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T1 exacts sweet revenge against VP for ESL One crown and massive momentum going to The International

By Manila Bulletin

Reigning Southeast Asian king T1 took a sweet 3-2 revenge win over CIS online powerhouse Virtus.pro to seize the ESL One Summer 2021 championship early Monday, June 21 (PH time).

Indonesian position-4 support Kenny “Xepher” Deo on his Nyx Assassin with Aghanim’s Scepter powered T1’s come-from-behind victory in the title-clinching Game 5 to take home the $175,000 (P8.5 million) top prize.

Filipino captain-offlaner Carlo “Kuku” Palad and his crew’s extended stay in Kiev, Ukraine following their third-place finish in the WePlay AniMajor greatly paid off as they also built massive momentum heading to The International 10 which stakes the highest prize pool in esports history at $40 million (P1,9 billion).

The online ESL One Summer tourney featured fellow TI10 direct invites in Team Secret, Alliance, Quincy Crew and VP as well as former TI champions OG and Nigma.

T1 actually had a strong start in the winner-takes-all game behind Kuku’s Broodmother but VP snatched the lead and looked poised to capture the trophy by winning team fights on the back of Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin’s Timbersaw and Danil “gpk” Iskutin’s Invoker.

The boys of Park “March” Tae-won sparked the comeback when Xepher got his Aghanim’s Scepter in the 24th minute that bought time for Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon’s Faceless Void and Karl “Karl” Jayme’s Leshrac to farm their core items.

With Xepher and fellow Indonesian support Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon’s Warlock at the backline, T1 managed to outplay VP in crucial clashes and eventually end the series with a 42-minute triumph.

T1 overcame a 2-1 deficit and forced a championship decider mostly thanks to Kuku’s Axe and Xepher’s Nyx Assassin in Game 4.

The rising Southeast Asian stars avenged their 2-1 defeat to VP in the upper bracket finals after sweeping Alliance, 2-0, in the lower bracket earlier.

T1 also crushed European team Vikin.gg, 2-0, and reasserted their dominance to AniMajor rival Quincy Crew, 2-0, on its way to the ESL title.

Kuku and the squad now set their sights on the Aegis of Champions and the lion’s share of the whopping $40 million prize pool in the TI10 scheduled on August 5-15 at the Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.