After being demoted once more in the Dota Pro Circuit’s summer split, Team Secret changed its Dota 2 lineup. Saiful “Fbz” Ilham was recruited from Southeast Asia, replacing Miroslav “BOOM” Bian, a shift that Clement “Puppey” Ivanov further outlined in a post-match interview on June 12.
While going over the recent meta changes and Dota 2 trends, the TI all-timer was asked what he hoped to gain from Secret’s offlaner switch heading into DreamLeague Season 20.
Puppey underlined the fact that BOOM wasn’t an offlane player, as he switched to the role after playing years of mid-lane. Since the offlane wasn’t BOOM’s main role, the player was put in an uncomfortable spot. Despite showing his best effort, BOOM lacked “it” factor that successful offlane players possess.
“BOOM’s really nice to work with, but he wasn’t that confident on his offlane,” Puppey said. “Offlaners search for these weirdo things, or they know exactly what’s necessary to be done.”
Highlighting that offlaners can’t question their moves, Puppey still implied that BOOM could flourish into a decent offlaner, but it would take “so much time.” Time was of the essence for Puppey, as his legacy was in danger.
With Secret getting relegated twice in the 2023 DPC, the team can’t directly qualify for The International 2023, and they will need to play through the qualifiers to attend the event. Considering the qualifiers are only months away, Secret ran out of time to wait for team chemistry, which forced them to bring native role players to salvage as much as they could from the 2023 season.