Author: Wilson Wongso

TI10 Participants 23savage and Jabz to Participate in a VALORANT Tournament

The young Thai Dota 2 superstar, 23savage, is known mainly for his astonishing ability to reach the most insane matchmaking rating (MMR) of all time. This time around, the 19-year-old prodigy is bringing about a surprise in an entirely different realm: VALORANT.

On July 28, 23savage announced that he and several other Thai Dota 2 professionals are going to participate in the upcoming Qualifiers of VALORANT Champions Tour 2021: Thailand Stage 3 Challengers 3. If 23savage playing VALORANT wasn’t odd enough, he brought together the likes of Fnatic’s Jabz, MG.Trust’s Masaros, MG.Viper’s boombell, as well as the Thai streamer Toyzakung.

The five-player roster, dubbed M-Y Gang, is aiming to disrupt the competitive Thai VALORANT scene, especially taking down the giants of the full-fletched champions, X10 Esports. As for the lineup’s distribution of roles, 23savage and Jabz will be taking on the role of Duelist, while the Motivate Gaming duo will serve as Supports, leaving Toyzakung as the in-game leader.

The team name “M-Y Gang” is probably a reference to a Thai Dota 2 team that has successfully advanced to the ongoing BTS Pro Series Season 7: Southeast Asia Closed Qualifier — the latter playing under the name “M Y”.

Of course, 23savage and co. are just participating in the event for the memes, as most of them are full-time, professional Dota 2 players at the end of the day. 23savage himself sarcastically wrote that the team is not open for sponsorships, since the roster can always be broken at any given time. Yet, it shall remain interesting to see how far Dota 2 pros can take this challenge at an entirely different game.

On a more serious note, VCT 2021: Thailand Stage 3 Challengers 3 will commence on August 5-8. Champions of the national tournament will then attain a fighting chance in the SEA Challenger Playoffs.

Aside from 23savage, a handful number of Dota 2 pros have had a taste of Riot’s newest esports title. For instance, the retired two-time TI winner, JerAx, displayed a rather peculiar way of playing VALORANT: playing with a drawing pad/pen. Likewise, his fellow OG team member, ana, tweeted his achievement of getting the highest rank possible in VALORANT, Radiant.

Perhaps only 23savage and his M-Y Gang are taking this meme-team to the next level by actually participating in an official qualifier. Keep in mind that Masaros, 23savage, and Jabz also have BTS Pro Series Season 7: Southeast Asia to participate thereafter. The latter two are also participants of the upcoming TI10, playing under T1 and Fnatic respectively.

Needless to say, playing VALORANT seems like a good way to spend their “Dota vacation”, as they await Dota 2’s annual grand tournament.

Featured Image by Facebook @23savageDotA.

Tencent Purchases British Video Game Developer Sumo in a $1.27 Billion Deal

The Chinese tech giant, Tencent, continues its business pursuit by purchasing the Britain-based video game developer, Sumo. The deal covers a total whopping cost of $1.27 billion as the gaming market continues to rise amidst the ongoing pandemic.

With various nations in the world taking social measures to reduce mass gatherings in an effort of controlling the pandemic, many have resorted to gaming as they spend their time waiting for the pandemic to end. As reported by Strategy Analytics, the global gaming market is projected to reach a milestone of $250 billion in the first half of the decade. It is thus expected to increase by $100 billion after only five years in the running.

Given the positive outlook of gaming, it should be of no surprise that Tencent remains faithful in the gaming industry for the time being. In fact, the acquisition of Sumo is largely expected not only given the rapid growth of the gaming industry, but also the fact that one of Tencent’s subsidiary companies, Mount Emei Investment, already owns 8.7% of Sumo. The deal was announced on 19 July 2021.

In a report by Forbes regarding this deal, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, Neil Mawston, said, “Sumo gives Tencent a world-class games developer with global scale outside China at a low price.” Mawston added that Sumo is already renowned in the United Kingdom as being one of Europe’s best game developers, who’s already had prior experience working with the likes of Sony and Sega.

Further, in the official acquisition announcement, Non-executive Chairman of Sumo, Ian Livingstone, commented, “The Board of Sumo firmly believes the business will benefit from Tencent’s broad videogaming ecosystem, proven industry expertise and its strategic resources, which will help secure and further the aspirations and long-term success of Sumo.”

Likewise, Sumo’s Chief Executive Officer agrees that “Tencent has demonstrated its commitment to backing our client work and has stated its intention to ensure that we have the necessary investment to continue focusing on work with our key strategic partners on turn-key and co-development projects.”

