Welcome to the first ever GosuGamers Awards (or GosuAwards for short) for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Since the CS:GO section is new and many of its readers might not know what this is all about, we feel that a short explanation is in order.
The GosuAwards are a long standing tradition of our community, dating back almost a decade. Every year, teams, players, stories and personalities from the major eSports titles are nominated in several categories and the GosuGamers community gets to vote for who they think deserves the title. At the end of the year, during the official GosuAwards ceremony, the winners of runner-ups of each category will be announced. There will be two of those for each category: one awarded by the GosuCrew comittee which is also the body that determines the nominations and another chosen by the community vote.
For our debut year in CS:GO, we've split the nominees in sixteen different cateegories, with five nominees in each. The polls will be open starting today until after the Christmas holidays. Before the end of 2014, the winners will be announced in a special GosuAwards 2014 article.
So, what are you waiting for? Get to read on each nomination, cast your vote and choose wisely (i.e. objectivism over fanboyism).
Ninjas in Pyjamas
World #6 • EU West #4
The Swedish Ninjas in Pyjamas is the only team in CS:GO's competitive history which have played in the finals of every major tournament so far, so it’s quite obvious why they have found their place on this list. In 2014, they managed to win one of the four majors, ESL One Cologne. However, the post-Cologne period saw a slump in their performance in which they overcame with a roster change. At DreamHack Winter 2014, we saw them once again fail to take the first place prize after their French rivals, Team LDLC stole the title 2-1.
Team LDLC
World #1 • EU West #1
Ever since the big French roster changes in early September, Team LDLC has taken one of the leading roles in the scene. Winning Hitbox Arena Championship 3 and SLTV StarLadder Season 11 were just the first achievements of this great squad. They made three consecutive second places until they finally succeeded in winning one of the most prestigious major tournaments, DreamHack Winter 2014. It is also notable to mention that with the old line-up the French team took the DreamHack Valencia gold.
Virtus.Pro
World #3 • EU East #1
Virtus.pro are known for their discipline and great teamwork. They are the title defenders of the first major tournament of 2014, EMS One Katowice. Ever since then, VP has been floating around the top 4, winning FACEIT Spring League and Gfinity and packing even more high finishes at other major events.
Fnatic may have won DreamHack Winter 2013 as as underdogs, but in 2014 they brought up their team name to a whole new level. The Swedes can’t really brag with a major title in 2014, though they played in the grand finals in Cologne. Post-Cologne was the best era for the team: they won at the biggest non-major tournaments, Fragbite Masters, FACEIT and ESWC but were stopped by a major controversy on their road to a DH Winter title.
Natus Vincere
World #4 • EU East #2
Natus Vincere is one of the most recognized eSports organizations, and their CS:GO team has been performing very well throughout 2014. Always being in the top five and showing their real strength during LAN events, Na’Vi has brought many heartwarming moments to their fans. They are best known for their own strategy of resolving rounds on the T side when the clock is left to 20 seconds of less.
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PENTA Sports
World #13 • EU West #7
Penta Sports are one of the most pleasant surprises of last quarter of this year. The German team has shown that coming in as an underdog to one of the majors doesn’t mean a lot. They totally shocked everyone by making it through to the top eight annd most likely earning the spot for the next major as well.
Team LDLC
World #1 • EU West #1
DreamHack Winter 2014 champions Team LDLC has benefited a lot after the big French shuffle. By changing the whole look of their lineup and innovating some new strategies, they were confidently climbing up the rankings ladder. Constantly being the winners or runner-ups of almost all the events they played at and a title at DreamHack Winter is enough to nominate Team LDLC as one of the most improved team of 2014.
Virtus.Pro
World #3 • EU East #1
Another team that has been nominated for both best team and most improved, EMS One Katowice winners Virtus.pro brought to the competitive scene a whole new way of playing the CT side. They're often seen not picking up any AWPs and still easily resolving any situation which they’ve been put in. After winning FACEIT Spring League and Gfinity they went in a small slump, but as the year is closing by, they are again raising their form and are currently ranked third in the GosuRankings.
