A while ago, I wrote about how Evil Geniuses versus Team Secret was the most interesting question in Dota 2.

Four months later, I watched them play in the ESL One finals. Every tournament in recent memory has forgettable matchups in bracket. In Frankfurt, every series was exciting, even the lopsided ones. Both Secret and EG had steamrolled through quarters and semis without dropping a game. We were set for one of the most anticipated finals ever.

I watched the finals backstage with Will "Chobra" Cho, Alan "Nahaz" Bester, and Charlie Yang, EG's manager. EG versus Secret Game 1 was the highest level of Dota 2 ever played. It was a roller coaster of team fights, with EG’s Winter Wyvern eventually proving critical in countering Secret’s 1-position Sven.

EG won, but Charlie looked worried.

"We out-drafted them hard, and they still almost won," he said.

The two best teams in Dota and their drafters, ppd and s4, have been here before. At DAC, EG cruised 2-0 over a Team Secret that had looked all but invincible in the group stage. Then came The Summit 3, where EG took the first game only to watch Secret sweep the next three and take the championship. That pattern repeated at ESL One.

Momentum

The day after, I sat in the Frankfurt airport alone waiting for my flight to Newark when a guy wearing a black hoodie and a Toronto Raptors cap appeared in front of me. It was Theeban Siva — 1437, Team Secret’s coach. We settled into an easy conversation about the event and the finals; there was a girl sitting next to us who stared as if we were speaking an alien language.

Secret had won four straight LAN competitions, but Theeban’s demeanor had no hint of excitement. It was like an ordinary day, like he was deciding whether or not to order a cheeseburger at a drive-thru.

"Nobody’s ever won ESL One and gone on to win TI a month later either," I joked.

"Nobody won four straight LANs either," Theeban said, laughing. "And there’s only been one ESL One before TI. Last year’s."

I thought back to last year’s final. It was a one-sided affair, a shortened best-of-three where iG crushed the old "S A D B O Y S" EG roster 22-0. I remember Artour and Mason and Zai laughing at every kill. I asked Theeban if he was worried after Secret dropped the first game.

"No," he replies immediately. "I wouldn’t be worried even if we were down 0-2."

Confidence is not something Team Secret lacks. There are rumors that Secret isn’t even playing scrims with other teams — they believe that doing so would make the rest of the field stronger.

Theeban continued: "Teams have to 2-0, 3-0 us. Once we win one game, once we get momentum, it’s over."

Back to the drafts

The ESL One Frankfurt final was TI caliber. I don’t doubt that teams wanted to save strategies for TI5. Secret and EG may have even intended to do that right up until the finals started, but after watching the games it was clear that there was no holding back — no 0-22 laugh-it-off and gg go next tournament.

A month earlier at The Summit 3, Matthew "CyborgMatt" Bailey, Secret's manager, watched the EG-Secret finals in a dimly lit room where Vici played six hours of poker just days before. Matt stared intensely at the monitor where the teams began jockeying for the opening runes. "Artour wants this," Matt said. "He wants it bad."

I watched Game 2 of the ESL One finals with William "Blitz" Lee. Cosplayers sat all around us, half in costume. Blitz was in awe of the level of play.

"They’re basically saying 'f--k saving strats, YOLO,'" he said.

Was Secret really not holding anything back? I went back to look at the first pick-ban phases.

In the games leading up to the finals, you could clearly see which core heroes the teams valued. Generally the first pick and ban stage saw a combination of Shadow Fiend, Tusk, Leshrac, Queen of Pain, and Clockwerk. EG also highly valued Earthshaker while Secret mixed in Rubick and Bloodseeker. These priorities were generally consistent until the finals.

That series started off-script. Game 1’s first four bans were Clock (Secret), QoP (EG), SF (Secret), and Keeper of the Light (EG). That KotL ban was almost exclusively for Secret, something creative teams force others to do. KotL isn’t a ban against just about any other team. Secret forces their opponent to make player-specific bans, similar to TI3 Alliance’s Prophet or Lone Druid. KotL, Tusk, and even a hero like Goblin Techies suddenly become legitimate threats.

Secret first picked Tusk and EG went Leshrac and Earthshaker. It was a standard first phase.

Game 2’s draft started to diverge. The bans were QoP (EG), Clock (Secret), SF (EG), Dazzle (Secret). EG first picked Leshrac, while Secret picked Tusk and Naga. The Dazzle ban isn’t strange, as both teams play the hero and play it well.

But the Naga pick? That was a weird one; the weirdness was further confirmed in Game 3, where Secret first phase banned the hero. Then in Game 4, Secret first-phase picked it again.

I looked back at all the matches this weekend, including the seeding ones. Nowhere is Naga a first pick/ban. In fact, in 6.84, Naga has a 10.3% pick-ban total, let alone in the first phase. The hero is not even in the Top 50 in DatDota’s 6.84 draft stats.

I refuse to believe that somewhere between Game 1 and 2 of the finals did it suddenly dawn on s4 that Naga Siren is first phase material. There's really one conclusion that my relatively simple, non-expert sub 5K MMR brain can draw: Naga was a part of Secret’s plan for TI5, and they busted the hero out because they care more about beating EG than preserving a strategy.

"When we play EG now, it’s not even Dota anymore," Theeban said. "The draft – it’s just a mind game."

EG has some of the most talented and versatile cores and supports in the west, but they were generally out-executed by Secret in all four finals games — even in the one they won.

It is clear after ESL One that we are headed for a Secret-EG rematch at TI5. But the narrative has changed.

Post-DAC, it was "Did Secret make the right player moves? Will they ever win a LAN?"

Post-Frankfurt, it is now "Can ppd really out-draft Secret three-out-of-five times?"

At TI5, it seems more and more that the finals will be more mind game than Dota.

Ken "HotBid" Chen writes about Dota 2 for theScore eSports, and satirizes eSports through Esports Express. You can follow him on Twitter.