In recent years during the ongoing pandemic, there has been an increasing trend of multiple companies deciding to acquire subsidiary companies that have formerly merged with them — just like Tencent.

Though it remains unclear whether the gaming industry will continue to rocket after the pandemic, most believe that gamers will remain gamers and that even if there’s a dip in the market with the reopening of societies, the industry should relatively maintain its overall growth over the coming years. With the introduction of 5G internet connection and gradual advancement in technological infrastructure, gaming should remain popular amongst youths across the globe.

Featured Image by Sumo Digital.

Konami Announces eFootball, Free-to-Play Successor of PES

The all-time favorite football video game published by Konami back in 1995, Pro Evolution Soccer (PES), has just been renamed to eFootball from this release onwards. However, it is not only the series’ name that has been changed, as Konami planned for the long-term and added various goodies to one of the world’s most popular football video games.

Firstly, the renditions of eFootball to come from now on will become free-to-play and are planned to be available on multiple gaming platforms; including the likes of PlayStation5 (PS5), PlayStation4 (PS4), Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows 10, and PC Steam. Afterwards, the game will also be similarly available on iOS and Android. With all of these available platforms and versions, a cross-play between certain devices will thus be supported.

Likewise, there will hence be no more annual, paid releases of new seasons of eFootball. As series producer Seitaro Kimura told IGN, “the platform will get free, yearly updates for new seasons” in place of the old scheme.

As hinted earlier, the change in the series’ name is not all there is to it, nor is the free-to-play aspect. That is, the game will no longer run on Konami’s FOX Engine, rather, it would run on an all-new, custom game engine created via Unreal Engine 4. With the novel engine, eFootball will introduce a new Motion Matching animation system, allowing for an even greater amount of animation from PES’ previous renditions.

One important thing to note is that all of the different consoles will run on this very engine, hence providing a functionally equal game on all supported gaming platforms.

eFootball Roadmap. Source: Konami.

Although there isn’t an official release date for eFootball yet, Konami has released a long-term roadmap that reflects the plans for their new revamp. In the series’ first launch for early autumn, eFootball is planned to feature exhibition matches as well as the inclusion of nine world-renowned clubs to choose from. Then, the second launch in Autumn will introduce Online Leagues and Team Building Mode, which many believe replaces PES’s former MyClub mode.

Moreover, with the game becoming free-to-play, there will probably be a different form of monetization to come. Most rumors seem to say that the Autumn release of the Match Pass System will act like a Battle Pass that fills this vacant monetization scheme.

Finally, the commencement of esports tournaments surrounding eFootball is shown to be parallel with the game’s third launch in Winter. It will also mark the availability of cross-platform matches between all the different platforms and support for a mobile controller.

Featured Image by @officialpes.

DPC Season 2 Lower Division Champions, Vikin.gg, Disbands Dota 2 Roster

On July 15, 2021, the Romanian Team Vikin.gg announced the disbandment of their current Dota 2 roster, including all five of their players and their coach. For almost close to two years of playing competitively in the scene, Vikin.gg “made the hard decision to part ways with our current roster.”

Although the core reason behind the team’s disbandment remains undisclosed to the public, many believe that the main reason behind the team’s disbandment is their recent failure to make it into The International 10, planned to be held in the coming October, in Romania’s Arena Națională.

Aside from their failure to qualify to TI10 though, the team had made multiple breakthroughs despite being a relatively new-formed team. For instance, during the early days of the pandemic where online tournaments were held, Vikin.gg won BTS Pro Series Season 3: Europe/CIS, finished first at DOTA Summit 13 Online: Europe & CIS whilst beating the likes of Team Liquid, and were victors at EPIC League Season 3 Division 1 earlier in 2021.

In fact, Vikin.gg was the first-place champion of Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 2: Western Europe Lower Division. Oftentimes, they seem like the most promising underdog team capable of bringing down top-dogs, but the harsh reality of organizing, managing, and financing a team is perhaps too much to handle today.

Before the last Vikin.gg roster came to be, the first-ever roster consisted of an entirely different lineup. The first roster rendition was ultimately disbanded in November 2019, but a new set of prominent players were quickly acquired to breathe new air into the team’s life. Their coach, ImmortalFaith, remained on the team.

The initial roster that relived the team included Shad, TANNER, Tobi, Aramis, and Seleri. Eventually, TANNER was replaced by BOOM, who quickly became one of the cornerstones of Vikin.gg’s potential as a team. Their latest replacement was the arrival of Khezu in place of Tobi. It is hence this roster that was most recently disbanded by the organization, including ImmortalFaith.

