Carlo “Kuku” Palad has nothing but high praises for his young T1 squad especially after finishing in the 7th-8th spot in their very first run in The International.
With five stints under his belt, Kuku lauded his teammates who were all first timers for the impressive run.
Kuku, together with fellow Filipino Karl “Karl” Jayme, Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon, Kenny “Xepher” Deo, and Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon all turned heads in TI especially after finishing the group stages with five straight 2-0 sweeps to secure a spot in the upper bracket playoffs.
Karl and 23Savage for one, didn’t look like rookies in the TI stage as they were the ones who led the team in most of its victories in the group stage.
The supports, Xepher and Whitemon also had their share of the spotlight, none bigger than their game against Alliance in the lower bracket where the two made the big plays for the Southeast Asian squad.
The team lost against contenders PSG.LGD in the upper bracket but clobbered Alliance in a clean 2-0 sweep to advance to the third round of the lower bracket.
However, T1 faltered against Vici Gaming and lost its composure in the last two games, allowing the Chinese squad to comeback and beat them 2-1.
Nonetheless, T1’s team captain is definitely proud of his young squad.
“I think they played good, everyone. We make them comfortable. I keep on saying don’t think about anything, just play the game, even in the draft. They played good, everyone. At the end of the day, there’s only one winner and one loser and right now we lost the game,” said Kuku in the post-match interview.
Despite the loss, Kuku vowed to come back next year especially after a stellar run in this year’s edition.
“We’re feeling good. Our performance is not really bad for this TI run, we just fell short. They’re just the better team for now,” the added Filipino veteran player said.
“Shout out to SEA fans and SEA players, I think we need to come back next year again.”