T1 brings Park “March” Tae-won in coach capacity in a bid to strengthen the organization’s Dota 2 set-up.
March Joins T1 to Boost the Organization’s Dota 2 Squad
Esports powerhouse T1 is bringing Park “March” Tae-won in the position of head coach for the organization’s Dota 2 squad. He will be a valuable addition to Pyo “MP” No-a, a former teammate of Park’s and currently on the T1’s squad in a teaching capacity.
T1 is shifting focus in a bid to boost its own showing in the game and strengthen the set-up ahead of 2021, which many hope would provide enough events to respond to pent-up demand.
Previously, March was a member of TNC Predator helping the team to secure a victory at MDL Chengdu, the same team which was in hot water with Chinese authorities over racial slurring, which almost cost him an entry into Shanghai.
Welcome to the team, March!@DOTA2 팀을 새롭게 이끌 "March" 박태원 감독님을 소개합니다. 팬 여러분들의 많은 응원 부탁드립니다.#T1WIN #T1Fighting pic.twitter.com/JRtY1DUmaa
— T1 (@T1) October 26, 2020
TNC and March parted ways back in September, with the player stating his desire to move towards a different career path in the game. This is not the first time March has been in charge of coaching Dota 2 squads, with several stints at Echo international and even Fnatic.
A Series of (Un)fortunate Tournaments
T1 has been a name well-etched into the community memory, but they haven’t done much to tackle any of the big events. In fact, T1 lost to Geek Fam in the One Esports Dota 2 SEA League and landed 4th and it split 5-6th place at the ESL One Thailand 2020: Asia.
Despite the lack of more convincing victories, T1 has been doing fairly well and the squad has landed 4th or better in six games with two first places in the SEA Dota Invitational 2020 and Hephaestus Cup, both small fry events to make up for the lack of general Dota 2 competition.
However, T1 had a string of defining bad games with the roster missing out on important events in the Dota Pro Circuit, which is the qualifying event for The International. The covid-19 outbreak did allow the team to rethink its strategy, although they lost Galvin “Meracle” Kang, the team’s carry (the character with the highest damage output in a team) in September.
T1’s consistency in securing some of the fringe compe kagame titions, though, shows a team ready to pursue big titles once again. However, the current competitive scene has been a little lackluster, but a restart is no doubt coming.