With Vikin.gg leaving the scene, it remains unclear which team will replace them in the upcoming DPC after TI10. But, all we know is that the team had a good run and wrote a pleasant legacy in competitive Dota history.

Feature Image by @GGVikin.

Sentinels Defeat XSET 3-1 to Win VCT North America Stage 3 Challengers 1

Champions of VCT Reykjavík, Sentinels, continue their dominance in the North American scene by winning VALORANT Champions Tour: North America Stage 3 Challengers 1. ShahZam and co. took down XSET 3-1 in the deciding Grand Finals series.


Coming into VCT Stage 3 this season, Sentinels looked very much unstoppable judging their previous season’s outcome. With TenZ now officially on board, the team had what it takes to maintain their throne of champions. However, their journey towards victory isn’t exactly the easiest.

From the start, Sentinels struggled to remain in the Upper Bracket. Firstly, they took down Gen.G Esports in the Upper Bracket, but they had to drop one map in Icebox in the process. Then, they met XSET in the Upper Bracket Semifinals where they lost 2-1 and had to drop down into the Lower Bracket.

It was in the Lower Bracket where Sentinels had a much smoother run. In the three series that followed, Sentinels defeated Pioneers, Team Envy, and 100 Thieves with three consecutive 2-0 outcomes. They are thus worthy to proceed to the Grand Finals where they had a chance to fight against XSET one last time.

The first game already had fans and viewers on their seats as the two battled intensely. Game 1 in Haven ended up being XSET’s, setting up a possibility for a clean win for them against the defending champions. But Sentinels had a different ending which they wanted to go down in history.

It was in Game 2’s Breeze where Sentinels regained their momentum. Sentinels took the lead early on in the first half, with Sick stepping up for the team on that map, translating to their first victory in the series — tipping the series back into a balance.


XSET, too, didn’t want to let Sentinels run loose all over them. They held firm on Game 3 for the first half, with XSET’s AYRIN forcing the series into overtime. It was Sentinel’s zombs that eventually brought the lead back into his team’s favor in spite of the overtime.

Similarly, Game 4 was no easy feat for either team. The series went back and forth up to a critical score of 10-10, but in the end, Sentinels closed the series by winning the remaining three rounds. Again, Sentinels were crowned victors of VCT NA Stage 3 Challengers 1.

Alongside the win, Sentinels attained themselves the first seed in the upcoming VCT: North America Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs. Runner-up teams XSET, 100 Thieves, and Team Envy also received the same seeding as Sentinels in the event to follow.

Featured Image by @valesports_na.

MPL Brazil Unveils More Details About Season 1

After the initial announcement of Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Brazil on June 27, more details regarding the event’s format and rules have been announced through their official webpage.

Firstly, the inaugural season will feature a total prize pool of US$30,000 and will have eight participating teams from Brazil. Six out of the eight teams will join the league through a direct invite, while the other two must advance through the open qualifiers round. Currently, the six invited teams have not been revealed.

In more detail, the open qualifiers round is open to everyone so long as they comply with the lineup rule. Namely, a team can consist of up to seven players, with a maximum of two international players. The open qualifiers will kick off from July 16 to July 18, marking the commencement of MPL Brazil. At the time of writing, registrations for the open qualifiers are already open on Battlefy, with 110 registered teams.

Then, only two teams from the open qualifiers will advance to the next phase of the event — Regular Season and Playoffs — together with the six invited teams. This phase would feature multiple best-of-three series until the top two Grand Finalists have been found. The Regular Season will take place from August 14 to September 19, while the Playoffs start on October 9 to October 10 — spanning a total of 14 game days every weekend.

A best-of-five Grand Final series will follow thereafter, planned to take place on October 16, to be held as an in-person event at São Paulo, Brazil. This is thus when the first season of MPL Brazil should conclude and crown a new regional champion. Indeed, this format is very much similar to other MPL Regions where the scene has developed for a much longer time.

MPL Brazil’s kickoff is parallel with the dawn of the competitive Brazilian Wild Rift esports scene. Like MPL Brazil, Wild Rift Brazil is planned to begin around August 2021 and the tournament would similarly showcase an in-person Grand Finals at Riot Games’ Studio at São Paulo.

Featured Image by Twitter @mplbrazil.

