There are very few players in esports that can say they have remained at the very top of their specific game since before it officially launched, but Clement “Puppey” Ivanov can say that and more about his Dota 2 career. Not only did he help hoist the first Aegis of Champions at the inaugural iteration of The International in 2011, but he’s the last remaining player to have attended every TI to date.
That streak is once again on the chopping block this year after a rough Dota Pro Circuit season, however, but Puppey doesn’t seem too concerned. In an interview with Dot Esports, Team Secret’s captain said he doesn’t think much about his longstanding Dota 2 record and is just focused on winning games, regardless of the year.
“I don’t really care about some narrative,” Puppey said to Dot Esports. “Of course, it’s in my head that ‘Oh no, maybe I’m going to miss TI, finally I’m going to miss it,’ or something like that. But some things are just bound to happen and you shouldn’t really worry about it. I just think in the moment and try to win the game. If I put everything into it and I lose, at least I put everything into it.”
From winning the first TI with NAVI, Puppey has never been able to claim the Aegis again even with 11 trips to Dota’s biggest stage under his belt.
He has come close with multiple teams but keeps falling just short, with a miracle run that started in the Last Chance Qualifier ending with him smiling and walking off the stage after a second-place finish that shocked the world. And, even more surprising, was the stark downfall of Secret this season as they have gone through three major roster shifts since Nisha left to join Team Liquid in December.
Even if he does ignore the narrative, outside of some jokes, Secret has improved its placement at every TI it has attended since TI6—potentially leading to the Dota Gods to try and stop Puppey from attending this year and continuing the climb to a second Aegis. But he is taking it all in stride.
“I’ve had bad runs at TI, I’ve had bad years, I’ve had good years, and a lot of the time you just end up unlucky in a way,” Puppey said. “Things just don’t work out and you start losing a lot that year. I’ve been in those years where I lost a lot and didn’t win anything, probably three or four different times in my career. This is one of those times where, you know, that I’ve been unlucky for a little bit. I’ve also maybe not played as well, but there are a lot of things involved.”
With all of the roster changes Secret has made during turbulent seasons, Puppey has retained a sharp focus on the game and worked to keep an open mind around new ideas.
That open-mindedness has become increasingly important to him as Dota continues to evolve 10 years into the game because adaptation is more important now than ever. Being able to find where one player excels and then implementing those unique traits within the team is a necessary struggle while the game is built around hero experts.
“People are experts on some heroes that you cannot really control in the sense that you’re going to [end up] drafting things that are very unique,” Puppey said. “That’s an adaptation you have to do because everything has become more about getting the best out of your players and understanding their strategy much more than trying to force a strategy of your own towards them. People bring unique ideas and you need to learn them and understand what they’re good at.”
Puppey calls this process “adaptation mode,” because he is less focused on trying to find things that work traditionally and more on trying to craft strategies where those unique aspects and heroes each player brings to the table can become a cohesive approach to Dota.
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Understanding different heroes, the timings they have for certain abilities, and how a player with expertise on a hero changes those dynamics is a challenge that only gets harder the more diverse the game becomes. For Puppey, implementing those ideas into a strategy that will hopefully carry him to a 12th straight TI in October is just part of a “natural adaptation of what’s going on in Dota.”
For Puppey and Secret, that adaptation led to a solid ninth-place finish at Riyadh Masters 2023 against some of the best teams in the world. Now they will have to take it up a notch and earn a spot at TI12 in the regional qualifiers, which begin on Aug. 17.
