T1 crashes and burns in Dota 2 debut at VKGaming Battle of Dawn

gabhernandez Published 17/10/2019

T1’s newest roster debuted at VKGAME Battle of Dawn. It did not go well.

The Korean team’s run in the tournament was cut short after washing out of the group stage with a 1-2 record.

Despite debuting with a win over FTD.Guys, the team lost its series against Sparking Arrow Gaming. This set the team up with a best-of-three decider against iG.Vitality.

The Invictus Gaming developmental team kicked off the series with a quick, 28-minute win, but T1 bounced back to take the second game and tie the series. Facing elimination, iG.Vitality’s Ni “ButterflyEffect” Weijie stepped up big on Lina to get the win for his team.

This eliminated T1, giving them a 9th-10th-place finish that came with no prize money.

Iconic League of Legends organization T1 is struggling in Dota 2

The decision of T1, a sister organization to SK Telecom T1, to launch a Dota 2 team was welcome news back in August. The professional scene has seen large, multi-game organizations like Cloud9 and Immortals leaving more often than joining and seeing such a prestigious brand enter Dota 2 was a positive sign.

T1 started by signing Lee “Forev” Sang-don following The International 2019, but he continued to compete with Team Jinesbrus even after the signing. While it’s possible this was a trial run before signing the other four players, the team failed to qualify for the MDL Chengdu Major and the Dota Summit 11 Minor.

This was followed by the announcement of a new lineup that included Pyo “MP” No-a, James “XemistrY” Lee, Ha “Grace” Tae-eun, and snOw.

Though there was fairly stiff competition at VKGAME Battle of Dawn such as EHOME, Keen Gaming, and Newbee, the new T1 roster did not compete against any of them. The fact that T1’s debut ended with losses to two regional-level teams does not bode well for their future.

Because of that, many fans are expecting another new lineup to be built around Forev before the qualifiers for the second major of the Dota Pro Circuit season.

Read Also

Dota 2

Who will prevail?: BLAST SLAM VIII Playoffs preview, predictions, and more Michael Hassall After a week of intense Group Stage, Last Chance and Seeding stage matches, and a few days of rest, BLAST SLAM VIII returns tomorrow (Oct. 8) with the Playoffs. If we’re honest, there haven’t been too many surprises. We’d liked to have seen a BetBoom or Team Liquid make the cut, but ultimately these aren’t the teams of earlier in the year, and with new rosters comes new uncertainty. That's ...

Dota 2

Dota 2’s new Tidehunter Arcana is mind-blowing, but prepare to spend $200+ to get it Michael Hassall Night owls in North America and early risers in Europe woke up to a brand new Dota 2 Arcana, the first new release of Dota’s rarest and most-coveted cosmetics since 2024. The recipient? Tidehunter, whose Maw of the Megladon Arcana transforms the already selachian sea-dweller into a full-blown shark. But while Arcana’s have traditionally been part of big events in Dota 2, either the now-discontinued Battle Passes, or most recently, ...

Dota 2

Yandex to repeat?: BLAST SLAM VIII preview, predictions, and more Michael Hassall If you can believe it, we’re already on the eighth edition of BLAST SLAM, as BLAST SLAM VIII kicks off tomorrow (Sep. 29) pitting 16 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams against each other in what promises to be the first big challenge of this young season. Let’s face it: At PGL Wallachia, we were missing a lot of the heavy hitters. No TI15 champs, no PARIVISION, not BetBoom, ...

Dota 2

Unstoppable Yandex crush NAVI in one-sided PGL Wallachia finals Michael Hassall Team Yandex has swept the grand finals of the PGL Wallachia Season 9 Dota 2 tournament, defeating Natus Vincere (NAVI) in a 3-0 drubbing this past weekend (Sep. 27). As predicted, the revitalized Yandex, hot off the signing of former Team Falcons star Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf, crushed their youthful opponents in a three-game sweep in the best-of-five finals. Here’s how it happened: After upsetting the star-studded LGD Gaming roster (albeit ...

Dota 2

Team Yandex to win it all? PGL Wallachia Season 9 Finals preview and predictions Michael Hassall The first big event after TI15, PGL Wallachia Season 9, wraps up this Sunday, Sep. 27, and it’s set to be a hell of a show. After a solid week of action, with some surprise eliminations along the way, we’re down to just three teams from the original 16. Team Yandex, LGD Gaming, and Natus Vincere (NAVI) remain, having battled through some big upsets to get there. Yandex are hot ...

Dota 2

MidOne to Play for Team Liquid at BLAST Slam 8, Replacing Nisha: Permanent or Stand-in? Owen Harsono Like most other Dota 2 teams, Team Liquid have also undergone roster changes after The International 2026, replacing Ace for Wisper. However, a swap in offlaners wasn’t the end, as veteran mid-laner MidOne has been registered under the team ahead of BLAST Slam 8, taking Nisha’s spot. Is MidOne only acting as a stand-in, or is this going to be a permanent move? Here’s what we know. On September 25, ...

Dota 2

PGL Wallachia Season 9 Playoffs preview and predictions Michael Hassall PGL Wallachia Season 9 is the first major tournament since the 2025/2026 Dota 2 season came to its conclusion at TI15, and with the roster shuffle still, well, shuffling, and top teams skipping the event while they get things finalized, it’s been an unusual tournament so far. With some surprising names in the playoffs (especially if you’ve been following the scene for the rest of the year) and the absence ...