Southeast Asian powerhouse team T1 reasserted its dominance over budding North American rival Quincy Crew with a 2-0 sweep to advance to the ESL One Summer 2021 upper bracket finals early Saturday, June 19.
T1 banked on 12K MMR Thai carry Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon's Terrorblade in Game 1 and Filipino captain-offlaner Carlo "Kuku" Palad's Doom in Game 2 to replicate its victory against Quinn "Quinn" Callahan and the Crew in the WePlay AniMajor upper bracket semifinals.
With the sweet sweep, Kuku and the squad assured themselves of at least a third-place finish worth $45,000 (P2.1 million) in the pre-The International 10 online tourney organized by ESL.
Kuku's Timbersaw, Filipino mid laner Karl "Karl" Jayme's Dragon Knight, and the Indonesian support duo of Matthew "Whitemon" Filemon on Lion and Kenny "Xepher" Deo on Snapfire bought enough time for 23savage's Terrorblade to farm his items and take over late in the series opener.
T1 finished Game 1 in 41 minutes on a 22-17 scoreline with Kuku getting a game-high nine kills and Karl tallying 16 assists. 23savage, who put up four kills and 13 assists, unleashed 23.5K hero damage and 28.5K structure damage
It was Kuku's big-time Doom spells on Yawar "YawaR" Hassan's Terrorblade and Quinn's Death Prophet down the crucial stretch that enabled T1 to seal the series with a 20-12 triumph in the 43-minute Game 2.
T1 will next face CIS powerhouse Virtus.pro in the best-of-three upper bracket finals later at around 11 p.m. for the first grand finals berth.
The champion of the ESL One Summer 2021 will take home $175,000 (P8.4 million) while the runner-up will bag $85,000 (P4.1 million).