Bigetron Astro Adds Former NXL Budimeister, Vascalizz, and Trial Player Rapheleen

Bigetron Esports has announced the recruitment of three new players into their VALORANT roster. Former Team nxl players Budimeister and Vascalizz, and their trial player Rapheleen have officially joined Bigetron Astro.

Both Budimeister and Vascalizz are known mainly for their time playing under the Team nxl banner. In fact, Team nxl was the strongest Indonesian VALORANT roster in the recently concluded VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) 2021: Indonesia Stage 2. However, the team soon disbanded for undisclosed reasons despite their achievements.

Likewise, Rapheleen’s status in Bigetron Astro is fairly unclear as well. Before the recent announcement, he was already playing under Bigetron’s VALORANT roster as a trial player, without an official update from Bigetron’s side.

Bigetron Astro’s premiere roster initially consisted of famouz, Nayy, fatpenguin, xø, fidelwow, and 15-year-old Cud. Rapheleen joined slightly later, nearing the commencement of VCT 2021: Indonesia Stage 2 Challengers 1. The team even qualified all the way to VCT 2021: Indonesia Stage 2 Challengers 3, but failed to secure first place as they lost to Vascalizz’s Team nxl in the Grand Finals.


Since then, it seems that Bigetron Astro has undergone various player swaps, such as the departure of Nayy on June 14. But, aside from the three officially announced players, Bigetron Astro’s remaining lineup remains unclear for the time being. Nonetheless, it is heavily rumored that only two of their debut players — namely famous and fidelwow — will continue playing for Bigetron Astro.

On paper, Bigetron Astro’s roster is as strong as ever, considering how experienced these three players are. Their addition to the roster is in line with the upcoming Open Qualifiers of VCT 2021: Indonesia Stage 3, planned to take place on July 2.

Now that Team nxl is out of the game, Bigetron’s strongest contender is most likely BOOM Esports, who has already secured a slot in the main event of VCT 2021: Indonesia Stage 3. Like Bigetron Astro, BOOM Esports has made recent roster changes in their VALORANT lineup and has recently finished second in VALO2ASIA Launch Invitational 2021.

Featured Image by Twitter @BigetronEsports.

Igniting the Fire: T1’s Triumphant Venture to Dota 2

When we hear of the esports giant organization T1, we oftentimes correlate the name with how legendary their League of Legends and StarCraft teams are. Indeed, the South Korean giant has proven themselves to be of the strongest contenders in seemingly all games they set their foot upon. Their Dota 2 roster has recently proven themselves worthy to be wearing the T1 uniform but their story is far from smooth-sailing from the start.

Their first debut roster must have received the greatest burden filling the premier Dota 2 roster of T1. How can they not? Their StarCraft roster lasted all the way since the Brood War Era, transitioned to StarCraft II, and won multiple, back-to-back Proleague tournaments.

T1 League of Legends wins Worlds 2016. Source: Forbes.

Similarly, their world-renown League of Legends division won three World Championships, being the first and only team to do so in the history of competitive League of Legends. Heck, T1 is all-too synonymous for being the face of League during their prime time. Just imagine how huge of a deal their Dota 2 roster meant for the organization.

 

Esports in South Korea

Before we dive into the history of their Dota 2 division, let’s take a step back and see why T1’s entry to Dota 2 meant a lot for the South Korean professional Dota 2 scene. You see, although gaming and esports are already popular in the Land of the morning calm, a significant percentage of their youth prefers League of Legends over other esports titles.

League of Legends is almost, if not already, a part of the youth culture in South Korea. Gamers spend hours in LAN cafes, known locally as PC Bang, playing League all day long. It’s almost as equivalent as how Southeast Asian youths spend their time playing mobile games — it’s essentially the same.

Because of that, the Dota 2 market is so small in South Korea. In fact, there is no longer a South Korean server for the region anymore. It’s a long and twisted history between Valve, Nexon, and the community.

First, Valve teamed up with Nexon, a local publisher, to set up a Korean Dota 2 server back in June 2013. This was already scary given that they are up against the mammoth of League of Legends, who’s already making waves in the youth’s culture. The server came and replaced the need for South Korean players to connect to distant servers, which meant less laggy and high-ping games.

However, due to Nexon’s policy, only non-Korean citizens were allowed to sign up for Nexon accounts. Hence, if you were a South Korean-based player, but weren’t a South Korean citizen, then too bad; you have to play in distant North American servers once again. Since then, the Dota 2 community in Reddit pressured both Valve and Nexon to resolve the issue; problem solved.

