South Korean esports organization T1 is going big into Nintendo’s brawler for the Switch.
The organization is starting with a bang by signing Jason “ANTi” Bates and Larry “Larry Lurr” Holland.
Besides competing. T1 announced that its new Smash Ultimate players will also act as content creators for the organization and both players will make their competitive debut under the T1 banner at the Pound 2019 tournament this weekend in Laurel, Maryland.
ANTi is widely recognized as the best Mario player in the world, even as he boasts one of the most extensive character rosters in Smash. He notably won CEO 2016 and was considered a top 10 player from 2015 to 2016. ANTi is known to have mained Fox in Melee, Meta Knight in Brawl, Cloud and Zero Suit Samus in Smash 4, as well as Mario, Lucario, and Wolf in Ultimate.
“I’d like to thank everyone for being supportive of me and thank T1 for giving me this opportunity! Let’s get these W’s and create amazing things,” said Bates in a statement on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Larry Lurr, also known as DEHF (short for Does Everyone Hate Falco?), is widely considered to be the best Brawl Falco and Smash 4 Fox player in the world. He has mained Fox and Wolf in Ultimate. He notably won the first organized Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS tournament, held at the San Diego Comic-Con 2014, by mainly playing Bowser.
“I can’t explain how happy I am to finally share this with you guys! Thank you T1 for this incredible opportunity and everyone for your love and support,” said Lurr on Twitter.
T1 rebranded in late February this year, adopting the branding of the South Korean telecom giant’s League of Legends team, the three-time World Champion SK Telecom T1. SK Telecom T1 is one of the most recognizable esports brands in the world, largely thanks to the popularity of its star player, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. As part of its rebranding, T1 revealed plans to expand into other titles, including Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
