T1 carried over their impressive play from the WePlay Esports AniMajor directly into ESL One Summer 2021, dropping just a single series to Virtus Pro before coming back and winning the Dota 2 event. 

VP knocked T1 out of the upper bracket in the finals with a 2-1 victory but failed to close out in the grand finals, losing 3-2 against the top team in Southeast Asia. 

Heading into their rematch with VP, T1 had only lost two games, sweeping Vikin.gg, Quincy Crew, and Alliance to make it to the grand finals. A dominant game one from 23savage’s Phantom Assassin helped T1 grab the match victory, but VP once again took control of the series after the opener. 

Following that game one loss, VP took games two and three in rather dominant fashion, never trailing outside of the opening minutes in either contest. Those wins were fueled by Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko, who went a combined 21-0-21 for 46,200 hero damage on Juggernaut and Faceless Void.

Despite falling behind again, T1 maintained their aggressive playstyle, pushing their advantages and showing why many think they had the best teamfight in the entire event. 

In two closeout games, T1 pulled away late and staved off VP and took the series, taking home $175,000.

Even with this loss, VP had a great showing, bouncing back from a poor performance at the AniMajor to contend with many of the top teams in the world. Both T1 and VP will take this experience into their bootcamps for The International 10, where both teams will compete on Dota’s biggest stage starting Aug. 5.