After many trials and tribulations for the players, and much confusion and anger at the lack of top-tier organisations in Europe (EU) in Rainbow Six, Team Secret’s signing of the I Don’t Know (IDK) roster marks a momentous occasion for its new players, and also for the region as a whole.
The new Team Secret Rainbow Six roster has been in the game for a long time, although this particular lineup only came together at the beginning of Season 7. Elemzje has been playing professionally for the longest, starting with Pro League team Aera eSport in Season 1. He is followed by Lacky and meepeY, who both started their careers in Season 2, and came to play together from the 2017 Six Invitational Qualifiers onwards. STiZze, on the other hand, started playing in Season 3, while LeonGids only became a pro in Season 6.
This roster was first seen at the start of Season 7, and was formed through some trying circumstances. In Season 6, Lacky and meepeY had been two of the core players on the ex-Playing Ducks team, together with three Swedes, and had LeonGids as a substitute. Already lacking an organisation and known as sn0oken Knows, a failure at qualifying for the LAN Finals was the last straw for the three Swedes, who then departed fairly acrimoniously.
IDK at DreamHack Valencia 2018
After some confusion regarding the weightage of a single Season 6 appearance from LeonGids compared to more by one of the Swedes, sn0oken, the Swedish trio was awarded the team’s Pro League slot. This forced meepeY, Lacky, and LeonGids into qualifying for and playing in Season 7 of the Challenger League, where they picked up Elemzje and sTiZze. The team, then christened I Don’t Know, went on to crush the competition, avoiding dropping a map during the season and in the relegation match against Team Oplon.
Team Secret, while being a somewhat new organisation, is considered as one of the top teams in Defence of the Ancients (Dota) 2. They were established in late August in 2014, having entered the MOBA game with the pick up of former Fnatic, Na’Vi, and Alliance players.
Since then, Secret’s Dota 2 roster has collected many tournament titles, and has featured at every edition of The International -- a Major tournament now with a $22 million prize pool -- since their establishment. This means that their current prize winnings sit at $5.8 million, and that they are ranked 4th in the global Dota 2 Pro Circuit at the time of writing.
The organisation’s social media presence is formidable as well, with nearly 500,000 likes on Facebook, and over 300,000 followers on Twitter. Aside from Dota 2 and now Rainbow Six: Siege, Secret most notably has been expanding into new, quickly growing games such as Fortnite, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), and Rocket League.
From Left: Lacky, LeonGids, meepeY, Elemzje, sTiZze
Since their return to the Pro League, the IDK players have seen considerable success, and are putting a strong claim towards becoming the best team in the world. Despite not being favourites, IDK were crowned champions at DreamHack Valencia 2018 -- the inaugural LAN event for them as a team -- and are placed second in the EU Pro League standings with 14 points; 5 points behind giants PENTA Sports.
The team also recently added the Canadian ex-pro and SiegeGG Debrief Podcast host Helbee to their roster as their coach, who immediately made an impact by guiding IDK to victory in Valencia. Now, with an organisation backing them, they can call the curtains on their orgless saga after these strong performances.
This is in stark comparison to German side OrgLess, who have also been looking for an organisation, but are yet to sign with one. They, too, intended to use strong results in Season 7 and in Season 8 as leverage in contract negotiations. However, the team has not been able to secure a similar organisation like Secret due to less than stellar performances, and some severe internal friction that has seen them lose PARAA and Hungry right before the Paris Major.
Going forward, the new Team Secret Rainbow Six team will be looking to make its mark at the Six Major Paris in the middle of August, and reaffirm the faith put into them by their organisation by continuing to perform well in the Pro League.
The Team Secret roster is thus:
Matthew “meepeY” Sharples
Ryan “Lacky” Stapley
Leon “LeonGids” Giddens
Bryan “Elemzje” Tebessi
David “sTiZze” De Castro
Louis “Helbee” Bureau (coach)