Dota 2: Nisha dominates as Secret sweep Goon Squad, stay in race for Arlington Major

Otomo
·Contributor
·4 min read
Team Secret midlaner Nisha put on back-to-back godlike performances to sweep Goon Squad and keep his team in the running for a spot in the Dota 2 Arlington Major. (Photos: Team Secret, Valve Software)
Team Secret midlaner Nisha put on back-to-back godlike performances to sweep Goon Squad and keep his team in the running for a spot in the Dota 2 Arlington Major. (Photos: Team Secret, Valve Software)

Team Secret's match against Goon Squad on Tuesday (12 July) was one of the most important matches in the 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Summer Tour regional league for Western Europe.

A victory for Secret would keep them in contention for the Arlington Major, while Goon Squad needed to win to avoid a tiebreaker with Gaimin Gladiators.

Team Secret's performance this DPC season has been hit or miss. But while the team have struggled, their midlaner Michał "Nisha" Jankowski has performed exceptionally in every game and their match against Goon Squad was no exception.

Knowing how much Secret needed the win, Nisha absolutely dominated Goon Squad and willed his team to a 2-0 series victory.

Here are Nisha's best plays in the Secret-versus-Goon Squad series that show yet again how incredible the Polish midlaner is:

Psi Blade spill damage nets Nisha a Triple Kill

In the first game of the series, Nisha played Templar Assassin and managed to stay at the top of the networth despite the rest of his team struggling.

At the 24-minute mark, the two teams clashed and Nisha was able to bring down Linus "Limmp" Blomdin's Puck thanks to the silence from Templar Assassin's Aghanim Shard.

Nisha then disposed of Simon "Handsken" Rasmus Haag.

Just before Handsken died, he used Cogs to try to escape but that backfired on the team as Nisha used the Cogs in order to land a final hit on Charlie "CharlieDota" Arat and take him down.

It was a beautiful display as Nisha's ability to use the enemy's traps to get the Psi Blade spill damage secured a kill on the enemy's carry and allowed Secret to take control of the game.

Nisha saves Puppey and gets Secret a Double Kill

In game two of the series, Nisha played Puck, a flashy hero that can make big plays thanks to its burst damage and elusiveness.

Puck is notably Nisha's second most-played hero in professional matches, behind Morphling.

When two members of Goon Squad chased down the Clement "Puppey" Ivanov expecting an easy kill, Nisha showed up big time and stopped both of them in their tracks.

Limmp almost managed to escape, but Nisha was relentless as he hunted him down.

Nisha gets four kills and shuts down Goon Squad's momentum

In both games of the series, Goon Squad managed to take the lead in the midgame.

This was scarier in game two as Goon Squad held a 10,000 gold advantage and looked set to take down Roshan 30 minutes into the game.

Or at least they would have if they were playing against any other midlaner except Nisha.

Nisha dealt nearly 8,000 damage in one fight and secured four kills for himself. No other player did half of Nisha's damage during the fight at Roshan.

Nisha forces two BKB uses and a buyback on Limmp

Thanks to the vision provided by Remco "Crystallis" Arets's Templar Assassin traps, Nisha spotted three members of Goon Squad hiding in the trees and immediately jumped on them.

That forced two of them to use Black King Bar, which led to two kills for Secret and Limmp buying back to defend Goon Squad's base.

A split-second decision by Nisha netted Secret a massive advantage, tripling their net worth advantage and giving them a commanding lead.

Nisha won't let Goon Squad start a comeback

Despite a 14,000 lead for Secret, Goon Squad were not out of the game yet. At the 40-minute mark, Goon managed to surprise Secret and quickly bring down both supports along with Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang.

Goon Squad then focused down Crystallis, killing him as well. Things were looking tough for Secret but, as always, Nisha was there to bail them out.

He focused Goon Squad's back line and secured a Triple Kill for himself along with a courier snipe. What started as a comeback for Goon quickly turned into an even trade thanks to Nisha's amazing solo play.

Nisha had an absolutely phenomenal series, as he had a combined KDA of 33-4-25.

The midlaner had a series-high 18 kills to go along with 12 assists against three deaths in game one, which he then followed up with 15 kills, and 13 assists against just one death in game two.

In the close out game of the series, Nisha also dealt 67,000 damage, nearly tripling the 24,000 average damage dealt by Goon Squad's cores.

Secret now have four victories to their name, ensuring that they will have a tiebreaker against Entity and possibly Team Liquid for the third and fourth spots in the league.

The winner of the tiebreaker will attend the Arlington Major.

After a tumultuous season, Team Secret are looking strong and well on their way to making a comeback.

Otomo is a long-time gaming enthusiast and caster. He has been playing games since he was 10 and is the biggest Dota 2 fan.

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