Fnatic is once again among the nominated teams for 2014. This time, they are taking a place at the list of the most improved teams of this year. Ever since their roster change in early 2014, the Swedes have been writing a new history for their team. Some of their recent achievements include second place at ESL One Cologne, titles at Fragbite Masters, FACEIT, ESWC, ESPORTSM and SLTV StarLadder Season 10.
Natus Vincere
World #4 • EU East #2
Na'Vi made a roster change in late 2013, bringing in GuardiaN, one of the best AWP players in the CS:GO scene. This move improved the team’s performance a lot in 2014. Na'Vi was dominant at StarLadder as expected, but at the same time they were always in the top of other western events, also playing in the all majors and finishing top eight in the last two. The Ukranian team is currently being ranked fourth in the GosuRankings.
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Dignitas
World #5 • EU West #3
Many people expected the extremely talented Team Dignitas to have their breakthrough this year and become a top tier team. An while that may still be true, what followed was probably one of the most disappointing showings in tournaments this year. Even though Dignitas eased past the groupstage in almost every tournament, they rarely ever made it into the second round of the playoffs. In December the team pulled the ripcord, removing FeTiSh and aizy, replacing them with Karrigan and former player cajunb respectively.
iBUYPOWER
World #7 • North America #1
Not many had iBUYPOWER on the list for a top finish when FACEIT League kicked-off. In the end the Americans secured themselves $10,000 after beating LDLC with a clean 2:0 score in the semi-finals, only to fall to Fnatic in the Grand Finals. Hopes were high after this tournament and many expected them to be a serious competitor for the top tier teams. However, in a surprising turn of events they got rid of steel and DaZeD, two players who were, according to many people, the key factor for iBUYPOWER's recent success, replacing them with nitr0 and desi. The Americans shortly after experienced their personal Waterloo, dropping out in the groupstages of DreamHack Winter and lackluster performance at ESEA Season 17 LAN (compared to last season, where they took the title). The North American giants then made yet another roster change, bringing DaZeD back into the squad.
HellRaisers
World #11 • EU East #3
At the beginning of the year, Astana Dragons became HellRaisers and with this the team, gathered around 1.6 legends markeloff and Dosia who wanted to "achieve the glory of the past their past days". Unfortunately they did not quite live up to their words, not even coming close to a first place finish. In September they replaced AdreN with 17 year old s1mpLe, who has definitely brought in some fresh blood and might grow to become a key-player in 2015. However, 2014 was disastrous for HellRaisers.
Epsilon
World #19 • EU West #11
Going by names, Epsilon eSports would had probably held a top five team. Unfortunately it's not only the names that make you a good team and the French side had to experience that firsthand. The former Clan Mystik team was causing stir in 2013 following some promising tournament results. Unfortunately, Epsilon became just another team, which disappointed a big part of the community with their results in 2014. Even with the addition of ex-Titan member ScreaM, Epsilon didn't really get in shape. The DreamHack Winter disqualification following the VAC ban of Sf only rubbed more salt into the wound.
3DMAX3DMAX had all the hopes for Finland lying on their shoulders in 2014. And there were a lot people, who promised them good chances in major tournaments. Unfortunately, the current 3DMAX lineup didn't qualify for any majors, and DreamHack Stockholm, their only ray of hope in 2014 was a failure. The year just ended as it began for the Finns, and with a poor LAN perfomance they ended up against Flipside in the qualifier for DreamHack Winter, a game that many had expected them to win.
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Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund
Consistently regarded as one of the top Counter-Strike players year after year, Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund has helped to cement NiP as one of the top Global Offensive teams in the world, with consistent performance and an uncanny knack for clutch play. 2014 was a strong year for the Swedish player, winning Copenhagen Games, Dreamhack Summer, and ESL Cologne. Although NiP experienced an almost three month slump, GeT_RiGhT still managed to finish out the year strong at Dreamhack Winter, propelling his team to second place.
Kenny “KennyS” Schrub, most known for world-class AWPing, is one of the strongest French CS players as of recent. After a brief stint with Clan-Mystic, KennyS returned to Titan in May and managed to pull Titan out of their rut, placing second at Gfinity and first at Dreamhack Stockholm against LDLC. Although Titan’s reputation was tarnished by KQLY’s VAC ban, KennyS still stands out as one of the best.
