T1 signed popular League of Legends streamer Tyler1 as a content creator, the organization announced recently.
T1 announced the signing of the 25-year-old Twitch streamer in fabulous fashion with a video full of memes and references to movies like The Matrix and Avengers: Infinity War on the official T1 Twitter and YouTube pages.
Tyler1, who boasts over 3.7 million followers on Twitch, hosts the annual Tyler1 Championship Series and is known for his path to becoming “reformed.” In 2016, the streamer became infamous for his toxic behavior after receiving an ID ban from League of Legends, although Riot would later unban the streamer from the game in 2018.
Last year, T1, formerly known as SKT, sent the streamer a care package to open on stream. The package contained SKT apparel in addition to a figurine featuring both Tyler1 and legendary League of Legends pro Faker.
Faker and T1 first met while attending League of Legends All-Star events and have since appeared in a number of videos together for the organization’s YouTube channel. Fans may see the pair reconnect as part of Tyler1’s signing with T1.
Tyler Steinkamp (born March 7, 1995), better known by his online alias tyler1 or T1 for short, is an American internet personality and streamer on Twitch. He is one of the most popular League of Legends online personalities with more than 3.4 million followers on Twitch. Steinkamp was banned from playing League of Legends from April 2016 to January 2018 for disruptive behavior towards other players, earning him the nickname of “The Most Toxic Player in North America”. His first League of Legends stream after reinstatement peaked at over 386,000 viewers on Twitch, a figure that was noted as the website’s largest non-tournament concurrent viewership at the time.
Steinkamp ranked 14th on the North American League of Legends ladder in 2014,but his stream had a modest following until 2016. Steinkamp originally became known in the League of Legends community for toxic behavior shown on his stream, which included personally attacking others, encouraging players to commit suicide, and intentionally losing the game to the detriment of his teammates. This behavior eventually led to permanent bans on 22 unique accounts over several years.
Steinkamp’s stream rapidly grew in popularity in April 2016, when he publicly announced that he had “reformed.” His Twitch channel reportedly increased from around 5,700 followers before the announcement to over 92,000 followers by the end of the month. His improved behavior quickly lapsed but his following continued to grow, prompting several high profile and professional players to condemn his behavior. Those opposed to Steinkamp’s behavior believed his popularity would encourage and normalize player toxicity, and criticized developer Riot Games for not taking action to prevent this behavior.
