Hours after leaving T1, the two-time Masters champion is reportedly heading to Japan to play next to his younger brother for the first time.
Kim “Meteor” Tae-oh and his younger brother Kim “TenTen” Tae-young are set to join the Japanese organisation QT DIG∞ for the 2027 season, according to sources speaking to Sheep Esports. Neither the players nor QT DIG have confirmed the move.
T1 announced Meteor’s departure early on Monday, when his contract ran out. The 26-year-old said goodbye on X a few hours later, thanking his teammates, the staff and the fans for two years.
Brothers on the same team for the first time
Meteor and TenTen have never played on the same roster. The closest they came was NORTHEPTION: Meteor left the Japanese side in October 2022, and TenTen joined the following month. In Meteor’s first months at T1, TenTen played for T1 Academy.
According to Sheep Esports, QT DIG will have five players in 2027: Yushin “Yuran” Hato, Kippei “Kippei” Suzuki, misaya and the two Kim brothers. QT DIG renewed Yuran and Kippei on 30 October, and the next day the organisation teased two unnamed additions for a 2027 lock-in event on 8 November.
One of the Pacific’s most decorated players
Meteor won Masters Shanghai with Gen.G in 2024, the first international title for a VCT Pacific team, and the Pacific Kickoff and Stage 2 that same year. At T1 he won Masters Bangkok in 2025 and was named MVP of the event. That made him the first Pacific player to win two Masters titles.
| Year | Team | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | NORTHEPTION | Masters Copenhagen | 9th to 10th |
| 2024 | Gen.G | Masters Madrid | 2nd |
| 2024 | Gen.G | Masters Shanghai | 1st |
| 2024 | Gen.G | Champions Seoul | 9th to 12th |
| 2025 | T1 | Masters Bangkok | 1st |
| 2025 | T1 | Champions Paris | 9th to 12th |
| 2026 | T1 | Masters Santiago | 9th to 10th |
| 2026 | T1 | Champions Shanghai | 5th to 6th |
TenTen, three years younger, has had a harder road. He came through NORTHEPTION and FAV gaming in Japan, where FAV finished second at Predator League Asia Pacific 2024, before T1 Academy. ZETA DIVISION signed him in April 2025, but ZETA went out in the group stage of both Pacific stages in 9th to 10th place.
He moved to Team Secret in December 2025 and left after the Pacific Kickoff, where Secret finished 11th to 12th. A stand-in spell at T1 Academy and a summer with MURASH GAMING in Japan followed. In September he posted that he was looking for a team in any region, preferably as a Sentinel or Duelist.
From Challengers to an open circuit
QT DIG, known as Sengoku Gaming until their rebrand, are not one of Riot’s partner teams. They won the Challengers Japan Season Finals in July, beating REJECT 3-2 in the grand final, and reached the VCT Pacific Stage 2 Play-Ins, where they lost 1-2 to FULL SENSE and DetonatioN FocusMe.
The 32 partner teams for 2027 and 2028 include two from Japan, ZETA DIVISION and Crazy Raccoon. Everyone else now has a way in through open qualifiers: four of the 12 places at each regional Kickoff in January go to non-partner teams, and those teams receive $100,000 from Riot for reaching Kickoff or a Cup, $200,000 for Masters and $400,000 for Champions.
QT DIG have been invited to the Japanese qualifier playoffs, Sheep Esports reports, so Meteor will start 2027 in a qualifier instead of at the Kickoff he has played every year since it began in 2024.