After leaving Titan and being replaced by KennyS, Richard “shox” Papillon’s entrance to LDLC helped push the team all the way to the top, with consistent performance and solid all around skill. With shox’s help, LDLC pulled out an impressive string of top three finishes at DreamHack Stockholm, SLTV StarLadder, FACEIT League Season 2, ESWC, Fragbite Masters, and finally, a first place at DreamHack Winter. shox also had a strong showing during his brief time with both Titan and Epsilon, landing first place at the DreamHack Invitational and fourth at DreamHack Summer.
Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer, most noted for his exceptional rifle skills and strong AWPing, joined Fnatic in June. After his arrival, Fnatic won almost all the events they attended, including Caseking, StarSeries, FACEIT League, ESWC, and Fragbite. At Dreamhack Winter however, olofm’s controversial ace-in-the-hole boost spot on Overpass ended up costing Fnatic the tournament, but was respected by some for the innovative use of the map.
Janusz ‘Snax’ Pogorzelski, the youngest player of Virtus.pro is very well known for his versality. We have witnessed numerous stunning situation where Snax had turned around a player deficite by using his innovative smoke placements. Every pro player has agreed that Snax is unpredictable when it comes to holding the site, since his skill for perfect nading is followed by the aim with high accuracy. It wasn’t a rare occasions when he showed a great talent with AWP as well. Snax is a title holder of the first major tournament of 2014 year, EMS One Katowice.
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Team LDLC’s current in-game leader, Vincent ‘Happy’ Cervoni , isn’t really a new player in the CS:GO scene. However, his performance in 2014 has been nothing less than amazing, leading Team LDLC in the second half of the year with many achievements among which DreamHack Winter. Happy is an all-rounder, very good with the rifle but also good with AWP when it’s needed. He is capable of dealing with big variaty of situations, turning the impossible into possible.
A young rising star, Alexander ‘s1mple’ Kostylev became known in the CS:GO competitive scene after his transfer to HellRaisers. Since then, he has been consitently top fragging for his team, making some really insane plays. His trademark is AWP is where he really excels. We have witnessed his true capabilities each time HellRaisers are playing on de_mirage where s1mple uses the freedom which is given to him to deliver stunning plays. The peak in his career so far is a top eight placement at DH Winter.
The Finnish player Aleksi ‘allu’ Jalli is currently holding the AWP role in Mousesports. Following his acquisition, Mouz began to count good results. Constantly top fragging, allu has helped his team win seven titles and two second places. His fast trigger AWP is not the only thing which he excels and there's also his versatility to adapt to many different situations, something that has now become his trademark.
Derek ‘desi’ Branchen is the first North American player on the list of nominees for break-out player of 2014. He is a player who switched between a lot teams at the NA scene, including Manajuma, Area 51, Exertus (now known as eLevate) and finally iBUYPOWER, now being a free agent. He is a very good rifler and well-rounded player who doesn’t have a problem delivering a consistent level of play both online and offline.
Michael ‘shroud’ GrzesiekMichael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek is a Canadian player who first started on the old Exertus eSports roster, where he eventually retired to streaming. A few months later, the North American legend joined Manajuma, a relatively casual team that achieved wonders in CEVO and ESEA, and later competed as a compLexity gaming regular stand-in player, which later lead to his inclusion in the Cloud9 roster. shroud has participated in two major tournaments, Cologne and DH Winter but is still lacking a major gold medal. At ESL Cologne, he exceeded all expectations and was one of the leading players of the team. Achievements might be missing with Shroud, but not so with skill.
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A whole new LDLC line-up
Team LDLC decided to completely fresh up their roster, leaving only one guy who has played in the team in the first half of the year. Bringing in Richard ‘shox’ Papillon, Fabien ‘kioShima’ Fiey, Nathan ‘NBK’ Schmitt and Edouard ‘SmithZz’ Dubourdeaux to complete the roster together with Vincent ‘Happy’ Cervoni turned out to be their best move. Achieving three first places, three second places and one third place among which was a win at DH Winter, Team LDLC is currently sovereign at the top of our rankings.
olofmeister and KRiMZ to Fnatic
Replacing devilwalk and schneider with olofmeister and KRiMZ was a jackpot for Fnatic. This duo became recognized for their great teamwork, especially on the CT side where KRiMZ and olofm have shown many times a very agressive style of holding the sites. Following this roster change Fnatic has scored four titles, one second place, two third places and a top eight finish at DH Winter.
