Cover-Credits:
Thai carry player Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon played as a stand-in carry player for Motivate.Trust Gaming in the team’s first game of the opening series against Yangon Galacticos in the BTS Pro Series S10. He played in place of Apirat "TOY", who is registered as Motivate.Trust Gaming's fifth player for the event in place of Souliya "JaCkky" Khoomphetsavong. While TOY returned for game two of the series and helped Motivate.Trust Gaming win 2-0, the interesting aspect is that 23savage is currently registered to T1, which is also invited to participate in the BTS Pro Series S10. Neither the players nor Motivate.Trust Gaming provided any information about this stand-in situation.
T1 23savage plays as a substitute for Motivate.Trust Gaming
Initially, TOY was set to replace JaCkky for BTS Pro Series S10, but 23savage turned out to be Motivate.Trust Gaming's safelane player as the team’s first game kicked off on 7th Feb.
23savage was on point while playing a carry Kunkka as were others on Motivate.Trust Gaming and together they secured the win for game one in 34 minutes. Though TOY returned for the second game, Motivate.Trust Gaming once again demonstrated its dominance, building a solid lead gradually and then securing the win in 33 minutes.
What does this mean for 23savage and T1?
As 23savage is listed on T1’s roster for the BTS Pro Series S10, it is an unusual sight to see him participating in the same event as a stand-in for another team. Even though Motivate.Trust Gaming is currently competing in Phase 1 of BTS Pro Series S10, and T1 has been invited to Phase 2, set to commence on 14th Feb 2022, the two teams are still playing in the same tournament. Of the eight teams participating in Phase 1, four will eventually be joining T1, Execration, OB.Neon, and Team SMG in Phase 2.
The situation adds to the speculation surrounding 23savage's future on T1's Dota 2 roster, which has been ongoing for the past few days. Although various rumors have surfaced concerning the player's departure from T1, no official confirmation has been provided by the relevant parties.
Before T1 debuts in the BTS Pro Series S10, information on its roster will likely be known three days before, when it faces Fnatic in the Southeast Asia (SEA) Regional Finals on 11th Feb. The team will be competing in the Regional Finals for the lion’s share of the $100,000 USD prize pool and 380 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) points.
It is no secret that T1's roster has been at the center of a lot of speculation, but it is also expected that a number of other DPC teams in the SEA region will undergo some roster changes over the course of the next few weeks. Teams like OB.Neon and Army Geniuses have already begun to announce their roster changes. It will also be interesting to see whether JaCkky will continue to be a part of Motivate.Trust Gaming after not being registered as a member of the team for BTS Pro Series S10.
At the time of writing this article, Motivate.Trust Gaming leads Yangon Galacticos 1-0 in the Bo3 series with 23savage having played as the safelaner in the first game.
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