Already at the jaws of defeat, Carlo “Kuku” Palad’s game-changing Berserker’s Call on his Axe in Game Four powered T1 to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Virtus.pro to win the ESL One Summer 2021 Championship, Monday.
With the South Korean club down 1-2 in the series, the Filipino offlaner managed to turn things around with a huge three-man Berserker’s Call on Vitalie “Save-” Melnic (Enchantress), Danil “gpk” Skutin (Lina), and Illias “Kingslayer” Ganeev (Disruptor) down the middle lane entering the 30-minute mark.
T1, who was trailing all game long, was able to get the opening it needed to take the lead from the powerhouse CIS squad. Thai carry Nuegnara “23savage” Teeramahanon’s Lifestealer secured a Triple Kill in the clash which also saw a couple of buybacks and diebacks from Virtus.pro’s side.
A Triple Kill from Kuku in the 42:49-minute mark forced Virtus.pro to call GG – sending the game to a winner-take-all Game Five.
The former TNC captain ended with 12 kills and four assists against five deaths while 23savage registered seven kills, a death, and 12 assists
Kuku once again took the spotlight in Game Five, delivering an amazing Broodmother performance to help T1 clinch the title. He ended with eight kills and 10 assists against just three deaths.
T1 won Game One before suffering consecutive losses in Games Two and Three.
This will be a huge boost for The International 10-bound T1, who secured its slot in the most prestigious Dota 2 event after its win against Team Aster in the WePlay AniMajor.
T1 bagged a total of 8,487,633 pesos for winning the event where they took out Vikin.GG and Quincy Crew in the upper bracket before being sent down the losers’ finale by the same squad they defeated in the grand finals.
