GosuAwards 2013 - Dota 2 nominations

UPDATE: The GosuAward winners are out, find them here.

Honorable mentions: Neolution Orange, TongFu.

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Honorable mentions: Any team Goblak joined this year, with the exception of Virtus.Pro.

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Also considered: Mousesports

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This year has been an interesting one for carries, with the focus swinging back towards a more active style of play which is reflected in the nominations. Players such as XBOCT and Hao have been at times thought of as near reckless in their aggression, but both stepped up greatly this year to become backbones of their respective teams, along with a return to form for the living legend of Loda, who dazzled China at G-1 with his ability to play a wide carry pool. Meanwhile in Europe Era formed one half of the most feared Wisp and anything duo, perfecting several aggressive heroes on top of his famous Lifestealer.

In fact the only true nod to the more traditional farm orientated carries is the ever present BurNing, who while still a master farmer, has also stood out as the best of the traditionally minded carries at knowing when to engage during the early game; a testament to his great ability to read the game. Still, it has been the dynamic presence of XBOCT and Loda which has been the model for all carry players this year, rather than that of the Chinese carry players which dominated the top spots last year.

We do still extend a honorable mention to South East Asian prodigy Meracle, who sadly was not able to truly show off his potential over the course of most of the year, but whom we look forward to seeing much more of in 2014. In similar fashion, Sylar has had a bumpy year but has shown signs of growth since joining ViCi-Gaming which may put him back on track to reclaim a place among the nominees for next year. And finally a special mention for Fear, who while he has changed up his role several times this year still proves each time he takes up the carry role why he is considered one of the Western scenes most reliable players.

Honorable mentions: Meracle, Sylar, Fear.

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It's been an interesting year for the solo mid position, as we've seen it be subject to many changes, reducing bottle-crowing and forcing players to brand out in order to fill different gaps in their teams as the role has been expanded in many different directions. Players like s4 staked their claim early on through perfectly executed plays on teamfight control heroes, while Mushi and Dendi set the pace for elevating the ganking game yet again. Mushi in particular gained a lot of notoriety this year due to his ability to pick up and play nearly any hero for his position, utilizing his great understanding of laning to have a consistently great impact. Rounding out the picks are two great players who stepped it up this year, with Mu being the other half of the TongFu success story at the D2SL and TI3, while H4nn1 has grown to be a far more stable player, on top of his ability to snowball and take over games on a variety of heroes.

As the year has been highly volatile for mid players, each of the nominated players have had their ups and downs this year, but they've all had a great impact on the success of their respective teams and have shown a great ability to adapt time and again to the challenges of their position. They beat out their competition for their consistency over the whole year and their consistent presence in the minds of Dota fans. While true greatness can be seen in the plays of Arteezy and Resolut1on, this is not yet their year, and neither is the recent re-awakening of Super nor SingSing enough to make up for their lackluster first half of the year. These players, along with many others, ensure that this years five nominees will be pushed to their limits in the coming year.

Honorable mentions: Super, Arteezy, Resolut1on, SingSing

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Only one year ago, most of the names on this list were unknown to the larger public or known for something entirely different than world class secondary solo skills. rOtk was a well known feeder and a shadow of his WC3 DotA self, iceiceice was a solo mid and carry player, Funn1k was the support player of failed TI2 team Darer and AdmiralBulldog was that crazy pubstomper who played Lone Druid. And absolutely nobody knew who bOne7 was.

But so it is that this year we've come to know the Bulldog as the self-proclaimed king of rats and the spiritual successor to LighTofHeaveN, while Funn1k has more literally grown to fill the void left by the Russian legend in Na`Vi and become a deadly consistent executer of amazing plays. rOtk has steadily improved his gameplay to a point where some consider him one of the carrying forces of DK at TI3 and the lion that envigorated ViCi-Gaming. Few players have been as innovative as bOne7 over the second half of the year, breathing new life into familiar heroes through highly unconventional item builds. And of course the South East Asian troll, the ever loveable iceiceice, bringing a brand of madness to the offlane that would make rOtk proud.

Many great names have come close, specialists like Kabu and Yao, madmen like Trixi (iceiceice and rOtk rolled over for one of the West slots) and visionaries like Bulba. It's been a great year for the offlane player, with many different styles in play at the same time. In the end our five nominations each stand out from the pack due to how they've managed to make the role their own to such a degree that it is nearly impossible to imagine the game without them.

Honorable mentions: Kabu, Yao, Trixi, Jessievash, Bulba

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Over the course of the year we've seen team after team bring ever greater flexibility into their supporting line, which culminated in 6.79 with a near absence of the traditional dirt poor 5 position suport. As a result it no longer seems worth while to split this category up, with many teams moving fluidly back and forth. Instead we've decided to honour all supports under one category, with 10 players receiving a nomination and the top two players according to your votes being crowned the best supports of the year.

Among the nominees we find the dynamic duo of Akke and EGM as well as their counterparts of Puppey and Kuroky, each of whom has shown us that they are players that win games this year, be it on a "4" or "5" positon. We find the Net and Xtinct duo who through their precise rotations formed the backbone of Orange's consistent success this year. The amazing game-sense of n0tail which has set him apart as one of the greatest players of the game, not just on Io but on many other heroes as well. The veteran presence of Banana who played an instrumental role in the success of TongFu. And the Russian prodigy VANSKOR and his Chinese counterpart in Fy, two players of immense talent who have only recently found the platforms they needed to prove to the world that they indeed are some of the greatest support players of this year.

Coming up just short are players like LaNm who has changed his role more often than Mushi changes heroes this year as well as strong individual players without great success with a team such as Ars-Art. Fenrir is sadly overshadowed by the more talented and younger Fy, while pieliedie missed out on a nomination by the slimmest margin imaginable. And of course Pinoy pride in the form of Jay.

Honorable mentions: Lanm, Ars-Art, Fenrir, pieliedie, Jay
 

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The traditional rookie award does not do justice to this year in Dota, which is why instead we have nominated five players who stepped up their game and not just established themselves as players but changed the whole conversation about what it means to be a great Dota player. Until he joined Alliance EGM was a lesser known Swedish offlane player, talented but mostly overlooked. Fy was a pubstar until ViCi-Gaming came calling, as was AdmiralBulldog until he stood in for Na`Vi, opening the doors for him to be picked up by Alliance as well. And of course Meracle, the stand-out player of First Departure who has recently taken China by storm and now terrorizes the likes of DK with his Naga Siren.

But among all these more or less fresh faces, there's one you may realize you know from before. How come a player who won The International in 2011 and finished second in 2012 as well as 2013 is listed as one of the most improved players of the year? Because one year ago, something changed. XBOCT began taking the game more seriously, starting with more practice and slowly translating into a far steadier presence in games, becoming the carry player so many knew he could be but had failed to be during 2012. XBOCT is a testament to the fact that great players can overcome their flaws, even after having achieved great success.

Other players who have similarly shown great personal growth this year include rOtk and SingSing, while Arteezy and qojqva have impressed us with their great talent, although they still need to show further results or a full season playing the game before they can be considered for inclusion on this list.

Honorable mentions: rOtk, SingSing, Arteezy, qojqva.

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