Team Secret announced today that Lasse Aukusti “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen is departing from the team. The carry player joined Team Secret in 2019 and has been an integral part of the squad ever since. The departure comes as another large-scale move in this year’s Dota offseason.
Thank you, Matumbaman 🖤
🔗 https://t.co/KxFp8lLzrJ#SecretDota pic.twitter.com/EVu8yS15ie
— Team Secret (@teamsecret) November 15, 2021
Team Secret say goodbye to MATUMBAMAN
Between 2019 and 2020, Team Secret did not lose a tournament for a seven-month period. More importantly, every single one of those grand finals was a 3-0 shut out. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow fans to see 2019-2020 Team Secret compete at the International while they were at their most dominant.
When Team Secret came back for the 2020-2021 season, they did not skip a beat. They won the first regular season of the Western Europe Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) and made it into this year’s International 10. Team Secret performed exceptionally well at The International 10, finishing third at the biggest Dota tournament of all time. They only lost to Team Spirit and PSG.LGD at the tournament, and were predicted to make the finals and even win The International 10. This was Team Secret’s best placement at The International ever, and even with MATUMBAMAN’s departure, they should continue to do well next season.
“Another chapter has ended, but never forgotten,” Clement “Puppey” Ivanov, the captain of Team Secret, said in a statement regarding MATUMBAMAN’s departure. “Lasse is an amazing guy and I really enjoyed being teammates with him. We shared some great moments together and I am sure that we will keep crossing paths outside of our careers. Good luck to you Matu!”
MATUMBAMAN leaving Team Secret will leave two large holes for the organization to fill, as Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg also left the team for Team Liquid earlier this month. The roster lock date is on Nov. 21, 2021, so teams will be gearing up the sign their rosters in the next week.
