Welcome to the first GosuAwards for League of Legends where our crew nominates and our readers vote the most excelling players, teams and community contributors on the scene. To cut the red line we start where every such ceremony should: with "Best Team" category.
Usually, a “Best Team” category would not look like that since it’s meant to represent the most consistently performing teams throughout the whole year. However, 2012 was different for League of Legends with a tangible shift in power in the summer. As new teams were created and triumphed and old ones saw their glorious streaks come to an end, it is almost impossible to find a roster of five that just never stopped winning.
With that in mind, we present you the nine nominees in category “Best League of Legends Team” for GosuAwards 2012, which are also, not entirely coincidentally, the top nine in our GosuRankings. To avoid any illusion of ordering based on skill, teams are listed alphabetically.
Azubu BlazeOriginally under the name MiG Blaze before being picked by Azubu in June, the roster entered the professional scene strongly, taking Azubu the Champions Spring in May, beating their brother roster of Frost. Blaze’s display of power continue through the next edition of Azubu the Champions - they take fourth, defeating WE, NaJin Shield and Xenics Storm before losing to Frost in another team kill and then dropping the bronze final to the other Korean rising stars of Najin Sword.
It’s not until MLG Spring Arena that Blaze take their prowess abroad as they charge in to wipe two of NA’s behemoths, the hegemonic TSM included. From that point on, their momentum grows and grows as they take home the silver of the S2WC Korean regionals, the gold at MLG Fall and the first place of IPL 5 Korean regionals. Their strong play would also win them a top eight at IPL 5 and put them on one of the leading positions in The Champions Winter.
1st: Azubu Champions Spring
1st: MLG Summer Arena
2nd: Season 2 Regional Finals
1st: MLG Fall Championship
Azubu FrostLed by AD carry Woong, Frost’s 2012 record might be poorer in quantity but very equal in quality to Blaze’s. Learning from whatever metagame knowledge their brother team gathered for them, Frost conquered their first gold medal at Azubu the Champions Summer after making a historical comeback against CLG.eu. Already in possession of the Champions Spring silver, Frost were not staying too much behind Blaze in terms of dominating presence on the scene.
Although not known for travelling as much, Frost did pack their bags in October and took a trip to the Season 2 World Championship. Spearheaded by Shy’s obliterating playstyle, AF went 7-1 against SK, CLG, iG, TSM and CLG.eu before meeting TPA in the grand finals. It was only then that they lay in defeat but a great achievement was already on their account: world championship runner ups and receivers of a quarter million dollars.
1st: OGN LoL Invitational
2nd: Azubu the Champions Spring
1st: Azubu the Champions Summer
2nd: Season 2 World Championship
Counter Logic Gaming EuropeTagged under the CLG brand as the organization acquires the former roster of Absolute Legends, the team under Wickd’s captainship would become one of the most winningest teams of 2012. Starting with a 3rd place at Gamers Assembly, CLG.eu‘s placements got increasingly better throughout the year. By December, they would hold three first, three second and three third places as well as multiple top eights.
What were the key points of CLG.eu’s ascension however? Their first real test was DreamHack Summer in June as they went against and defeated two of the most dominant rosters in Europe: Fnatic and Moscow 5 (the latter twice, including in the grand final). Yet this victory would be dwarfed in September as the team finished second at The Champions Summer, triumphant over some of the best Asian teams on their own turf.
The inertia never slows down and the bullet that was CLG.eu pierced through even more tournaments. They finished fourth in the world just a month later, third at MLG Dallas (where they’re the best performing foreign team), second at DreamHack Winter and top eight at IPL 5.
1st: DreamHack Summer
2nd: European Circuit: Poland
2nd: Azubu the Champions Summer
3rd: MLG Fall Championship
1st: LoneStar Clash 2
2nd: DreamHack Winter
FnaticEarly 2012 was rough towards the Season 1 champions but the team managed to keep its relevance despite losing key players such as Shushei and Mellisan in the summer and Lamia later in the year. This resulted in a multitude of top fours and top eights for Fnatic but never did they really disappear from the European scene.
It was with Rekkles’s acquisition that the team experienced its resurgence. In the course of one month, Fnatic would place first at RaidCall Dominance, DreamHack Winter and THOR Open and get silvers at the grand IPL 5 as well as IEM Singapore.
Where there was underperformance, there was now a shower of triumph. The winter season was retaken for Fnatic.
1st: DreamHack Winter 2012
1st: THOR Open 2012
2nd: IPL 5
2nd: IEM Cologne
Moscow 5Formed in the last days of 2011, the Russian powerhouse conveniently waited for the new year before starting to crush face.
