LoL - Worlds 2025: Team Secret Whales, a chance to make waves (1/17)

The League of Legends 2025 World Championship kicks off in Beijing, China, on the 14th of October. A total of 17 teams will compete to, again, succeed T1 at the top of the Riot Games MOBA world hierarchy. On this occasion, Sheep Esports brings you a daily feature on one of the teams taking part. On October 1st, the first episode of our series focuses on Team Secret Whales.

2025 has been a successful first year of merger for Team Secret Whales, the squad born from the union of Team Secret and Team Whales — two teams that previously competed in the VCS before Riot Games’ circuit transitioned to five major leagues. TSW thus joined the LCP under a single banner. The start of the year, however, wasn’t easy, with a 5-6th place finish at the Season Kickoff after a loss to GAM Esports. At the Mid-Season, results improved slightly with a fourth-place finish, once again eliminated by GAM.

But the roster eventually managed to scale and reach its peak during the Summer Split playoffs. After defeating DetonatioN FocusMe, the team fell to CTBC Flying Oyster. But TSW found the strength to fight back through the lower bracket, taking down MGN Vikings Esports, then clean-sweeping GAM—knocking them out of Worlds qualification and securing their own spot—before overcoming PSG Talon in the lower bracket final to lock in second place. Although they fell a second time to CFO in the grand final on a clean sweep, the essence was there, as the ticket to China was secured.

If CFO are known for their six-man roster, with Shen "Driver" Tsung-Hua and Hsu "Rest" Shih-Chieh rotating in the toplane, they’re not the only team to use this approach. TSW also rotate their toplaners depending on the game. During the Season Kickoff and Mid-Season, Trần "Hiro02" Lê Trung Hậu and Lê "Steller" Quang Bình shared toplane duties. In the Summer, Nguyễn "Pun" Đăng Khoa joined the roster, and Steller hasn’t played since. Pun mainly handled the regular season, while Hiro02 returned for the playoffs.

Hiro02 is a historic toplaner for Team Secret, originally a midlaner who has also filled in as a jungler. Highly versatile, he can play standard toplane picks as well as more unconventional champions like Nidalee or Mordekaiser. Pun joined later from Team Flash in the VCS and brings an equally wide champion pool, with picks different from Hiro02, including Sion, Ornn, and K'Sante. The mid-jungle duo of Lê "Hizto" Văn Hoàng Hải and Trần "Dire" Duy Đức are both 18 and come from Baby Whales, forming a promising synergy for the team’s future. Hoàng "Eddie" Công Nghĩa is Team Secret’s emblematic player, part of the roster since 2020 and has never played elsewhere.

If there’s one player to watch in this roster, it’s undoubtedly Đinh "Taki" Anh Tài, the only member with international experience, having competed with Saigon Buffalo in 2023 at both Mid-Season Invitational and Worlds. When the LCP Team of the Split was announced, all roles were filled by players from the champion team, CFO: Rest in toplane, Yu "JunJia" Chun-Chia in jungle, Tsai "HongQ" Ming-Hong at mid, Chiu "Doggo" Tzu-Chuan as AD Carry, and in the support role, it’s Taki who stands out.

He played 13 different champions over the year, with Leona first and Rakan second, as well as less conventional picks like Pyke, Pantheon, and Elise. Taki is therefore our player to keep an eye on at Worlds for Team Secret Whales.