The situation proceeded as intended, with the South Korean server up and running to facilitate players in the region. But there’s a catch: League is too huge to take down. People are too comfortable with League, nor are they familiar with the original Defense of the Ancients title. Dota 2 came to a region where they are strangers, unknowns who tried to barge into the comfort zone.

Nexon tried their best to maintain the market, by providing South Korea-exclusive programs like their own Compendium system. Yet, their efforts are not enough to battle the Goliath. Eventually, Nexon announced in December 2015 that they are shutting down the server altogether, meaning players are forced to play elsewhere.

With no dedicated server, it’s unsurprisingly tough to continue playing casually, let alone playing Dota 2 competitively. Only the organization MVP managed to make it through these toughest times, but their prime era is now long and gone.

 

Chapter 0: FoREv the Trailblazer

Enter T1, one of the strongest and oldest South Korean esports organizations today. After their successes in StarCraft II and League of Legends, they started to venture to other, more modern esports titles like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Valve’s Artifact. And on August 22, 2019, they set foot on the Dota 2 realm by signing former MVP player, Lee “FoREv” Sang-don.

In fact, T1 is the second of the old Korean Esports Association (KespA) organizations to finally have a Dota 2 team by signing FoREv; the first being MVP. Many were reasonably excited about this announcement. It gave a new hope for the South Korean competitive scene to finally see life — some even expected the return of the South Korean server.

T1 FoREv. Source: Twitter @T1.

Since FoREv is the only fixed player to be playing under T1’s debut roster, the remaining four slots were still vacant. Though not officially announced by T1, there were at least three trial rosters in 2019. In the tournament Battle of Dawn, the T1 roster consisted of former MVP and Team Secret MP, Australian player XemistrY, two South Korean players snOw and Grace, and lastly FoREv. This roster didn’t achieve much as they were eliminated during the Group Stage.

Then, in Hainan Master Cup that trailed thereafter, T1 made a slight change. They replaced Grace with a Singaporean veteran player, xFreedom. If you are new to the scene, xFreedom used to play under legendary rosters of Team Zenith, LGD.International, Scythe Gaming, Team Zephyr, and still many others. This change didn’t really make the cut as T1 was eliminated in the first round of the event.

Again, T1 made a roster change for DreamLeague Season 13 SEA Open Qualifier, only a more drastic one this time. MP, snOw, and xFreedom were replaced by Filipino player Skadilicious, former MVP Febby, and former Team Secret pieliedie, respectively. However, MP’s and xFreedom’s time in T1 wouldn’t end just yet.

The team looked relatively more experienced on paper this time around, but it still wasn’t enough. They lost in the Semifinals 0-2 against Alpha x Hashtag, thus failing to qualify to the closed qualifier that followed. Three renditions and three failures, there was a lot to work on for T1.

 

Chapter 1: First Official and International Roster

Entering 2020, T1 knew they had to revamp the entire roster. So on March 3, 2020, they announced a shocking first official, international roster, coupled with a ton of assisting staffs and coaches. The lineup consisted of former BOOM ID duo inYourdreaM and Jhocam, veteran player Black^, North American player xuan, and of course, FoREv.

T1’s First Official Roster. Source: Twitter @T1.

As hinted, neither MP nor xFreedom have completely left the team. Both of them were assigned as coaches for the debut roster. They too employed Xyun as a tactical analyst, who’s had experiences in Team Griffin and Newbee.

T1 went as far as hiring cCarter, formerly known as L.i.E.S, to be their Dota 2 head coach and was T1’s League of Legends head coach from 2012 to 2017. Bringing cCarter to the Dota 2 scene meant serious business, as the coach is greatly respected in both the League of Legends and PUBG scene. T1 is surely looking to become a powerhouse in 2020.

T1 cCarter. Source: Twitter @T1.

The seemingly powerful and well-facilitated T1 debut roster played in three different Southeast Asian open qualifiers: ESL One Los Angeles 2020, ESL SEA Championship 2020 OQ #1, and OQ #2. Their results turned out to be lackluster as they only managed to secure 3rd-4th place in all three. ONE Esports Dota 2 Invitation Jakarta: Indonesia Qualifier became this roster’s final event together, which, similarly, ended on a bitter note.

13 days since the announcement, T1 secured zero tournaments and decided to make even more changes. With the pandemic also coming in hot, the team eventually parted ways with Black^ and xuan on March 16, 2020.

 

Chapter 2: T1, Round 2

All hope is not lost, nor is T1 willing to give up an already huge investment. The two empty slots meant stand-ins for the time being, to which they called upon the assistance of Singaporean duo Meracle and Poloson to play in BTS Pro Series: Southeast Asia in April 2020. Although they ended up finishing 7th-8th in the event, this roster was still worth a shot for T1.