The roster around Alex_Ich swiftly became one of the ESL icons after taking home Kiev and Hannover, making a statement that Europe is not that far behind the North American scene. Their 2012 summer then started with silver at DHS but the gold flow was quickly restored as M5 take home European Circuit Poland and the Season 2 Regional Championship.
The latter placed them among the top eight in the world and the Russians entered the S2WC labeled as heavy favorites. There they opened with a decisive victory over iG but the eventual champions from TPA put a hold to their rise.
As if to remind everyone that M5 is not going anywhere, Alex_Ich and co pinned the gold medal of The Siege and finished fourth at IPL 5, once again competing at the high level they’re known for. Despite letting the world championship gold slip away from them, Moscow 5 enter 2013 with a total of five gold medals, three second places and five top four finishes and as one of the greatest representatives of their continent.
1st: IEM Kiev
1st: IEM World Championship
2nd: DreamHack Summer
1st: European Circuit Poland
1st: Season 2 Regional Finals
1st: The Siege
Najin SwordWhen talking about the Korean wave in professional league, one cannot omit NaJin Sword, the national champions led by the powerful Maknoon.
Similarly to Azubu Frost, the list of achievements to Sword’s name is not as lengthy as some others but few can question the impact of the ones they did get. Starting off with a third place at The Champions Summer just three months after being established, Sword would later go on to become Season 2 champions of South Korea, triumphing over CJ Entus, Xenics Storm and Azubu Blaze. Qualified for the world championship, Sword went 3-0 in the group stage against Dignitas, CLG.eu and Saigon Jokers, a most motley of company.
The next international appearance for Sword is also fruitful and at MLG Dallas they go 6-0 before losing in the final, defeating renowned rosters like CLG NA, TSM and even eventual champions Azubu Blaze. In the course of three months, NaJin Sword would win almost $95,000 to their account.
3rd: Azubu the Champions Summer
1st: Season 2 Regional Finals
2nd: MLG Fall Championship
Taipei AssassinsDespite formed in September 2011, it took TPA quite the long time to get international recognition. Their first achievements for 2012 were exclusively in Asian tournaments, including StarsWar 7, GPL, Nvidia Game Festival and Garena Premier League.
Winning the S2 Taiwanese Regionals didn't help much towards building their fame either but it was a necessary step to their greatest accomplishment to date. The luck of the draw placed TPA directly in the final bracket and three wins later against Najin Sword, Moscow 5 and Azubu Frost, the Taiwanese became Season 2 champions and winners of the largest first place prize in professional league to date. A top three finish at IPL 5 further cemented their position as one of the best and most consistent teams in the world.
1st: StarsWar 7
1st: Garena Premier League Season 1
1st: Season 2 World Championship
3rd: IPL 5
Team SolomidIn 2012, the North American scene passed under the name of one team: TSM. Replacing TheRainMan with Dyrus just after their second place finish at IEM Kiev marked a whole new era for Solomid and Reginald’s army went on a tear at NA LANs. Constantly tested against the cream of crop in North America, TSM took home two MLG and two IPL gold medals as well as the first place in the regional qualifiers, explicitly declaring that they’re the ones who rule the continent.
It was not until the globalization of the scene and the rise of the Asian teams that TSM’s streak ended. The regional finals are their last first place finish and despite playing excellently in their own Solomid Series, TSM saw one end of the season that was quite opposite to their long months of hegemony.
2nd: IEM Kiev
1st: IPL 4
1st: MLG Spring Championship
2nd: MLG Summer Arena
1st: IPL FaceOff
1st: Season 1 Regional Finals
World EliteLike the other teams in the category, WE had their ups and downs throughout the year but delivered good enough performances to keep the word “slump” away from them. For WE, the year started with a lot of local championships – World GameMaster, NVIDIA Game Festival and Tencent Arena included – but their momentum slowed down in the summer when they took a few international gigs like IPL Face Off and Season 2 World Championship that ended with top eight placements.
It was in late October that their championship run was renewed and after snatching World eSports Masters, IeSF and another Tencent gold, the Chinese roster took flight to IPL 5. Pitted against a truly global line-up and playing a couple of what was largely considered to be the best games in professional league to date, WE took home the last tournament of that size for the year, putting a bold full stop to their 2012 story.
1st: World GameMaster Tournament
1st: Tencent Arena Grandprix
1st: World E-Sports Masters
1st: Tencent Arena Grandprix Winter
1st: IESF 2012
1st: IPL 5
