Team Secret Leaves Dota 2: Puppey's Departure and the End of an 11-Year Era

Clement “Puppey” Ivanov has left Team Secret after 11 years to become PARIVISION’s permanent Dota 2 coach, and Team Secret has announced a hiatus from the competitive Dota 2 scene. It’s the end of one of esports’ longest-running player-organization partnerships — and it happened quieter than anyone expected.

Puppey didn’t get fired. Team Secret didn’t implode due to drama. Instead, one of Dota 2’s all-time greats simply decided that coaching was the next chapter, and the organization he helped build decided to step back from the scene. For anyone who’s played Dota 2 ranked over the past decade, Puppey’s captaincy at Secret was one of the few constants in a game defined by roster shuffles and organizational chaos.

Here’s how it happened, what it means for the competitive scene, and why PARIVISION might be getting the best coach signing of the year.

Puppey’s Move to PARIVISION

The transition wasn’t sudden. Puppey took a temporary coaching position with PARIVISION for DreamLeague Season 27 in December 2025, stepping in after their previous coach Astini departed. The trial went well — PARIVISION performed better than expectations — and by late January 2026, they made it official: Puppey is their permanent Dota 2 coach.^[1]

His official coaching debut with PARIVISION is DreamLeague Season 28, which begins February 16, 2026. The timing aligns neatly with the broader competitive calendar — the BLAST Slam VI Playoffs run February 13-15 in Malta, and DreamLeague Season 28 starts right after. PARIVISION gets a coach with unmatched institutional knowledge of the game just as the season ramps up.

Notably, Puppey retains a role as Team Secret’s talent director. He hasn’t severed ties with the organization — he’s just no longer their player.

Team Secret’s Dota 2 Hiatus

The more seismic news is Team Secret announcing a hiatus from competitive Dota 2. The organization hasn’t said the departure is permanent, but “hiatus” is typically the word esports organizations use when they don’t intend to return in the near term.

Team Secret was founded by Puppey and KuroKy in 2014. It became one of Dota 2’s most recognizable brands — a team that never won The International but consistently placed among the top contenders. At various points, Secret’s roster included some of the game’s biggest names: Arteezy, s4, zai, Midone, Nisha, and Resolut1on, among others.^[2]

The reasons for the hiatus weren’t elaborated publicly, but the context isn’t hard to read. The Dota 2 esports ecosystem has consolidated around fewer, larger organizations, and the economics of fielding a competitive roster have become increasingly difficult for teams that aren’t winning majors consistently. Secret’s results in 2025 were respectable but not dominant — and without Puppey captaining, building a new identity would require significant investment.

Puppey’s Legacy by the Numbers

Puppey’s competitive Dota 2 career spans 15 years — longer than most professional players in any esport. Here are the numbers that matter:

• The International 1 champion (2011) — as captain of Na’Vi, he won the very first TI with one of the most iconic play styles in Dota history
• TI2 and TI3 Grand Finals — back-to-back Grand Final appearances with Na’Vi, including the legendary Fountain Hook game against TongFu in TI3
• 11 years at Team Secret (2014-2025) — the longest continuous player-organization relationship in Tier 1 Dota 2
• Multiple Major victories — Secret won numerous DPC Majors across multiple seasons, establishing them as a consistent top-4 team globally
• Known for drafting innovation — Puppey was consistently among the first captains to identify and execute unconventional strategies, from Chen-Enchantress early pushes to his infamous Huskar last-picks

The fact that he’s transitioning to coaching rather than retiring outright is significant. Dota 2 support players who learned positioning from watching Puppey’s replays may soon see his influence on PARIVISION’s playstyle instead.

BLAST Slam VI: The Tournament Puppey Won’t Coach At

The timing is bittersweet. BLAST Slam VI Playoffs start tomorrow (February 13) in Malta with a $1 million prize pool — and six elite teams competing: OG, NAVI, Team Falcons, Team Liquid, HEROIC, and Team Yandex. All matches are Best-of-5, and the tournament runs through February 15.

Puppey won’t be there as a player or coach, but the tournament is a useful benchmark for PARIVISION’s competition. Team Falcons — winners of TI14 — and OG are the favorites. If PARIVISION can compete at this level once DreamLeague Season 28 starts, Puppey’s coaching impact will be immediately measurable.

What This Means for the Dota 2 Scene

Team Secret’s departure reduces the number of established Western organizations in Dota 2. Combined with the consolidation of the DPC system and the pivot toward BLAST-operated tournaments, the competitive landscape is narrowing. TI 2026 — scheduled for Shanghai from August 20-23 — will be the 15th anniversary of the tournament. The irony that TI1’s champion is coaching instead of playing for that milestone isn’t lost on the community.

For ranked Dota 2 players, the practical impact is nil — you’ll still be grinding your farm patterns and flaming your position 5 regardless. But the symbolic weight is real. Puppey was the last of the original TI1 era still competing at the highest level. His move to coaching closes a chapter that started in Cologne in 2011.

References

1. [1] "Puppey Joins PARIVISION". gosugamers.net. Retrieved February 12, 2026
2. [2] "Team Secret Dota 2 Hiatus". esportsinsider.com. Retrieved February 12, 2026