Since losing both zai and MATUMBAMAN in the post-International roster shuffle, Team Secret has kept quiet and started making moves to fill the void those departures left in what was one of the most successful rosters in team history.
Through the use of a multi-part comic series themed around its Dota 2 players, Secret slowly gave fans more to look forward too, before finally confirming part of the rumors and announcing that veteran iceiceice is joining the roster.
Led by the combination of Puppey and YapzOr, Secret set about making its changes internally—annoucing Nisha would make the swap away from the mid lane and back to playing safe lane in the upcoming season. And, while this singular change doesn’t mean much right now because Secret plays a very fluid and adaptive style of Dota, it opens the door for another addition many think is coming next.
The Singaporean star iceiceice has been at the forefront of DotA since 2005, making the jump to Dota 2 in 2011, where he helped Scythe.SG place third at the original TI—an event that his now captain won.
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From there, he has consistently jumped between teams, only remaining with the same organization for more than one season twice in his career, spending 2014 to 2016 with Vici Gaming and 2018 to 2020 on Fnatic. He is one of only two players to have attended a TI with seven different teams, and is tied with both KuroKy and LaNm for the second-most appearances at TI overall at nine, surpassed only by Puppey, who is the only player to have attended all 10.
He made the jump to North America last season, joining Evil Geniuses and helping them dominate the Dota Pro Circuit’s regular season, though they ended up falling well short of their goals at TI10, exiting in a tie for ninth place.
Now, iceiceice joins a Secret squad that is coming off of its best placement ever at an International with a third-place finish and looking to retool for another run at the Aegis of Champions—if his trolling and unorthodox playstyle doesn’t get him killed first.
”Pretty excited to be playing with Secret. It’s a perfect lineup for my playstyle, and Puppey has always been someone I’ve wanted to play with for the last 10 years,” iceiceice said. “I love camels and I can’t wait to be punched by Puppey.”
With Nisha swapping roles, Secret has left the doors open for a new mid laner to step in. Many rumors, including an apparent leak from now Talon Esports’ Gabbi, point to SumaiL joining the team as its final player.