T1 officially announced the roster for its Dota 2 team. The community already knew who the members were, as they had participated in qualifiers for the ESL One Los Angeles 2020. However, it was only early this week when the organization made the decision to make the roster official.
T1 was formerly known as SK Telecom T1, and in 2002 was mainly focused on Brood War. They went on to have a League of Legends team and by 2019 also entered Artifact and even Super Smash Bros. Ultimate competitions. By August of last year, T1 revealed that it had signed on Lee "Forev" Sang-don as the first member of its Dota 2 team. In addition, T1 made the decision to be in the SEA region.
Forev was later joined, though not officially, by Christian-John "Skadilicious" Abasolo, James "XemistrY" Lee, Kim "Febby" Yong-min, and Johan "pieliedie" Åström. The team then joined the Open QUalifiers for the DreamLeague Season13 and managed to make it to the Round of 4 before being eliminated by Alpha x Hashtag 0-2.
Towards the end of January this year, a new roster was registered and is expected to join Fover. These are Dominik "Black^" Reitmeier, Muhammad "inYourdreaM" Rizky, Tri "Jhocam" Kuncoro, and Yixaun "xuan" Guo.
Since the roster was first announced, they have managed to join to two major tournaments. T1 joined the Open Qualifiers for ESL One Los Angeles 2020, but was again eliminated in the Round of 4. They also recently took part in the ESL SEA Championship 2020 and was again unsuccessful after reaching the Round of 4.
After the official reveal of the roster earlier this week, T1 also announced an impressive coaching team. Serving as the team's Head Coach is Choi "cCarter" Byoung-hoon. Assisting him as coaches as well are Pyo "MP" No-a and Nicholas "xFreedom" Kelvin Ileto Lim. Meanwhile Hyunjin "Xyun" Choi is serving as the team's analyst.
There’s no question that T1 is set to be a good team. The question right now is if they’re a good fit with the SEA region and its unique play style. With two more Majors left before The International, T1 may need to make some big moves soon.
