There was nary a dry eye in any home as Team Secret took a 2-1 win over Team Liquid in the penultimate series of The International 2022 and MATUMBAMAN shared one final goodbye with the competitive Dota 2 community.
As soon as Tundra Esports sent Secret down to the lower bracket, everyone knew that this series would be emotional for both fans and players.
For Puppey, he had to send two close friends with whom he has played more games than his current roster on Secret home in pursuit of his second Aegis of Champions. Before this event, Matu announced TI11 would be his final tournament before hanging up his lucky shorts and walking away from the game.
It was an incredible send-off for the legendary player and this Liquid run, as each of the three games had at least some back and forth between the two teams who made it that far from having to go through the Last Chance Qualifier.
Everything came down to a final game where multiple players could land on comfort heroes, but none were more comfortable than Puppey on his signature Enchantress. That pairing and Crystallis’ Drow Ranger allowed Secret to play around with a lot of Liquid’s setups and into their individual strengths.
Immediately after the Ancient fell, Secret started celebrating, while the focus of the arena shifted to Matu as he let out his emotions before standing up to leave the stage one last time—but not without embracing his former teammates to the sound of a roaring crowd chanting his name.
Post-game, Matu discussed his career and how Dota brought him so much happiness over the years despite how his thoughts had drifted to leaving it behind even three years into what became an eight-year career.
Related: MATUMBAMAN locks in happiness regardless of Liquid’s TI11 result
“There’s just a lot of good moments with a lot of people,” Matu said. “I can’t really name all of them because there are dozens and dozens and dozens of them coming up, even the casters, the analysts, the teams I didn’t even play with. These players I consider them my friends and in some way a family too. So it’s really sad to say goodbye to them but sometimes you gotta move on with your life and figure something else out.”
According to Matu, that next step will involve taking a step back to relax on his sailing boat while thinking about what he truly wants to do next.
And, while the next steps for the remaining Liquid team are unclear, Secret will be facing Tundra in the grand finals as Puppey aims to take revenge on the team who ended their undefeated streak and break his improvement streak by lifting the Aegis a year ahead of schedule.
