A true esports professional player that he is, T1's veteran offlaner Carlo "Kuku" Palad did not take the negative comments about his forgettable performance in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC)-Southeast Asia Upper Division tiebreaker against Neon Esports too seriously.
Kuku finished with a horrendous record of zero kills and 26 deaths in the last two games combined as T1 lost to Neon, 2-1, in the tiebreak for the No. 2 spot that grants a spot in the Singapore Major group stage.
His Venomancer went 0-16 in Game 2 while his Legion Commander plunged to 0-10 in Game 3 as the South Korea-based organization settled for No. 3 that gives a seat in the scary wild card phase.
As such, viewers on the live stream talked trash on Kuku and even the official casters, in English and in Filipino which seemed to be harsher, had some spicy words to describe his unlikely ugly performance.
But the 24-year-old T1 captain was quick to move on and look at the brighter side instead.
"Okay lang pasok pa rin kami sa wild card. 'Yung mga kalaban namin malalakas, okay lang. Practice namin 'yan. 'Di naman tayo papadarag eh (We still got into the wild card. Our opponents there will be strong but it's okay. It will be a good practice for us. But we're not gonna get stomped)," Kuku said while streaming Dawn of War a few hours after their defeat to Neon on Saturday night, Feb. 27.
Kuku and T1 will face TI7 champion Nigma (formerly Team Liquid), possibly two-time TI winner OG and Chinese powerhouse teams Elephant, PSG.LGD or EHOME along with one CIS Squad in the wild card of the first Dota 2 Major tournament of 2021.
"'Kung iisipin mo, sayang talaga kasi one game away kami from qualifying for the group stage. Pero nandyan pa rin naman 'yung chance so malay niyo baka makatsamba (It was a missed chanced 'cause were one game away from qualifying for the group stage. But still we have a chance in the wild card)," he said.
"Kaso napakahirap kasi parang TI na 'yung wild card eh. Kailangan na lang namin galingan o matuto kami para magamit sa next season. Babawi na lang kami next season (It's gonna be hard in the wild card because it already looks like TI. We need to do our best or just learn to get back next season)."
Kuku also offered no excuses for their loss, admitting that Neon was just the better team that night.
"Deserved nila yun. Kami 'di pa namin deserved 'yung ganung place, pang-wildcard pa lang kami (They deserved it. We still don't deserve that place, we're just right for the wild card now)," said Kuku, who added that he's taking a rest from playing Dota 2 after the stressful DPC season.
Although he took the trash talk in stride, Kuku, still a player that he is, answered back in jest through his live stream caption.
"Kuku nyo pagod na, caster nyo panot na."
We'll just leave it there for you to guess who he was referring to.