However, this year, the question of his participation at TI as a player is in a very, very sharp way. Will the record holder be able to extend the streak and forever set a record for participation in this major tournament, write in his name in history also as a player who repeatedly raised Aegis over his head? Let's figure it out.
Clement's current team is his own organization Team Secret, respectively, he is the only player that has never been expelled from the team, and all the players were selected around him, it was he who recruited new talents and tried to make them the strongest team in history. Almost from the very beginning, Team Secret came to every championship, tournament, or cup as favorites and guaranteed participants in the finals, and this was usually the case. A mix of famous players, a mix of no-name talents from Europe that soon became the best in the world, a team of the best of the best - this is Team Secret.
The 2021/2022 season is not going well for Team Secret. After a successful performance at the last TI, where they lost to the victorious champions in an equal fight 1-2. It is very difficult to come back after such a defeat when you are one-step away from the grand final, but Puppey and the team still did not give up and decided to conquer this largest international tournament in the history of esports again. The main decision was to replace the carry player, instead of Matumbaman, the previously unknown but promising Remco “Crystallis” Arets came, who showed promise at the beginning of the season and demonstrated a stable game on key characters, but so far, he is not too happy with the fans of this team.
All this has an extremely negative impact on the mentality of the team, and as a result, we have an uncertain performance of this team at the regional qualifiers. Yes, they made it to the grand finals, where they lost 0-3 unopposed to the guys from Entity, where the players really show a high level of play and interaction, an absolutely deserved pass to the main stage of TI.
Now we can say that Western European teams are going through hard times, the same Nigma, Liquid, etc, with the exception of a couple of organizations like OG or the same Entity. The general decline in the level of play in Europe led to poor preparation of Clement's team for all tournaments.
Still extremely high. Obviously, among all the teams that made it to the LC Qualifies, Team Secret is the clear favorites. The level of performance of teams from non-European regions other than China leaves much to be desired, so Puppey and his team have extremely high chances of moving ahead, even with the poor performance they show. I think that Xtreme Gaming and Virtus Pro can only compete with them and not allow Clement's team to go to the long-awaited tournament.
Let's hope that Puppey will set up his team well, and select heroes for the meta and teammates, because so far the synergy of the entire five is at a weak level. Still, an exciting element is the distribution of farm between the three cores. How to put it all together, how to teach people to think correctly in the game, how to get together before an important match and let your captain play a record 10th time! Let's support a veteran of the professional scene, a living legend that still has the power to create history.
