VALORANT – Champions 2025: T1, a meteoric rise (4/16)

From Sep 12 to Oct 5, VALORANT's VCT Champions tournament will take over Paris. In the lead-up to the event, Sheep Esports will present one of the 16 qualified teams each day. This Wednesday, the countdown continues with T1, representing VCT Pacific as the region’s third seed.

T1's 2025 campaign has swung between exhilarating highs and corrective lows. The year began with a — seemingly promising — second-place finish at Pacific Kickoff and Masters: Bangkok berth. There, T1 delivered a standout performance: After successfully navigating the challenging Swiss stage, they advanced through the playoffs and defeated G2 in a five-map final to secure the organization's first international trophy. This victory vindicated a roster revamp built around veterans Kim “stax” Gu-taek and Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul, the rising firepower of Ham “iZu” Woo-ju and Kang “DH” Dong-ho, and the steadying presence of Kim “Meteor” Tae-oh.

Domestic play was less forgiving, however. Stage 1 saw them struggle against familiar Pacific opponents, ultimately resulting in an early playoff exit. Ahead of Stage 2, T1 tightened their player rotation, committing to a refined five. The response was encouraging: solid group play, a resilient lower-bracket push, and competitive series results against regional heavyweights. Although they ultimately fell short of the title, their collective body of work, capped by the Masters trophy, secured Champions qualification on circuit points and established a clear identity ahead of the Paris tournament.

T1’s ceiling isn’t hypothetical anymore — it has a date and a trophy etched on it: March 2, 2025. Their performance in Bangkok spoke for itself. After recovering from an opening loss to Vitality in the Swiss phase (2–1), T1 dropped the upper semifinal match to EDward Gaming 1–2, before flipping the bracket on its head with a an important win over Vitality 2–1 in Lower Round 1 and a revenge 3–1 victory against EDG in the lower final. They finally secured a 3–2 victory over G2 Esports in one of the year’s most intense Grand Finals.

The decider was a chess match of vetoes and tempos. G2 picked Lotus and Abyss, to which T1 responded with Haven and Split. Pearl remained, and T1 repeatedly kept their nerve in the late rounds to claw back from deficits and close the door on Map 5. This wasn't just a one-map victory, it was a testament to their system. Stax's mid-round calling remained effective under pressure, while BuZz and iZu delivered timely multis. Meteor's performance was worthy of a finals MVP, providing the stability needed for every retake and post-plant.

More than just a line on their CV, winning in Bangkok validated T1’s identity: composure on LAN, belief in their strategy and the ability to win from the lower bracket against top-class opponents. That’s the version of T1 that everyone in Paris has to plan for.

2025 has established Meteor as T1’s defensive anchor. Since arriving late last year, he has transitioned from his legacy as a high-tempo duelist to become a hybrid Sentinel/Controller, underpinning T1’s economy of errors. Throughout the season, his numbers steadily increased, with ratings climbing from below 1.00 in the early stages to comfortably above average by Stage 2. His KAST stability reflects his involvement in critical moments during the rounds. He mainly splits his time across Cypher and Vyse to secure sites and deny lanes, pivoting toAstra and Viper when T1 opted for smoke-led control.

Meteor’s ability to translate utility into tempo control is almost unparalleled. On defence, he's T1's metronome: tripwires, cameras, mollies, and star placements buy the extra seconds Stax needs to rotate pieces and spring retakes. On attack, he provides a safety net in the form of lurks that pinch space; he's a late-round flanker that punishes rotations and uses lineups to limit the influence of luck in post-plants.

The result is a player who rarely posts impressive entry figures, but who consistently adds to the team's win probability in the margins: clean first-kill/first-death splits, clutch conversions in 1vX situations, and sequencing that enables iZu and BuZz to take on tougher opponents. If T1 want to rediscover their Bangkok form in Paris, Meteor’s Sentinel/Controller discipline will be the quiet engine that makes it possible.

Throughout 2025, T1’s map pool evolved into a pragmatic formation. At their best, they appeared composed on Icebox and Ascent, while Bind frequently served as a controlled, utility-first battleground. Lotus and Split hovered around the break-even mark, depending on the matchup and initial positioning, whereas Pearl remained their most volatile pick and was often vetoed. The common thread was an emphasis on clean mid-rounds and site retakes rather than all-out pace.

Philosophically, the team favoured structured control over constant double-duelist chaos: iZu took primary responsibility for space-taking and early pressure; BuZz adapted to fill whatever gap the composition demanded; Stax orchestrated decisive mid-round calls from Initiator; and Meteor anchored as Sentinel/Controller, converting information and utility into low-error rounds. The late-season map rotation — taking Icebox out, and putting Abyss in — removed one of T1’s comfort levers and will force them to rapidly adapt to Abyss. Expect them to retain Lotus and Sunset as structural pillars while accelerating set pieces for the new map to preserve their veto leverage.

T1 arrive in Paris as the Pacific hopefuls, having already proved that they can win. Winning the title in Bangkok undoubtedly boosted their confidence and provided a strategic blueprint: patient defaults, trust in mid-round calling, and willingness to adapt compositions series-to-series. For T1, replicating that peak performance consistently — across lengthy league schedules and minefield tournament brackets— has been a chlalenge. With a clear identity, renewed cohesion, and a map pool that still offers familiar options even after the rotation, T1 look like a dangerous opponent: They're resilient in lower-bracket runs and battle-tested under the pressure of best-of-five matches.