posted by Abelle,
Team Secret are headed to The Manila Masters with a new team member. YapzOr has been a part of the professional Dota 2 scene for a few years now, and he’s even already competed at TI, but being on Team Secret feels like his biggest break yet. Road To The International 2017 https://t.co/EcS6beQTT1 #SecretFighting pic.twitter.com/DLVMmpHcQ6— Team Secret (@teamsecret) May 4, 2017

YapzOr joined Team Secret less than a month ago. The news was announced on May 4th, just one day before the roster made their debut in DreamLeague Season 7. The following weeks were very busy for the team, with DreamLeague, EPICENTER qualifiers and Mr. Cat Invitational EU. The team played 14 Best-of-two or Best-of-three series in 16 days. Of those series, they won or tied 12 and outright lost just two.

Road to Team Secret
YapzOr got his start on Balkan Bears, the same team that we first saw w33 play for back in 2014, then Miracle- in 2015. In fact, YapzOr and Miracle- both joined the team at the same time, in January 2015. The two Jordanians’ paths split when YapzOr left Balkan Bears in June, playing with various European pros in FACEIT League and standing in for Burden United and 4 Clover & Lepricon before settling in with Monkey Freedom Fighters alongside SingSing and current OG coach 7ckngMad.

The team failed to qualify for most LAN events, but were invited to Dota 2 Champions League Season 6 (13th-16th place), The Defense Season 5 (13th-18th) and DreamLeague Season 4 (their best result together, a 7-7 record in the round robin and 6th place overall).

After Monkey Freedom Fighters disbanded in late 2015, YapzOr was part of team with Pajkatt and Saksa called Mamas Boys who managed to take 4th place in DotaCinema’s Captain’s Draft 3.0 event. YapzOr left that team after less than two months to join No Diggity, a team created by Synderen in late February 2016. One month later, the team added KheZu in the offlane.

No Diggity at EPICENTER. L-R YapzOr, KheZu, Era, qojqva, Synderen. Credit: EPICENTER


No Diggity would go on to qualify for the first season of EPICENTER, starting their run in open qualifiers. They also came 3rd in Manila Major regional qualifiers and made it to the DreamLeague Season 5 LAN. They came fourth out of four teams, but their opponents were OG and Virtus.pro, and they were able to win one game in each of the series against those two powerhouses.

When No Diggity were signed by Escape Gaming, things really started to take off for YapzOr. Thanks to Valve’s minimal direct invites to TI6, a third-place finish in the European regional qualifiers booked the squad a ticket to Seattle for the Wild Card round. They made it through Wild Cards but did very poorly in the group stage, then were eliminated in the lower bracket first round by Fnatic.

Escape Gaming stuck together in the post TI shuffle, but began to drift their separate ways beginning with KheZu, who left to join Team Secret in November 2016. YapzOr left a few weeks later, when B)ears was formed in late December.

B)ears were a promising roster, but after failing to qualify for The Kiev Major, the team quickly fell apart and YapzOr found himself without a team once again. Just a couple weeks later, Team Secret announced that YapzOr would join the squad, and now they’re in Manila getting ready for their first LAN together.

Team Secret 2017 pic.twitter.com/s7uITNJWnF— Team Secret (@teamsecret) May 24, 2017


Have you ever seen so many LANs?
It’s not just The Manila Masters that Team Secret have to look forward to. In those aforementioned busy weeks since YapzOr joined the team they also qualified for EPICENTER, DreamLeague Season 7 LAN finals at DreamHack Atlanta and were invited to DOTA Summit 7.

The Manila Masters will be this roster's first test against international teams, but they’re already proven that they’re one of the strongest teams in Europe right now. If they can get a LAN win (or even two) under their belt, they could be one step closer to a TI7 direct invite.

First time i get a direct invite to a LAN!!!!! Cant wait for manila masters and summit 7!!!!!— Yazied Jaradat (@YapzOrdota) May 7, 2017

Team Secret will play their first match at 3:30 CEST, the start of Day 1 of Manila Masters action. They face Newbee, a team that’s looked strong but seems to have been unable to keep up the high level of play we saw from them earlier this year. If Secret win that match, they face the winner of OG vs Team NP. If they lose, they drop to the lower bracket they face the loser of the same match.

Feeling pretty meta
YapzOr’s two most played heroes in competitive matches are Rubick and Earthshaker, and it just so happens that both heroes are viable picks in the current meta. Team Secret have been picking these heroes plenty for Yapzor, along with a healthy dose of Clockwerk, which YapzOr also handles beautifully.

Great plays by @YapzOrdota @teamsecret #DHDreamLeague pic.twitter.com/iQNkT8GBx9— DreamHack Dota (@DreamHackDota) May 5, 2017

You know when a player’s signature hero is Rubick that you’re in for some big plays, and YapzOr is no exception. Over the years we’ve seen some legendary pros like KuroKy and Fy make their name synonymous with the hero. It’s high time for a new Grand Magus to step onto the field.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope, it's YapGod! pic.twitter.com/QkxbPPpvk7— Team Secret (@teamsecret) May 20, 2017

How do you think Team Secret will fare at The Manila Masters and beyond with YapzOr on the squad? Let us know in the comments!

Header image source: EPICENTER

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