T1, the story of the team in Dota 2

The last year has not been an easy one for the Dota 2 scene in Southeast Asia. However, it is in such conditions that teams create that are able to overcome everything and achieve something more.

T1 is an example of such a team. The organization, just two years after announcing its first Dota 2 lineup in 2019, survived the COVID-19 era of isolation in 2020 and in 2021 became the best Southeast Asian team which can compete on the world level.

Perhaps some ardent fans of the game wouldn't want to know this, but the T1 organization came to Dota 2 from League of Legends.

At LoL, the Korean organization has a very rich history. Just think for a second - T1 are three-time World Championship winners, same as The International. The years 2015-2016 turned out to be especially successful for the organization. Now T1 owns players or squads in several popular gaming disciplines.

The organization was created in 2002 and was known as SK Telecom T1. The organization's players from South Korea took part in StarCraft II tournaments, where they eventually earned many titles and considerable prize money at the time.

The organization made its debut in LoL in 2012, and at the end of 2014 they already officially formed a roster and in next year began their participation in League of Legends tournaments. In the same year, T1 won their first World Championship, earning a million dollars.

The discipline in the organization was strict. During the preparation and participation in tournaments, players were prohibited from communicating and contacting girls. All the attention and power of the players should be focused on the game - said coaches and managers. And the results, as mentioned above, were impressive.

In the fall of 2019, the organization made the first step into a new discipline for itself - Dota 2. The first member of the roster was a player from South Korea - Lee «Forev» Sang-don.

Then the work and the first games of the test roster began. However, the new organization did not receive a warm welcome. The first official games were played against Tier 1-2 China and Southeast Asia teams.

The first official T1 roster was announced at the end of January 2020: Black^, inYourdreaM, Forev, Jhocam, and Xuan. However, the team failed to qualify for ESL One Los Angeles 2020, ESL SEA Championship 2020 and ONE Esports Dota 2 Invitational Jakarta. After that the roster was changed.

Meracle and Poloson, who replaced Black^ and xuan, didn't change the situation. T1 still cannot compete in the region and plays in Tier 3 tournaments. And in LoL, the results are no longer pleasing. Quarantine and the general decline of esports in the region added to the problems. And then the management of the organization began to make decisions.

At the end of July 2020, the organization said goodbye to Forev and replaced him with Sam_H three weeks later. And only after this, the team began to improve.

5th-6th place at ESL One Thailand 2020: Asia showed the management that the roster can and should be changed, and this brings results.

At BTS Pro Series Season 4: Southeast Asia, the team already took part with changes. Kuku and Whitemoon replaced Sam_H and Poloson. Result - 3rd place and a small prize $6,500. But the main thing is that the organization found the vector of development and began to carefully select the players for the squad.

At the start of Valve's announced renewed DPC season, T1's roster has not changed since participating in BTS Pro Series Season 4: Southeast Asia. Kuku and Whitemon officially joined the team.

With this roster, the team took third place in the regional qualifiers and got a ticket to the Wild Card stage at ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021. However, before the first Major, there were some changes in the team.

Unexpectedly for many, JaCkky was kicked from the roster and replaced by 23savage, who was a free agent at the time. From a management point of view, the replacement is correct, but it caused a negative reaction in the community. Indeed, in addition to the lost DPC points for T1, JaCkky himself, who played honestly and tried to get to the first LAN tournament this year, was left with nothing in the end.

After that, it turned out that due to health problems, Kuku would not go to the tournament, and instead of him, T1's old friend Forev would play in Singapore.

Result: T1 did not pass the Wild Card and did not receive any prize money or DPC points, which they spent on a replacement in the team. The fans, of course, were unhappy.

Despite the results of the first DPC of the season and the Singapore Major, no line-up changes were planned.

The decision turned out to be correct, the team finished the season 5-2 and in the match for the 1st place in SEA against TNC Predator secured a slot in playoffs of the WePlay AniMajor.

