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Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen recently disclosed how he joined T1 with former OG teammate Anathan “ana” Pham to compete in the TI11 Southeast Asia (SEA) Regional Qualifiers. After releasing Karl “Karl” Baldovino and Kim “Gabbi” Santos from their active lineup, T1 went in search of new players to get them in top form for The International 2022 (TI11).
A few hours before the announcement, the team hinted at the presence of the new players via Facebook and surprised many. While ana will stay with the team for a while, Topson will only be with T1 temporarily as the team’s stand-in at the TI11 SEA Regional Qualifiers.
The player previously went on an eight-month break to be with his family and spent his free time live streaming on SEA Dota 2 and European servers. After the break, Topson revealed his intention to be a part of the competitive Dota 2 scene and was able to explore other offers before the TI11 with OG’s blessing.
Before the T1 signing, Topson announced on the Road to The International with BMW, hosted by OG, that he preferred to be a part of the Western European scene because he felt the region was the strongest right now. His move to T1 was reportedly a result of ana’s influence.
Not long after the team announced the new player, Topson explained the backstory leading to his move to the team with ana. The two-time TI champion said that ana was the one who brought up the idea of playing again and decided on T1.
Topson recalled, “At first, I came back to Finland to find a team for the TI qualifiers, but I didn’t really try hard to find a team, so I thought if I can’t find a decent team, I’ll just wait until after TI11.”
He explained that around that time, ana contacted him and inquired if he was looking for a team to join. Topson answered in the affirmative and told him he was interested in whatever he had in mind. Ana proceeded to ask his former teammate if he was interested in “EU, NA, SEA?”
Topson replied, “EU is pretty hard to find a decent team, and the qualifiers are really hard. NA? I don’t want to go there [laughing]. And he was like, ‘China?’ No, I don’t want to go to China. ‘SEA?’ I was like: “yeah, yeah, SEA could do it.”
After the conversation, ana reached out to a friend in T1 – the head coach, Park “March” Tae-won – and negotiated with the team.
Topson continued, “I guess ana was the one who pushed it. But if ana is motivated to push things, then I say: ‘Dude, we’re going.'”
In preparation for the move, ana coordinated the paperwork with the CEO of OG, JMR Luna. At the time, the CEO said the only way he would consent to the move to T1 was if the players were committed to being part of the Regional Qualifiers. This was because the negotiations between the two teams’ representatives were getting mixed up.
Topson further revealed that if he had not agreed to join T1, neither would ana. The 24-year-old also talked about his new team and what he thought about their past and recent performances. He shed light on the team’s performance throughout the entire season in the Dota Pro Circuit and how they had problems facing off against teams like Talon Esports, Fnatic, and Boom Esports.
Topson said, “I don’t really know them that much. Of course, I watched them. They were better last year. And this year, they’ve been struggling more. I think the players are great. It’s just about getting together, talking Dota and all that stuff, so we can actually become a team. Go to the qualifiers, hopefully, to become the best SEA team at least, so we can get to TI11.”
Topson and ana will both make their debut with T1 in the TI11 SEA Regional Qualifiers kicking off in early September.