HellRaisers bringing in s1mple
Shortly after introducing the young player s1mple as a new addition and replacement for AdreN, HellRaisers managed to raise their number of their fans. s1mple has simply exceled all expectations, as the CIS team led by this young star has finally managed to improve their performance which was previously in a bigger slump.
swag to iBUYPOWER
Another very young player, Braxton ‘swag’ Pierce was brought in as a replacement for Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag in March. iBUYPOWER quickly followed this by winning CEVO Season 4 and ESEA Season 16. They also had a few more good results, but definitely their peak was at the FACEIT LAN finals where they managed to finish second.
apEX, Maniac and KQLY to Titan
The big French shuffle brought Titan three new players, Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire, Mathieu ‘Maniac’ Quiquerez and Hovik ‘KQLY’ Tovmassian. The first result, which was made only two weeks after this roster change was DH Stockholm, where the French team claimed the gold. But what was more important was that the French team made some new standards in their playing strategy and for a reason they were first placed team for a short period at our GosuRankings. However, prior to DH Winter some unexpected things happened and KQLY got VAC banned for cheating which pulled the team to the bottom.
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Epsilon loses shox and kioShima
We could easily say that Epsilon got the worst cut out of the big French shuffle, as they allowed Richard ‘shox’ Papillon and Fabien ‘kioShima’ Fiey to leave the team, where we could see how this duo performed after they signed with LDLC. The only bright thing after this roster change was ESL One Cologne where the team finished in the top eight. However, due to a VAC ban on sf, Epsilon was disqualified from DH Winter.
iBUYPOWER parting ways with steel and DaZeD
The North American team made a big upset during the FACEIT LAN finals, where they managed to finish in second place. This result was followed by the ‘early’ elimination of the team at the quarter finals of ESWC which made the organization pull some moves. They decided to part ways with Josh ‘steel’ Nissan and Sam ‘DaZeD’ Marine. This decision wasn’t really approved by the community, since they thought the North American scene was finally having a decent competitor to European teams. The new iBP line up couldn’t make it out of the groups at the DreamHack Winter, which led to them to bring DaZeD back.
compLexity Gaming loses swag
In March compLexity gaming experienced a roster change that replaced Braxton ‘swag’ Pierce with Todd ‘anger’ Williams which turned out to be a total failure. The team couldn’t achieve anything major during this period. Even in the North American scene they were pushed down to third place in CEVO Season 4, where at least some better results were made at the ESEA Season 16 finals.
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Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Fnatic
Fnatic seem to be in every category this year, and Biggest Rivalry is no exception. Aside from controversial events at DreamHack Winter, Fnatic’s outstanding play has garnered them a lot of time in the later stages of tournaments. And with NiP being the most decorated CS:GO teams to date, it has become almost commonplace to see them play in high stakes matches against each other. Notable matches include Dreamhack Winter 2013 Finals, ESPORTSM 2013-2014 Championship Finals, and the ESL One Cologne 2014 Finals.
Team LDLC vs Fnatic
France and Sweden, quite arguably the top two nations for Counter-Strike. Whenever the two nations meet in a tournament it's usually quite the spectical. LDLC has been finding recent success ever since their roster revamp in early September. They have fast tracked themselves to many high placements in tournaments. Notable matches include the ESWC 2014 finals, the Fragbite Masters Season 3 Finals, and the Dreamhack Winter 2014 Quarterfinals.
iBP vs Cloud9
Head and shoulders above the rest of the North American scene, iBUYPOWER and Cloud9 are the only ones that make up tier one of teams on their side of the Atlantic. Time after time again, they have met in domestic competition. Now, historically, iBuyPower hold the winning record in their head to head, however Cloud9 usually have more to brag about in terms of international success.
