Paul Delos Santos is a reporter based in Las Vegas. He covers the Vegas Golden Knights for NHL.com and also covers esports and general Las Vegas sports for The Sporting Tribune. He’s a gamer who never has time to play them, so he naturally opted to write and talk about them instead.
Olivia Richman is a seasoned esports journalist who has worked with Inven Global, Esports Illustrated, Esports.gg, and more. As an editor and writer at Esports Insider, she loves telling unique esports stories, especially within the FGC. When not working and gaming, Olivia loves collecting Kirby plush, eating sushi, and driving her cars at the track.
Image Credit: Thomas “Xander” Mohamed Robleh. The sign to T1 Base Camp is easy to spot. There’s enough red to make it stand out. The arrow pointing down the stairs to the PC Bang and store dedicated to T1 and its players in Seoul’s Hongdae neighborhood is accompanied by pictures of the team’s past success.
At the bottom of the stairs, through the doors, I enter and take in the familiar feeling of a bunch of computers in one space for gaming. It’s something that brought me back to my high school days of the cybercafé, where I recall players yelling at each other over Counterstrike 1.6 and CS Zero.
Unlike the dark, dungeon-like feel, this is well-lit and clean, with state-of-the-art computers that can run games at the highest resolution. There’s a snack bar selling themed drinks with some highlighted as player favorites.
Then, among a sea of Korean voices, I hear English. It tends to stand out in these spots. I turned around, approached the person, and asked if I could interview them about why they’re at T1 Base Camp.
Sadly, I never got this man’s name before he said, “Interview my brother. He LOVES this.”
I nod and wait for his brother, who was wrapping up at a computer.
When Jose Valencia introduced himself, he was decked out in T1 gear and excited to chat about T1 and his thoughts about the PC Bang.
“In Mexico, we have the old-style cybers,” Valencia said. “They’re not even close to this. It’s actually a little bit overwhelming.”
So how did Valencia and his family get here?
While on a family trip from Mexico to East Asia, Valencia convinced his family to stop at T1 Base Camp. He admitted it took a little convincing, comparing T1 to well-known soccer clubs, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
“If you’re a Barcelona fan when you go to Camp Nou, if you’re a Real Madrid fan, if you go to their stadium, Bernabeu,” he said.
Lee Sang-hyeok, better known by his gamer tag Faker , is the heart of T1. His picture, signature, and image are plastered on the walls, and there’s even a large cartoon statue of him in the lobby.
He’s a player who needs no introduction in esports, but Valencia continued his football analogy to help his family understand.
“I had to explain to them if he’s like the [Lionel] Messi of League of Legends,” Valencia said. “Except bigger, probably bigger, in its sport because he’s probably like Pele from soccer.”
Image Credit: Thomas “Xander” Mohamed Robleh. He’s probably not wrong to consider Faker in the same breath as Messi and Pele, but for most outside of the scope of esports, it’s hard to really understand Faker and, by proxy, T1’s impact.
I take a moment to listen to the voices at T1 Base Camp, and I hear predominantly Korean. As I listen closer and walk thro…