If you're hoping to see more of Anathan "ana" Pham and Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen playing together, you're out of luck. That's because Dota 2 team T1 just disbanded the roster, which means Matthew "Whitemon" Filemon is now also a free agent.
For those who can remember, T1 had previously released coach Park "March" Tae-won and did not renew the contract of Carlo "Kuku" Palad, leaving Kenny "Xepher" Deo. T1 had formally announced that he had also left the team as part of the new announcement although Xepher had revealed in October that he was looking for a new team.
The official statement of the disbandment was made by T1 on Twitter. No explanations were given with T1 simply saying that they wish the players "best of luck for the future" and thanked all the fans for their support.
A Look Back
While T1 has long had a presence in esports, it only started its Dota 2 division in 2019 with Lee "Forev" Sang-don revealed as the first member. However, things would not go smoothly after that. In early March 2020, the official roster was announced but a few weeks later two members were removed from the team. By July, the team announced that it had parted ways with Forev. Overall, there would be a lot of roster movement in 2020.
Things began to look a little brighter in 2021 when Kuku and Whitemon joined, and the team really did well when Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon was also brought in. The 2021 roster won the ESL One Summer 2021 by beating Virtus.pro. This same roster finished top eight in The International 2021, which was really a good showing.
For some reason, the team put 23savage on inactive status and things really changed; the team struggled during the 2021-2022 DPC Season. It was then that the team brought in Ana and Topson in an attempt to join The International 2022 through the Southeast Asia Qualifier and the Last Chance Qualifier; both those efforts failed, however.
There’s no word yet if T1 is planning to continue having a presence in the Dota 2 esports scene. There are still a lot of good players available in Southeast Asia though some may be hesitant considering how the team manages its roster.
What about you? Any thoughts on the future of T1?