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Fnatic vs NiP - ESL One Cologne
Fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas battled out for the title of the second major in 2014, ESL One Cologne. This tournament was the first major which featured new maps such as de_cobblestone and de_overpass. The first one was played in this match as the opening map, while the other two were de_cache and de_inferno. This match was full of emotions since it was basicly a rematch of DH Winter 2013 finals.
DreamHack Winter’s finals were played between Team LDLC and Ninjas in Pyjamas. Same as the other two major tournament finals, this one couldn’t pass without the Swedish team, NiP, playing in them. NiP was aiming for a second consecutive title at the majors, while LDLC was trying to write a history for their team by winning the first major title. The match was played in the best-of-three series with the all three maps: de_dust2, de_inferno and de_overpass.
Cloud9 vs NiP - ESL One Cologne
One of the most interesting matches at ESL One Cologne was seen during the quarter final match between North American representative, Cloud9 and the Swedish team, Ninjas in Pyjamas. Cloud9 was showing some incredible comebacks during the group stage of the tournament, so everyone was looking with their full attention to this duel. The map pool was de_nuke, de_dust2 and de_cobblestone and the ending was arguably the biggest thriller of the event.
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Virtus.pro - EMS One Katowice
Also on the list for best match of 2014 is the grand final match of EMS One Katowice between Ninjas in Pyjamas and Virtus.pro. The first major of year was held in Poland and Virtus.pro was trying to take the advantage of the home soil to win it. The map pool was working in their favour: de_mirage, de_inferno and de_dust2.
Arguably one of the biggest controversies in 2014 came after the quarter final of DH Winter between Fnatic and Team LDLC. Their rivalry was growing during the second half of the year, and it culminated at the last major this year. The match was played in the standard best-of-three series, where the maps were de_dust2, de_cache and de_overpass. The third map is definitely a highlight of this match and questionable boost made by Fnatic players later led to a big drama.
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IEM Katowice
As the second major in Counter-Stritke: Global Offensive history, EMS One Katowice had a lot to show for. 16 of the best teams from all around the world came together at the heart of eSports in Cologne, Germany to fight for their piece of the $250,000 prize pool. This tournament was a major breakthrough for the CS:GO scene, with record breaking viewership at over 250,000 concurrent viewers and nearly 3.5 million hours watched.
ESL One Cologne
ESL One Cologne was another breakthrough for the CS:GO scene, with nearly double the concurrent viewers from Katowice at 409,368 and over 7.5 million hours watched. After only coming in second in all of their previous majors, the Swedish Ninjas in Pyjamas finally secured the title after a 2-1 victory over their rivals, Fnatic.
DreamHack Winter
DreamHack Winter 2014, the third major of the year came directly after the VAC bans of sf and KQLY (see below), a major shock to the CS:GO community. Two French teams, Titan and Epsilon eSports were removed from the tournament as a result of the bans, and were later replaced by CopenHagen Wolves and FlipSid3 Tactics. However, the French side still did not fail to succeed at the event, after Team LDLC managed to win the $100,000 grand prize by defeating the defending champions, NiP 2-1.
ESEA Season 16 LAN
One of the largest North American events of the year, the ESEA Season 16 Global LAN Finals proved to the world that NA eSports teams are serious contenders in the scene. Starting off with a surprising win by the North American all-star team, compLexity Gaming (now Cloud9) and iBUYPOWER then proceeded to stomp any European team in their way, including Na’Vi, Virtus.pro, and NiP. The grand finals were between the two american giants, and eventually resulted in iBUYPOWER taking home the prize.
Gfinity G3
Gfinity G3 had some of the best equipment in the scene, featuring soundproof stages and a huge crowd. However, there were also some major disadvantages, including poorly timed streams, water leaks on the stage, and the fact that Gfinity kicked out all of the spectators during the grand final.That being said, the tournament still included some great Counter-Strike with the debut of the current dominating Fnatic lineup and a great rivalry between iBUYPOWER and Titan.