Past failures were forgotten, the team refreshed playstyle and took 3rd place at Kiev Major, losing to Evil Geniuses with a score of 1-2.

In addition to $75,000, T1 received 400 DPC points, which was enough for a direct invite to The International 2021. Now the team did not need to prepare for the regional qualifiers, there were better options.

Just during this period of time, several tournaments were announced, and T1 decided not to miss this opportunity. Moreover, it became known about the changes of the place and date of the TI10.

Before returning home, the team managed to participate in ESL One Summer 2021. In the Grand Final T1 defeated Virtus.pro 3-2 and earned $175,000. Funny fact, they even missed the plane because of this, as Coach March said about it on Twitter:

Then there were BTS Pro Series Season 7: Southeast Asia, ESL One Fall 2021 and OGA Dota PIT Invitational. T1 showed a stable result at these three tournaments - 4th place.

The group stage for T1 started with a loss to Invictus Gaming and Evil Geniuses. However, then everything went according to the same scenario, similar to Team Spirit, which we wrote about earlier. The score is 5-0-3 in the group and a place in the upper bracket of the Main Stage.

The first match and  the raid boss of the season - PSG.LGD. Despite the fact that they have a serious opponent, T1 managed to win the second map and create intrigue. Unfortunately for them, the Chinese team was stronger.

Lower Bracket, Elimination Match, Opponent - Alliance. Result: The Swedish team loses 0-2 without a chance and goes home.

The final performance at TI10 was a match against Vici Gaming. Despite the defeat with a score of 1-2, it is worth noting that T1 played well and had many chances to win. You can read more about the match and the game day in our review.

The 2021 World Championship is helding now. Team T1 has already guaranteed itself a 3rd-4th place in the tournament and will continue to fight for the title of LoL champion.

Of course, over its long history, the League of Legends roster has a colossal number of achievements. And the amount of prize money is impressive - more than 6 million dollars over 7 years of the team's existence in the discipline.

For comparison, T1 in Dota 2 won $1,396,922 in two years. This seems like a small amount, especially considering that the team earned $1,000,500 at TI10.

But here it is worth considering one fact. Despite the small prize-winning tournaments in Southeast Asia, at Valve tournaments, the amount of prize money often exceeds the indicators of its direct competitor. And do not forget about the main Dota 2 tournament - The International, whose prize pool has been breaking all records for many years now.

Even the 13th-16th places in the main event of the year from Valve earned more money than the winner of the 2021 World Championship: $600,300 vs $489,500.

If the T1 team continues to perform at the current level and, thanks to the new DPC system, goes to TI next year, then they will easily overtake their teammates from League of Legends in the amount of prize money.

And if we compare the current year, 2021, then the doters have already earned $1,359,400. LoL players can boast $108,500 and potentially $489,500 for first place in the main LoL tournament of the year. Really "LoL".

Many people know the most popular and titled League of Legends player - Lee «Faker» Sang-hyeok. A man who has become a three-time LoL World Championships champion and has earned over a million dollars in prize money.

Against the background of the growing popularity of T1 in Dota 2, fans have repeatedly asked the question: can someone else from the organization repeat that success? Surely no one can answer this question, but T1 already has one such player - 23savage.

The young DotA player, who started his professional career in 2019, has already managed to gather crowds of fans around him. The brightest period of his career was the first half of 2020, when he, together with the team Fnatic, took first places in all possible tournaments.

Then there was a sensational transfer to Vici Gaming, where the player didn't play a single official match as a VG member.

During the first DPC season, he was a substitute for HOYO and BOOM Esports. A young and talented player who has passed the 12,000 MMR mark cannot find a place on the pro scene. Then T1 decided to take extreme measures: to replace their current player JaCkky with 23savage.

And while social networks were arguing about the correctness of such a decision, the young guy was glad of such an opportunity to prove himself. You already know what results this has brought. And neither he nor his team will stop at this.