T1 Entertainment & Sports held its second annual T1CON on December 30th at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP).
The event was a way for the South Korean organization to give back to the fans who have supported them throughout the year, as well as celebrate its historic 3-0 victory against Weibo Gaming at the 2023 League of Legends World Championship.
Fans were treated to a variety of segments, including a piano performance by T1’s mid laner, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, revealing a hint about a new Ahri skin set to release in 2024, and T1’s jungler Moon ‘Oner’ Hyeon-joon‘s confession about his initial idea for a Sejuani skin, where Glacial Prison would throw a model resembling Faker’s face.
T1, part of South Korea’s growing global influence
T1CON, held as a part of SEOUL Con, was organized by the Seoul Business Agency, the economic policy implementation arm of Seoul Metropolitan Government. This larger event welcomed over 3,000 global influencers for a three-day festival.
SEOUL Con prepared various events, such as KPOP concerts, a host of seminars for content creators, a conference on the growing Korean Wave, influencer fan signings, popup stores, and festivals around the city.
T1CON alone had close to 4,500 attendees, with 1,800 on-site and approximately 2,600 watching live on AfreecaTV.
As a prelude to the main event, fans were treated to a surprise visit from the mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-Hoon. Oh, still thrilled by T1’s Worlds victory, congratulated the team. He expressed his happiness at seeing the team and its fans gather to participate in SEOUL Con and pledged that the city of Seoul would do its best to ensure that Korean esports teams remain dominant.
T1’s in-house trash talking
T1CON kicked off with a special Valorant match event, featuring T1’s Valorant team members Son ‘xeta’ Seon-ho, Lee ‘Carpe’ Jae-hyeok, Ha ‘Sayaplayer’ Jung-woo, Ham ‘iZu’ Woo-joo, and streamer/content creator Chae ‘Bunny’ Joon-hyuk, who would form a team with T1’s LoL team.
The players were split into two teams.
One comprised of T1’s support Ryu ‘Keria’ Min-seok, toplaner Choi ‘Zeus’ Woo-je and Oner, joined by Valorant’s Carpe and xeta. They faced off against Faker, botlaner Lee ‘Gumayusi’ Min-hyeong, alongside Bunny, and Valorant’s iZu and Sayaplayer.
The pre-match period was filled with playful trash-talking. Oner boasted that their team would easily win, joking that the opposing team was “basically missing two players.” Gumayusi retorted, saying, “There’s no difference between a bronze and an iron player,” implying that the three Valorant players on his team would lead them to victory. Zeus confidently claimed that without in-game names, fans wouldn’t be able to distinguish him from the professional players.
Ultimately, Gumayusi’s team triumphed with a 13-10 victory, even though Zeus and Keria secured a combined 40 kills, outperforming both xeta and Carpe on their team.
Talent performances and the stories behind Worlds skins
Part two of the event began with a talk show where the team opened up about their choice of skins. Despite Renata Glasc winning the fan vote, Keria ultimately chose Bard, a decision he felt was right, as he explained on his stream and reiterated during the event. Faker, aware of the demand for an Ahri skin, opted for Orianna but reassured fans about “good news for Ahri next year.”
Oner proposed several ideas to the Riot team, including a Sejuani skin with her ultimate throwing a model of Faker’s face. However, realizing Riot most likely wouldn’t comply, he eventually settled for Lee Sin. Zeus, surprised no one had chosen Jayce in the past, decided to pick it himself, a choice influenced by his frequent use of the champion in gameplay. Gumayusi, after considering several options, selected Jinx as his favorite and signature champion.
T1CON concluded with a special musical performance. The special performance began with Gumayusi singing Cho Seung-woo’s ‘This is the Moment.’ The finale also featured Faker on the piano with Joe Hisaishi’s ‘Summer’, Yiruma’s ‘River Flows in You’, and Chopin’s ‘Nocturne in E Flat Major,’ followed by a trio performance of AKMU’s ‘Last Goodbye’ by Oner, Zeus, and Keria.
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