was unfair, and we covered the abuse of Wraith Pact that won the entire championship.
Nisha’s Legacy
Team Secret is by no means a flawless team, and that’s very evident this year. During the Dota Pro Circuit 2022 (DPC 2022), Secret struggled to compete with other Western European rivals, namely Tundra, OG, and Entity. Despite Secret’s losses, Nisha was still able to keep up with the pace, often being a top net-worth carry hero for Team Secret.
If anything, it’s a testament to Nisha’s consistency at his craft while Secret suffers from other factors, such as having an underwhelming offlane player, such as Daryl “iceiceice” Koh. Or that time when Puppey felt ambitious about recruiting an unorthodox player, Syed “SumaiL” Hassan.
Hence, when Secret eventually settled down with a viable roster right before TI11 Regional Qualifiers, Nisha is already in his prime. What makes Nisha a valuable asset to Secret is his versatile hero pool, often playing any hero that is well in the recent meta.
Where will Nisha go?
As shared by Team Secret, it was Nisha’s decision to move on and perhaps “see more of the world”. While there’s uncertainty in his future career, we will know eventually as DPC 2023 roster locks in one week.
Considering his well-established profile, many powerhouses should be knocking on his door to recruit him. Team Liquid is one team that comes to mind, since there is a mid-player vacancy after Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen. Additionally, his former teammate, Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg is also in this super team, tempting him to join.
Otherwise, we could plausibly speculate the likes of other WEU teams, such as team OG. If Nisha is up for the offlane challenge, OG recently kicked Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf. Nevertheless, OG’s notorious playstyle and banters could be a deterrent for Nisha, considering how well-mannered Nisha is towards his opponents. Eastern European teams aren’t out of question, since we have many EEU players join WEU teams over the past season.
Regardless, Nisha’s new journey will surely debut a promising candidate in the European region he competes. After the strong showcase of WEU teams at TI11, we might just see many strong rivals emerge from this region.
Roster turnaround is quick for Team Secret. As soon as their farwells were said, the team announced Miroslav “BOOM” Bičan, formerly of Gaimin Gladiators is the latest addition to the team.