They continued to play with this duo as stand-ins in two events that followed: Asia Spring Invitational and ESL One Birmingham 2020 – Online SEA Open Qualifiers. Like their previous result, these ones were equally underwhelming. Nevertheless, T1 ultimately signed the two on May 13 into their official roster.

T1’s Second Dota 2 Roster. Source: Twitter @T1.

Despite their results, T1 seemed to be comfortable with their current roster, so do their players. They stuck around for about three months that followed. And although they didn’t manage to play in top-dog tournaments, they still managed to win Hephaestus Cup and SEA Dota Invitational 2020, both of which are categorized as Tier 3 tournaments.

When it comes to the real deal, T1 was still somehow performing poorly. They placed 7th-8th in BTS Pro Series Season 2: Southeast Asia and a slightly better 4th place in ONE Esports Dota 2 SEA League where they lost a tight 1-2 against Geek Fam. But again, this is still far from what’s hoped from the team, especially when they are playing under the T1 banner.

 

Chapter 3: A Call for Change

On July 29, a piece of shocking yet expected news came in; FoREv is leaving the team. After almost a year of building the team virtually from scratch, the trailblazer ultimately parted ways. This marked a huge change especially considering that FoREv is the only South Korean member of the team. Now that he has left, the South Korean team has no representations from their own region.

FoREv Departs from T1. Source: Twitter @T1.

T1 had not much time to scramble around doing nothing, as another tournament was around the corner. They have been invited to participate in ESL One Thailand 2020: Asia, which was to be commenced on August 20. Only a day before it kicked off, they signed Filipino player, Sam_H to fill the vacancy.

Given that there’s limited time to adapt to the changes, T1’s hope didn’t look too bright. But it still remains a fact that Sam_H hosts a ton of experience playing under teams like TNC Pro Team and Neon Esports previously. T1 proceeded to survive the Group Stage, even took down Motivate.Trust Gaming in the Lower Bracket Playoffs, but lost to Neon Esports thereafter. For Sam_H, his stint with T1 was nothing but short.

Sam_H’s arrival was only a start to an even bigger change. Meracle and coach xFreedom left the team in September, followed by the departure of Head Coach cCarter in October. With no satisfying results, things looked very grim for the future of T1. What many had thought to be South Korea’s only hope, had proved so little compared to their League and StarCraft counterparts.

Throughout October and November of 2020, T1 did not really participate in any event. Instead, they opted to revamp almost the entirety of their roster, both players and staff alike. Joining xFreedom and cCarter, MP left the coaching position. Likewise, inYourdreaM and Jhocam followed Meracle, forming a new team, HOYO, for Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1. Only Sam_H and Poloson remained.

 

Chapter 4: Geek1 or TFam?

Still continuing the already major change, T1 turned to yet another former MVP player, March. Since March’s national service ended, the veteran has looked for various opportunities to return to professional gaming. His return to T1 as a coach seems fitting given his experience and a perfect representation as a South Korean player.

They also recruited Filipino player Karl just a few days after March’s announcement. It is then followed by the arrival of two other Southeast Asian players JaCkky and Xepher. JaCkky had shown prominent results during his time with Motivate.Trust Gaming. While on the other hand, Xepher was Karl’s former teammate in Geek Fam.

Although T1 has secured five different players under their belt, they are revealed to not be the penultimate roster coming into the end of 2020. Instead, they recruited two stand-ins: Kuku and Whitemon. If you’ve been following the modern Southeast Asian scene, you should be familiar with this lineup and perhaps recall another team who’s had a similar roster, Geek Fam.

Indeed, four out of five T1 players were part of the Geek Fam roster which qualified for ESL One Los Angeles Major 2020 but had their hopes crushed due to lockdown measures. Thus, it’s unsurprising for them to pick this specific set of players, given their previous experience playing and succeeding together.

T1’s Roster for BTS Pro Series Season 4. Source: Twitter @T1.

And as many predicted, this roster gave astonishing results despite their age. In BTS Pro Series Season 4 where Kuku and Whitemon stood in, they placed second in the Group Stage and ended up placing third overall, beating the likes of Execration and Fnatic. Compared to their previous rosters, this result was a significant achievement.

