Veteran Filipino player Carlo “Kuku” Palad has officially joined the roster of T1 Entertainment & Sports for the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC)-Southeast Asia Regional League upper division set to fire off on January 20.
Kuku is now the official offlaner of T1 after a successful stint as a stand-in player in the Beyond The Summit (BTS) Pro Series Season 4 SEA where the South Korean squad finished third and bagged a prize of $6,500 (over P300,000).
T1 also added Indonesian hard support Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon to its lineup. Whitemon also served as stand-in in the BTS tournament.
“We are pleased to welcome Kuku and Whitemon to our Dota 2 roster!” T1, known for its League of Legends team, said in a Facebook post on Monday.
Interestingly, T1 is now composed of four former Geek Fam standouts in Kuku, Whitemon, Filipino star midlaner Karl “Karl” Jayme (also known as Santino) and Indonesian soft support Kenny “Xepher” Deo. Only Laotian carry Souliya “Jackky” Khoomphetsavong came from another team (Motivate.Trust Gaming).
With Filipino carry Polo “Raven” Fausto (now playing for Fnatic), Geek Fam won the BTS Season 2 and the ONE Esports Dota 2 SEA League before disbanding in September due to the extended suspension of the 2019-2020 DPC caused by the pandemic.
Read: Kuku to coach Omega Dota 2 teamNow with the four-time The International veteran Kuku at the helm, T1 will battle it out in the upper division against Filipino powerhouse TNC Predator, Fnatic, BOOM Esports and the four qualified teams in Execration, Neon Esports, Vice Esports and 496 Gaming.
T1 will take on Fnatic on January 20 to kick off the hostilities in the upper division, which stakes three slots to the first Dota 2 Major tournament this year.