YapzOr Takes Break From Dota 2

On Monday, July 6, Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat announced that he is stepping down from Team Secret’s active lineup and taking an extended break from competitive Dota 2. Team Secret have already found a replacement in Baqyt “Zayac” Emiljanov, who joins the team as a free agent.

YapzOr decided he needs a break from competitive Dota 2 on Monday, albeit he nor the team have provided any further details on his decision. However, it’s safe to assume that YapzOr’s break might be longer than initially expected.

That is because Valve gave Team Secret the green light to change its roster mid-season, indicating that Team Secret might finish the season with Zayac as YapzOr’s replacement. Notably, according to the rules, the teams can only make roster changes between DPC season, so Team Secret and YapzOr might have had a very good reason for the recent roster swap.

With YapzOr taking a break from Dota 2, it marks the end of his five-long sting with Team Secret, which began way back in May 2017. Since joining the team from B)ears in 2017, YapzOr has been a key player for the squad, leading the organization through many high-profile tournaments, winning a generous number of them.

Most notably, YapzOr was a part of Team Secret that won DreamLeague Season 8, The Chongqing Major, MDL Disneyland® Paris Major, DreamLeague Season 13, and OMEGA League: Europe Immortal Division.

Moreover, he helped Team Secret place top. Six at The International 2018, top-four at TI9, and claimed a bronze medal from The International 2021.

Team Secret did not need long to find a replacement for YapzOr, who got replaced by Zayac. The 23-year-old joined the team on Monday as a free agent, having been last seen competing in Dota 2 in May 2022 with HYDRA.

Zayac began his esports career in August 2015 with NoLiferS, and has since played for many prominent teams. Those include Vega Squadron, Natus Vincere, Virtus Pro, and he has also spent seven months on trial at HellRaisers.

The most successful stint in his Dota 2 career came in 2020 when he was a part of Virtus.pro. With the Russian team, Zayac won ESL One Los Angeles 2020 – Online: Europe & CIS and Parimatch League Season 3, and also made the finals of Parimatch League Season 2 and the Epic Prime League Season 1.

Now, after spending two months away from the spotlight, Zayac is back in the competitive Dota 2 with one of the world’s top esports organizations. However, not only has Zayac huge shoes to fill, but he also has a tough task ahead of him.

Team Secret are currently battling to avoid relegation from the WEU DPC Division I. In the league, Team Secret holds a 2-3 record which sits them tied with Gaimin Gladiators and goonsquad. However, with only two more series left to be played, Secret need to win both if they wish to at least keep their spot in the top division and potentially book a spot in the Arlington Major.

Team Secret is widely known as one of the best European Dota 2 teams, but they have yet to live up to that status this season. As a team that has dominated the regular season over the last two years, Secret have found themselves struggling in 2022 and have yet to win anything noteworthy.

Team Secret finished the first DPC Tour in fifth place with a disappointing 4-3 record and have not shown much improvement in the GAMERS GALAXY: Invitational Series Dubai 2022. In the event, Secret barely made it into the group stage by edging past TSM in the Play-In stage, but then got eliminated in the first round by the eventual champions BOOM Esports.

Their woes continued into the second DPC Tour, in which Secret finished in fifth place with a 3-4 record. Now, Team Secret have one last chance to impress in the WEU DPC, book a spot in their first Major of the year, and set themselves up to get invited to The International.