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Semmler and Anders
A clear community favourite, Auguste “Semmler” Massonat and Anders Blume have become iconic figures in the CS:GO scene ever since their debut a couple of years ago with NiPTV. Often called the voices of Counter-Strike, these two people are an almost perfect duo with their thorough analysis, unique play by play style, and passionate “Are you kidding me?!” comments.
DDK and James
Two casters that are best known for their involvement with FACEIT, DDK and James provide a nice contrast to the table with each individual having the ability to both colour and play by play cast. And those slightly awkward off-topic conversations just add a small taste of personality that everyone loves.
Tosspot and Fifflaren
After his recent removal from the Ninjas in Pyjamas roster, retired pro player Robin “Fifflaren” Johansson proved to be a great colour caster as well. Combined with the fancy british accent of Stuart “TosspoT” Saw, the two saw a great run at DreamHack Winter 2014 that was very well received from the community.
Kyan1te and Chewwy
Despite being somewhat unknown in the scene, Karam “KYAN1TE” Kabbara and Matt “chewwy” Smith had to be doing something right in order to be picked up NiPTV. With undeniable passion and excitement from the play by play casting of KYAN1TE and deep analysis from chewwy, this casting team is a duo to look out for in 2015.
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Scott "SirScoots" Smith
Scott "SirScoots" Smith is probably the most familiar face of all the hosts on the CS:GO scene. We have seen him in front of the camera during all the biggest LAN events in this year. He was in charge of the panel discussion at both major and non-major LAN events, always bringing entartainment at the highest possible level. To back this up we can even add that he even perfmormed the famous flashbang dance at the live stream during the DH Winter.
Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner
Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner is another veteran in eSports hosting and one of the faces of ESL. He has hosted the stage during ESL One Cologne and FACEIT finals. His true passion for the game was expressed multiple times by providing some funny clips of him playing the matchmaking matches.
James Duffield
James was recently seen being a stage host at the last major of the year, DH Winter. The community left their comments supporting him for his innovative way of doing it. Making all the interviews special in his own way with his hilarious slightly awkard comments, James elevated the hosting role to a whole new level.
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Jaroslaw "Pasha" Jarzabkowski
For Jaroslaw Jarzabkowski, 2014 turned out to be a milestone in his eSports life. What could be so remarkable for one of the oldest veterans of CS competitive scene, who is not unfamiliar with neither glorious victories nor dismal downfalls? The answer lies within term ‘interaction with community’ but goes beyond that. After he started streaming, Pasha quickly conquered the hearts of many people with inimitable style and charisma and became of the biggest streamers of CS:GO on Twitch. Biceps will be always with you, my friends.
Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert
Jordan Gilbert is not a novice to the scene as well and holds a bit shyer but solid audience on his own stream. Throughout the year, n0thing maintained a very strong presence on the scene by competing in tournaments on both sides of Atlantic Ocean and putting significant input in casting as well, providing qualitative analysis during a lot of matches. It is necessary to mention his always positive and active mood, which most precisely might be represented by his initiative for everyone at DreamHack Winter to perform his signature ‘flashback dance’.
Anders "Anders" Blume
Anders Blume, former commentator for NiPTV, who currently has his own casting ‘crew’ RoomOnFire together with Semmler, is arguably the best and most demanded commentator in CS:GO scene. He participated in covering all four major tournaments of this year as well as a great number of other events.
Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat
Semmler, the second part of the most famous casting duo at the CS:GO scene, RoomOnFire, has proven his commentating skills during all the top events throughout the whole year. We could also see him acting as a host at the DH Stockholm, where he delivered the same results as at the commentating chair. We also can't forget his support for the community whenever they had some objections during LAN events about the production. Semmler was bringing this up live during the streams and therefore he acquired a very large number of fans.
Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson
Being one of the first Ninjas of CS:GO, Robin Johansson participated in the early dominance of the Swedish team of virtually every tournament they attended. However, with great power comes great responsibility, so almost every wrong move or underperformance resulted in tremendous amount of criticism. Unfortunately for Fifflaren, he was the main target of most of the accusations regarding unsatisfying results. We cannot, however, not mention the endurance with which Fifflaren took it throughout this very difficult year for NiP. After retiring, he managed to contribute to the CS:GO community by joining the casting team of Dreamhack Winter 2014.
