N0tail claps back at Team Secret after smack talk towards OG

The OG vs. Team Secret rivalry is getting better every day.

During ESL One Germany, Johan “N0tail” Sundstein was asked about the social media shade Team Secret has been sending his way over the last few months. N0tail was generally dismissive of the matter and basically said that the record between the two teams speaks for itself.

“I would say there’s always been a build-up every year...especially after [The International 2018], it was like ‘Secret, holy shit man, they’re showing everybody.’ I think there was a big chance for this rivalry to have already happened if they didn’t suck so much at TI. So now we’re here and we’re trying to not suck so much between TIs,” N0tail said.

Though N0tail was sporting on the matter, he betrayed a bit of frustration with Secret’s recent domination of OG.

Why isn’t Team Secret vs. OG one of esports’ top rivalries?

Team Secret and OG have a whole lot of history. Aside from the fact that the two have been right at the top of the European Dota 2 scene since OG’s formation in 2015, N0tail, longtime teammate Tal “Fly” Aizik, and future OG manager Evany Chang had a bitter breakup with Secret stemming over pay disputes.

This provides the framework for an all-time great esports rivalry, but Secret vs. OG has never really taken hold despite this. Part of this is because Team Liquid, now Team Nigma, has historically been on pace with both OG and Secret. From an interpersonal drama perspective, OG’s biggest rivalry to date has been with Evil Geniuses due to the heartbreaking split of N0tail and Fly ahead of The International 2018.

Things have changed a bit in 2020. Team Secret has taken a page out of League of Legends teams’ playbook and begun to performatively talk smack towards other competitors. OG has been a regular victim of this, with Secret regularly barbing OG when they get the better of a showdown. 

This is deserved to some degree, as OG has made a point of trying to irk opponents in-game by spamming chat wheel sounds and other features. Fair is fair in this regard, and OG should expect this in response.

N0tail doesn’t seem to mind this, but he acknowledges that the big problem with the OG vs. Secret rivalry is that OG hasn’t been performing up to Secret’s level of late. Secret has won their last eight showdowns in a row

“Twitter banter is always good...I think with Secret, we could have some good shit start especially if we can take some games off them in the next best-of-five.”