The end of T1’s Dota 2 journey

The rostermania in Dota 2 continues as another organisation has decided to let go of its Dota 2 roster.  T1, a Korean org known for being the home of the best League Of Legends players, announced yesterday that it has officially disbanded its Dota 2 roster. 

According to some rumours, T1’s DPC slot is allegedly being eyed by Singaporean Bleed eSports.

Signs Of Promise

The organisation made its debut in Dota 2 back in 2020-2021 DPC season by acquiring four out the team Geek Fam roster consisting of Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon, Carlo “Kuku” Palad, Kenny “Xepher” Deo, Karl “Karl” Baldovino. Rounding up the team with Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon from Fnatic to play position 1— safelane carry.

At the beginning of 2021, the T1 Dota2 roster put out quite notable results in the DPC SEA region, securing a top-three finish and consequently being invited to their first-ever Major in Singapore. However, they met their true challenges and only placed 15th.

After topping their region back again at DPC 2021 S2 SEA region, T1 came into WePlay AniMajor as one of the favorites, and this time, they secured a top-three finish. But it wasn’t until ESL One Summer 2021 that T1 showed their true potential by going full best-of-five series against VP and coming out on top, becoming ESL One Champions.

In the tournaments that followed the Major, T1 consistently finished in the top four. The team was also one of the direct invites to The International 2021, where they got top four in group A.

However, they only got to play three series on The International mainstage. First, they lost 2-1 to PSG.LGD in the upper brackets, and even though they managed to win their lower bracket match against Alliance, they were eliminated by Invictus Gaming, securing the 7th-8th finish.

Uncertain Future

In the earlier half of the 2021-2022 DPC Season, the team secured top-three finishes and qualified for ESL One Stockholm 2022, where they were eliminated in the early stages by Fnatic. And with the replacement of their carry player 23savage by Kim “Gabbi” Santos, the team’s results started to falter.

Failing to get the direct invite to The International 2022, T1 made their efforts known by replacing their safelane carry Kim “Gabbi” Santos with two times back-to-back TI Champion — Anathan “ana” Pham. Furthermore, Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen was standing in for their midlaner Karl “Karl” Baldovino. 

Fighting for their spot at TI 11 through the regional qualifiers, Polaris Esports managed to get a crucial win against T1, sending them to Last Chance Qualifiers, where they got eliminated by Vici Gaming.

With the player contracts expiring and both captain and coach departing from the team, the organisation said goodbye to the rest of its Dota 2 roster instead of rebuilding it for the new season.

 

Header: Twitter/ T1