Team Secret and Evil Geniuses will close TI9 playoffs upper bracket round 1 best-of-threes. Needless to say that this match could very well be TI9 Grand Finals too.
UPDATE: Team Secret's amazing moment vs EG comes in vain at TI9
Team Secret vs Evil Geniuses at TI9 starts at 6am BST / 7am CEST with live streams and betting odds at Luckbox.
Related: TI9 standings, bracket and results
Head-to-head Record
Advantage Secret
Out of the 30 matches played between the two organizations since 2014, Evil Geniuses has only won 9 times and drew 3 best-of-two matches.
Last time EG beat Secret, it was in ESL One Birmingham Group Stage. But this did not scare Secret as they came back in Grand Finals to beat EG 3-2.
Secret also sent EG to MDL Paris Major lower bracket finals from upper bracket finals, beating them 2-1. Team Liquid ended EG's dreams of a replay in Grand Finals, eliminating them right after, 2-0.
Secret eliminated EG again 2-0 in Chongqing Major lower bracket finals before that.
The second most recent victory of EG vs Secret is one year ago... in The International 2018 upper bracket round 1 too! Then, they sent Secret to TI8 lower bracket round 2, 2-0.
Their Road to TI9
Qualification
Advantage Secret
Team Secret
They literally flew over 2018/2019 DPC Season. Finishing first of the DPC standings with 14,400 points. They won the Chongqing Major in January and the MDL Paris Major in May. They finished 4th in The Stockholm Major. Their glowing performance at the heart of the DPC season allowed them to go at the EPICENTER Moscow Major with a lighter mood, surely to prepare for TI (to keep the pace and adapt to new metas) in an attempt to correct last year's display?
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses ends a consistent season on a 4th place in the DPC standings, qualifying directly to TI9 like their opponent of the day.
EG finished 3rd of the MDL Paris Major, 2nd of the MDL Macau, 2nd of the Chongqing Major and 3rd of the Kuala Lumpur Major. If there was a bonus for consistency over a DPC season, they would certainly get it to the maximum. Only a final victory is missing to their yearly record, when is better than TI to take the lion share? And maybe, meet OG again on the way...
TI9 Group Stage
Advantage Secret
Team Secret
Team Secret finished second of their group with 11 points (4-3-1), they only lost to the other titans of TI: PSG.LGD. It is hard to expect less than a perfect performance every time when you have followed Secret all along the season. This is why it was surprising seeing them losing games vs eliminated Chaos E.C (even if already qualified), Mineski and TNC combined during this TI9 group stage.
Team Secret 2-0 Alliance - Series A1
Team Secret 2-0 Newbee - Series A2
Team Secret 2-0 Team Liquid - Series A3
Team Secret 2-0 Keen Gaming - Series A4
Team Secret 1-1 TNC Predator - Series A6
Team Secret 1-1 Mineski - Series A7
Team Secret 0-2 PSG.LGD - Series A8
Team Secret 1-1 Chaos E.C - Series A9
Evil Geniuses
They finished 3rd of their group (3-3-2) and lost against FNATIC and OG. Their TI9 group stage is at the image of their DPC season, consistent, in spite of games lost vs teams who qualified through their regional qualifier.
Evil Geniuses 0-2 FNATIC - Series B1
Evil Geniuses 1-1 Natus Vincere - Series B2
Evil Geniuses 0-2 OG - Series B3
Evil Geniuses 2-0 Royal Never Give Up - Series B4
Vici Gaming 0-2 Evil Geniuses - Series B5
Evil Geniuses 1-1 Infamous - Series B6
Virtus.pro 1-1 Evil Geniuses - Sereis B8
Evil Geniuses 2-0 Ninjas in Pyjamas - Series B9
Mindset going into the match
The actual questions of the game seem to be: Has Team Secret lost its pace due to an early TI9 qualification in the DPC season? Did they adapt to new patches and metasin crucial games? Are they quietly observing without unveiling too much on their play?
If we compare EG and Secret's trajectories this year, it clearly leans in favor of Team Secret. They have just been amazing, crushing anyone on their road, heavy weights included. However, did their EPICENTER Moscow Major performance announce the end of a cycle?
When both teams met-up last year at The International 2018, for the exact same upper bracket round 1 best-of-three, Evil Geniuses won 2-0. Will history beat the odds?
*Featured Picture Credits: Evil Geniuses Youtube Channel