With an already promising lineup and one that is tightly bonded, T1 naturally signed both Kuku and Whitemon officially into their roster on January 18, 2021 — thus translating to the departure of Sam_H and Poloson. With Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1 commencing soon and T1 receiving a Direct Invite to the Upper Division, this roster has the potential to overthrow other Southeast Asian contenders.

In the event that lasted about a month, T1 showed outstanding results since the beginning and ended up finishing third. Their results overtop that of TNC Predator, BOOM Esports, and Execration. Together with the third-place finish meant that they secured a Wild Card slot to 2021’s first Major event, ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021. However, there is one questionable decision that T1 took before it kicked off.

 

Chapter 5: Reinforcements from Thailand’s Superstar

Just as they concluded DPC 2021 Season 1 with a clutch Wild Card slot to the Major, T1, for some reason, decided to replace JaCkky just four days after the event came to a close. Many fans questioned this decision, for obvious reasons. Namely, JaCkky was part of the reason why T1 qualified for the Major, not to mention his consistent performance.

In the end, T1 decided to recruit Thailand’s rising pubstar, 23savage. This slightly explained why T1 risked changing their roster, given that 23savage was a superstar up for grab for pretty much any team wanting to become a dominant powerhouse. T1 had only one chance to not only secure this soon-to-be prodigy, but also become Southeast Asia’s leading team.

Yet, their result in the ONE Esports Singapore Major was as expected given how abruptly the team was formed. Moreover, their cornerstone captain Kuku didn’t manage to attend the event due to health reasons, further contributing to the team’s poor performance. T1 failed to seize their Wild Card opportunity as the team got eliminated early on.

Regardless, the team progressed into DPC 2021 Season 2 more confidently. Now with everyone on board and more time to develop, T1 quickly climbed the league’s leaderboard. In the end, they topped the charts and dropped only two series in total, hence securing a Playoffs slot at 2021’s second Major event, WePlay AniMajor.

The event served to be a crucial moment for T1, as they were inching closer to being able to qualify for The International 10. All they need to do is not get eliminated in the first round, such that they will acquire enough points for TI10. There is a problem approaching them though, since their first contender is DPC China’s strongest team, Team Aster.

Despite the weight on their shoulders, T1 pushed through the adversity. They flawlessly took down the Chinese giant 2-0, thereby advancing to Upper Bracket Round 2 and, more importantly, securing their ticket to The International 10.


With the excitement, T1 continued their Major journey taking down teams like Quincy Crew, and almost defeating PSG.LGD in the process. Unfortunately, their run came to an end as they lost to Evil Geniuses in the Lower Bracket. Even so, T1 finished third — a huge improvement since their first Major run.


T1 had another shot in proving that their Major result wasn’t a fluke due to sheer luck. They continued to play in ESL One Summer 2021, this time facing up against even stronger teams like Virtus.pro and Alliance. Under the leadership of Kuku, 23savage and co. won a 3-2 comeback in the Grand Finals against Virtus.pro. With such a result, the world is convinced that T1 will deliver a blow in their premiere TI10 stint.

 

Chapter 6: Road to The International

Now that the excitement and intensity have settled, T1 and the rest of the teams have more than enough time to prepare for The International 10. In a span of less than a year, T1 snowballed from a Tier 2 Southeast Asian team to one that is capable of taking down giants. Southeast Asia has found their hope once again.

More importantly, T1’s Dota 2 roster has come a long way since their first advent. Although their roster is far from emulating their League of Legends counterpart’s three-time World Championship attainment, T1’s road to prominence has just started. Though their penultimate outcome at TI10 remains a wild guess, T1’s Dota 2 presence has truly ignited.

Featured Image by Twitter @T1.

Nemestice Summer Event and Battle Pass Released, Showcases Spectre Arcana and Personas

As Valve has hinted earlier in their TI10 update, the Dota 2 Nemestice Summer Event has begun on July 23. Together with the release of the Nemestice mini-game, a brand new Battle Pass is included with additional shiny goodies for different levels.

In the official announcement, Valve described Nemestice to be “the third type of stone” aside from Radiant Ore and the Direstone. The stone is “warped remnants of the shattered moon still unswayed by either petulant Ancient and bursting with Zet’s sacrificed power.” As the lore is written, “Aeons later, Nemestice at last makes landfall to disrupt their battle, and to those who would hold power over both Ancients, there is no greater prize.”

Firstly, the Nemestice Battle Pass costs US$7.49 for the lowest Level 1 Bundle, followed by US$26.99 and US$41.99 for the Level 50 and 100 Bundle respectively. Valve set a slightly lower Battle Pass price compared to the original TI10 that had US$9.99 as its entry price for the Level 1 Bundle. It should be noted that none of this money would be used to further fund the TI10 prize pool from last year’s Battle Pass.