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Fifflaren retires
In early November, arguably the most succesful CS:GO team in history announced the first change within their lineup. Following stagnating results, Fifflaren announced his retirement. In a statement, NiP said that they not only lost a team member, but also a close friend. The team had lived together for months in their team house in Sweden, but in the end critical voices raised and they didn't quite live up to their past days.
Thorin removed from Katowice
This year was definitely also the year of Duncan 'Thorin' Shields, who appeared on almost every tournament as analyst. Earlier this year, though, Shields attracted attention by getting removed from the caster crew of EMS One Katowice, following racial slurs. Before the event ,Thorin made some racial comments, comparing Poland with third world countries. ESL then released in official statement that they don't stand by or tolerate acts of racism, xenophobia or other forms of discrimination and removed Thorin from the crew.
VACation
The third nominations on the list for story of the year is the ‘VACation in SF, KQLYfornia’. The biggest scandal in the CS:GO competitive history happened in September when Team Alternate player smn got banned by ESEA for cheating. This action triggered a bigger wave of bans which occurred only a few days prior to the last major of the year, DreamHack Winter. KQLY and Sf, two top French players both were VAC banned, which eventually resulted in the disqualifications of their respective teams from the tournament.
Match fixing
The last quarter of the year brought many scandals in the competitive scene, matchfixing included. The Polish team ALSEN was in the center of attention after three players of their team got accused for match fixing during ESL Poland Pro Series match. The Poles were ‘good’ for around $2,000 worth of skins which was also confirmed by CSGOLongue, who they added that two of those three players even used their own accounts for betting. Quickly after this affair, the team’s organization decided to drop the squad.
The French shuffle
In January, Titan acuired the old VeryGames team. Shortly after they swapped shox for kennyS from Clan Mystik. In September rumors about a new team surfaced and were later confirmed as NBK and SmithzZ went on create Mercenary alondside their old companion, shox. Titan replaced them with aPEX, KQLY and Maniac, who joined them from LDLC. Meanwhile the newly formed Mercenary revealed their new home with LDLC. All these changes seemed to pay off for both of these teams and only Epsilon eSports seemed to struggle as all their top players got picked up by one of the other teams.
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VACation
In November, probably biggest scandal ever to date hit the CS:GO scene happend. In the middle of the month Alternate member smn was banned for cheating from ESEA. In a statement he revealed that he wasn't the only professional player cheating. Many people expected smn to distract attention from the fact that he doesn't want to admit that he was cheating, until Titan player KQLY and Epsilon's Sf were also handed bans. Both players were cut from their teams, after being disqualified from DreamHack Winter 2014. The community has unofficially dubbed this "event" as "VACation".
Flusha's witchhunt
Ever since the VAC ban wave many pro players have been accused of cheating. The guy who was hit on the most was definitely Fnatic's flusha. The community looked closer at some of the moves the pros made and it was definitely flusha who had the most weird looking actions, as shown in many videos. The community started some sort of witchhunt on flusha from then on and the Swede saw himself getting insulted on many online forums. Even Fnatic's facebook was affected by this, as every single post was spammed with hackusations.
Fnatic's boost
DreamHack Winter was probably one of the most memorable events in 2014 but not only because it had some nervewrecking matches: it will go down in history as the event that saw Fnatic's boost.
When the map score was a tied at 1-1 and Fnatic lost the T side on de_overpass 3:12 versus Team LDLC, the Swedes turned the match around in a dramatic way, using a boost as never seen before. Standing on top of a team mate, olofmeister was able to see almost the entire map and anticipate LDLC's next moves. Thanks to the boost Fnatic came out on top, but the French side filed a protest. After long discussions going late into the night, Fnatic announced that they would forfeit the match and thus drop out of DreamHack Winter.
ALSEN's matchfixing
In October another scandal hit the CS:GO scene. The Polish team ALSEN was involved in match fixing in one of their ESL Pro Series matches. Even before the match started rumours were floating that the Poles had bet on their opponents just to take advantage of the highly favoured odds and grab some high value skins. Altogether the Poles walked away with more than $2,000 worth of skins and it was later revealed by CSGOLounge that two of the three involved players used their own accounts. Following this huge scandal the team was released by their organization.
