The Story Behind CS:GO Pioneer's Exit From Female Esports
After years of experimenting with new rosters, Team Secret was mostly known for their female division between 2016 and 2017. After re-entering Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) with an all-male roster, Team Secret was doing well for a B-Tier team that hadn’t been funded in years. They set off to partake in multiple European tournaments with a couple of roster changes. None of them really had a major effect on the team, but were still extremely helpful when it came to playing in events. Their 2019 season was completely bombed until they took part in HomeSweetHome roughly one year after their entry. Team Secret has had multiple ups and downs, but will forever be known as a pioneer in female esports.
FIRST EVER ROSTER
On March 17, 2016, Team Secret signed WeRunThisPlace to compete in some of the very first all-female tournaments. They saw an opportunity that was being overlooked by most organisations and wanted a head start in the industry. After months of practice, the official roster consisted of Julia “juliano” Kiran, Ksenia “vilga” Kluenkova, Michaela “mimimimichaela” Lintrup, Zainab “zAAz” Turkie, and Nikolett “nylon” Keszeli. WRTP finished in first-place at the Intel Challenge in Katowice before joining Team Secret. At the time, they were considered the best all-female CS:GO team and wanted to keep up their reputation under a much bigger org.
Not only did Team Secret help out all-female rosters, but they also dominated every tournament they played. Some of the biggest ones included the Copenhagen Games, Starladder Star Championship, and the eSports World Convention. All three titles led to the media swarming Team Secret and their European dream team at the time. Near the end of the year, nylon was replaced with Anna “Ant1ka” Ananikova. An ex-Reason Gaming AWPer who became a free agent with lots of experience. The transition was perfect for both Ant1ka and Team Secret, resulting in a great start to their first season together.
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BAD NEWS FOR TEAM SECRET
In 2017, Team Secret won back to back Intel Challenges in Katowice after going undefeated against Dignitas in the finals. On top of that, they also won their second Copenhagen Games event winning their first two tournaments of that year. Bad news hit the roster of Team Secret two months after winning back to back titles which was devastating for both fans and players - the complete roster was released from the org. Since tournament organisers lacked all-female tournaments, Team Secret was in a tough spot and chose to release their roster entirely. After nearly two years of dwelling over the situation, Team Secret formed another roster, but this time it was for an all-male division.
On November 25, 2019, Flatron “juanflatroo” Halimi, Filip “tudsoN” Tudev, Rigon “rigoN” Gashi, Dionis “sinnopsyy” Budeci, and Guy “anarkez” Trachtman joined as the starting lineup. Their season was cut short after failing to earn a single good placement and instead spent their time practising for 2020. They placed nearly dead last in both LOOT.BET Season 5 and the IEM World Championship Qualifier. When January 2020 came around, rigoN was in for a surprise with his newest org. Team Secret had their eyes on a player by the name of Martin “PERCY” Wessel and felt that he would fit their ideal roster. Because of this decision, rigoN was released after sitting on the bench for nearly two months straight.
Click to enlargeLOSING STREAK
Team Secret took their shot at an event called HomeSweetHome, where they finished second behind Complexity Gaming in week four. The event was a big deal, especially since Team Secret just came off of a massive losing streak. The team AWPer known as tudsoN announced his free agency in June feeling that Team Secret had already peaked. Another player by the name of juanflatroo followed tudsoN out the door resulting in the signing of Danni “smF” Dyg. An ex-Copenhagen Wolves player who stayed with Team Secret up until their retirement as an org. Despite all of the roster changes, Team Secret just couldn’t win after their second-place finish at HomeSweetHome.
TEAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS
On November 24, Team Secret’s CS:GO roster was officially released after multiple hiccups within online events. Their trial coach Matthew “dayV1D” David didn’t seem fit to manage another roster which led to the team's disbanding. All of the players are currently free agents without teams for the remaining 2020 season. Now that doesn’t mean Team Secret wasn’t an influential force within European CS:GO.
They were one of the very first all-female teams in esports along with back to back titles in their division. From 2016 to 2017 they were widely recognised as the best all-female team to play CS:GO, and helped promote the roster that currently plays for XSET. Team Secret was also expected to sign with a popular independent team known as MNH but didn’t have the finances at the time. Luckily for them, Imperial Esports went through with the signing and dropped their roster the following year. It looks like Team Secret made all the right choices before retiring for good.
Images via Team Secret