Prices aside, most fans are excited for the release of new sets like the Spectre Arcana: Phantom Advent. With the theme of being trapped by a cursed set of armor, the new Spectre Arcana includes an all-new Spectre model, loadout pedestal, custom animations and effects, custom hero assets, more than 500 Arcana-exclusive voice with the theme of being trapped by a cursed set of armor lines, and still many others. The Spectre Arcana is only available through the Battle Pass at Level 330.

Spectre Arcana: Phantom Advent. Source: Valve.

Like other Arcanas, you could unlock the second style called Phantom Ascension by earning a Mega Kill streak in 100 different games. While the original style featured a crystal-blue color palette, the second style tends more to the crimson red color palette.

Other than Spectre, Dragon Knight also obtained a new Davion of Dragon Hold Persona based on the recent successful Netflix series, DOTA: Dragon’s Blood. Various Persona components like Davion’s Broken Sword, Pauldrons, and Helm could be unlocked with the progression of the Battle Pass level.

The Nemestice Battle Pass also features a throwback to Invoker’s Dark Artistry set by making a new rendition for the Acolyte of the Lost Arts Persona. Now, the young Invoker could wear the same Dark Artistry suit, complete with the Magus Apex add-on and effects. This Level 275 reward already includes the Persona with it, so those who did not have the original Persona could still use this new set. Those who did, however, would “have their items upgraded to Exalted quality including a special gold border to indicate that they had it first.”

Finally, like previous Battle Passes, this year’s would showcase new Nemestice Immortal Treasures, Music Pack, Creeps, Chat Wheels, Emoticons, Sprays, River Vials, and Seasonal Effects, unlockable at different levels.

As for the Nemestice mini-game, players would be missioned to gather ability-boosting fragments and join the foray of claiming a crash zone. In addition, a new Nemestice Cavern Crawl is available to attain extra “Battle Pass Points, Plus Shards, and exclusive item sets.” Weekly Quests are also provided to help players gain more Battle Pass Points.

All in all, it seems that the community gave a positive reception to the new releases, except perhaps for the fact that the Spectre Arcana is only available through the Battle Pass and isn’t sold separately like previous vote-winning Arcanas.

On a brighter note, it is revealed that the Nemestice Battle Pass is only the first Battle Pass to be released this year. As @wykrhm tweeted, “There will be another one later in the year.”

Featured Image by Valve.

Valve to Find an Alternative Location for TI10 Outside of Sweden

The International 10 is met with the classic problem of visa issue once again for this year, this time only worse. Dota 2’s yearly grand event is planned to take place in Sweden on August 2021 but, with the Swedish Sports Federation’s recent rejection to accept esports into the sports federation, hope looks anything but grim.

Initially, the plan was to host the event in 2020 as per annual tradition, but as we all know, the pandemic took place — eventually leading to its postponement all the way to August 2021. The situation was all smiles and laughter until Valve announced “an important update on TI10”.

In their official post, Valve explained that things went smoothly at first and that TI10 was assured to be given the same recognition as other elite sporting events in Sweden. They kept in close contact with both Stockholm Live and Visit Stockholm who gave the assurance.

Unfortunately, with the Swedish Sports Federation rejecting to recognize esports equally as other sports, a ton of problems quickly surfaced. In response, Valve held a meeting with the Swedish Esports Federation and Visit Stockholm to resolve the issue. They found out that Valve’s only option was to ask Sweden’s Minister of the Interior to reconsider TI as an elite sporting event; only to get their request immediately denied.

With their only option not making the cut, the staffs, players, and talents involved in TI10 will have massive immigration problems if the event continues to be held in Sweden. For instance, Valve highlighted that “The absence of this official recognition also means individual border agents would be making decisions about entry for those traveling to the event from countries outside the EU who do not typically need a visa to enter Sweden.”

Valve even asked for help from the Swedish government on June 9, followed them up on June 14, but similarly to no avail. As such, they ultimately need to find an alternative location to host this year’s International. Though the location is yet to be announced, Valve felt confident that they “will have a solution that allows us to hold TI10 in Europe this year”.

For now, Valve will still proceed with the planned TI10 Regional Qualifiers as they prepare to give an updated plan regarding TI10 in the near future. The qualifiers will kick off on June 23 as scheduled, as well as the all-new summer event Nemestice arriving soon.

Featured Image by Twitter @wykrhm.