CW Stickers
In November Copenhagen Wolves and their CS manager were involved in a theft case. Johnathan "Mini" Daniels, manager of CPH at the time of ESL Cologne One, was tasked with being the link between Valve and the organisation, so he was the one uploading their sticker to the Steam Workshop. As a result of that Daniels was the only one being able to cash out their earnings, which he did. Daniels ended up keeping $18,000 for himself and was never to be seen again. Even after the CPH Wolves management tried to contact him through his mother, they were only told that he was on vacation. Today Daniels still owes the team the rest of the $50,000.
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DreamHack
Dreamhack has been around for a very long time in the Counter-Strike scene, but are still managing to improve with every event. Just this year the Dreamhack organizers have put together five tournaments for Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Since November 28th, 2013 Dreamhack has given away around $582,000 and has hosted two majors.
ESL
ESL has been around in the Global Offensive scene for a long time, but has heavily increased their presence this year. They have hosted two majors, and have announced a new online league for players to partake in. ESL has always been held high for their high production value, and they continued to increase their production value with making the observer a common place at major lan tournaments. ESL has given away $500,000 since the beginning of the year.
Fragbite
Fragbite masters has always been known as the king of production value for online matches, but this year they brought it to a LAN environment as well. The production crew for the Fragbite tournaments always comes up with some jokes to use throughout the season, but it is not enough for the event to seem less serious. In 2014, fragbite has hosted two seasons of their Fragbite Masters tournament, and has given away around $85,000.
SLTV
SLTV has became an anticipated event for many, and SLTV has made changes to make it better for the viewer. For most of the year SLTV’s online portion was done in a round robin format with all the teams playing against each other once, but the last season they had this year had them change the format to having two groups of teams where they played each other once. The top team from each group got a direct invite to the lan, but the teams between 2nd 5th place battle it out in their online playoffs. StarLadder has given away $95,000 this year.
FACEIT
The guys over at FACEIT were the first to use the steam workshop to fund tournaments, and it definitely worked. FACEIT ran their first league in the spring of 2014 and held a very high production online tournament. FACEIT went on to host another league, but this time there was a lan event and $50,000. FACEIT brings a unique style of commentary to the table, because it sometimes seems like ddk & jzfb are just having conversations. FACEIT have given away around $112,000 this year.
GFinity
Gfinity 3 served as the company's first major endeavor into the Counter Strike scene. Although there was a rocky start to the LAN, they managed to turn it around with a few days of almost non-stop matches. GFinity were the first to bring in soundproof booths, which should become a necessity at tournaments in the future. GFinity gave away $53,000 this year.
ESEA
ESEA has been a staple in the counter strike scene for a long time, and rightfully so. ESEA serves as one of the only events where we can see the top North American and European teams clash head-to-head. They also have the always entertaining all-star game where the community votes for players from each continent to play against each other to kick off the LAN. Even when there is downtime they try to keep the viewers entertained, which was showcased with “Jelly Belly Challenge” from Season 16’s LAN.
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GosuAwards committee:
Vladimir 'Angel' Kojadinovic
Dominik 'razrrr' Hünitzsch
Kevin 'SeveN' Ouyang
Seth 'sshogun' Sawant
Ayuka 'a_shuchu' Boldyrev
Aaron 'Legend0415' Baughman
Matthew 'Lukekk' Luke
Photo sources:
GosuGamers: LDLC, VP, Fnatic, Na`Vi, Dignitas, Epsilon, GeT_RiGht, shox, olofmeister, Snax, Happy, s1mple, shroud, flusha, Pasha, n0thing, krimz, HellRaisers, Titan
ESL: NiP, VP, iBP, Katowice, Cologne, Semmler, Anders, Fifflaren, Vacation, Epsilon, SirScoots, ReDeYe
HellRaisers: HellRaisers
kennS: Gfinity
eLevate: desl
kqly: vacation
Dreamhack: Dreamhack, James
ESEA: ESEA
Insomnia49: kyan1te
Vakarm: The French Shuffle
Players Facebooks/twitters: allu, Thorin, Swag
