T1
T1
Korea
Rank #3
stax
Kim Gu-taek (김구택)
Meteor
Kim Tae-oh (김태오)
Sylvan
Go Young-sup (고영섭)
BuZz
Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철)
iZu
Ham Woo-ju (함우주)
has defeated
Trace Esports
Trace Esports
China
Rank #2
LuoK1ng
Zhang Zhanpeng (张展鹏)
Kai
Lu Zhinan (卢智楠)
FengF
Song Xuefeng (宋学锋)
heybay
Ho Shun Hei
Biank
Zhong Jianfei (钟剑飞)
2-0, eliminating them from Masters Bangkok. They will continue on in the Swiss stage, with one match standing between them and playoffs.
The series played out on Lotus and Haven, with T1 winning both maps 13-3 and 13-8 respectively.
Both teams were coming off 2-0 losses in their opening matches of the tournament. Trace were put down in dominant fashion by
G2 Esports
G2 Esports
North America
Rank #1
jawgemo
Alexander Mor
trent
Trent Cairns
valyn
Jacob Batio
JonahP
Jonah Pulice
leaf
Nathan Orf
, but T1 had a relatively competitive series with
Team Vitality
Team Vitality
Europe
Rank #1
trexx
Nikita Cherednichenko
Derke
Nikita Sirmitev
Kicks
Kimmie Laasner
Sayf
Saif Jibraeel
Less
Felipe de Loyola Basso
. Facing elimination, T1 decided to adjust their starting roster, subbing out
carpe
and bring in
Sylvan
to face Trace. Sylvan was T1's initial starting controller, playing with the team throughout all the offseason and the beginning of Kickoff, but has been sitting out for the past four matches, with carpe taking his spot.
For their map pick, Trace opted into Lotus, a map that T1 was undefeated on in Kickoff. This proved to be a huge mistake, as they got absolutely blasted on the map. T1 continued their undefeated streak with their unorthodox double duelist comp with Iso. After blunders from Trace led to a flawless round 2 eco, T1 took complete control of the map, easily winning 13-3. iZu in particular was on fire, with several multikills singlehandedly winning his team rounds.
Someone check iZu's PC.In his post-match interview, T1 IGL stax thanked Trace for picking Lotus, it being one of their strongest maps. Trace's head coach destroyeR explained the rationale behind the map pick in the post-match press conference. “Based on our scrims and our performance during the whole last year, I think we could solve any problems on that map. Our loss was because we made some wrong decisions in-game.”
T1's momentum from Lotus carried into their map pick of Haven, as they started the map up 4-0. Big plays from Kai helped Trace stabilize and even the score to 6-6 at the half.
Kai on Jett does his best to keep Trace in the game.In the second half, the dynamic duelist duo of Meteor and BuZz fully came alive, and quickly put away the map 13-8. Fittingly, they both ended Haven with a 1.36 rating.
Meteor showers Trace's heads with bullets to earn match point.Trace Esports are eliminated from Masters Bangkok, going home without winning a single map.
T1 survive elimination, and will go on to face one of
DRX
DRX
Korea
Rank #4
Flashback
Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁)
MaKo
Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관)
free1ng
No Ha-jun (노하준)
HYUNMIN
Song Hyun-min (송현민)
BeYN
Kang Ha-bin (강하빈)
, G2 Esports, or the winner of
Sentinels
Sentinels
North America
Rank #4
N4RRATE
Marshall Massey
bang
Sean Bezerra
Zellsis
Jordan Montemurro
zekken
Zachary Patrone
johnqt
Mohamed Amine Ouarid
vs.
Team Liquid
Team Liquid
Europe
Rank #10
paTiTek
Patryk Fabrowski
kamyk
Maks Rychlewski
nAts
Ayaz Akhmetshin
Keiko
Georgio Sanassy
kamo
Kamil Frąckowiak
. In all of T1's previous international outings, their run ended in the group stage, but one more win will send the organization to the playoffs for the first time.