GosuGamers Awards 2010: Best Non-Korean of the Year

We introduce the GosuGamers Awards for 2010, the first edition for StarCraft 2. First out is the best non-Korean of the year, and it's up to you to decide who will be the winner among the 10 nominees. Voting closes January the 14th, and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter. More awards will be revealed in the upcoming days.



BEST NON-KOREAN OF THE YEAR 2010

Chris "HuK" Loranger

HuK is nominated because of his consistent high-level play, and many achievements since the beta started such as several Craft Cup first and second places, as well as the monthly Go4SC2 finals for May. After the release of the game, HuK proved himself as one of the top North American players, and stood out as one of the very few Protoss players to do well until the most recent patches. His ITL: Grand Prix first place, 1st place at MLG Raleigh, and the Nvidia GosuCup first place are a few examples of his many achievements.

HuK is also known for his hoodie he uses while playing, as seen in the photo to the right.

- HuK's list of achievements and recent match history

Dario "TheLittleOne" Wünsch

Forever so entertaining, watching TLO's games is rarely anything but a pleasure. The German started out playing random, later Terran, and has not too long ago switched to Zerg. One of the biggest fan-favorites out there has ever since the beta kept on surprising the audiences with his unorthodox play-style, using Battle Cruisers and defensive nukes in high-paced games.

Several Go4SC2 and ZOTAC victories, as well as his qualifications for GSL gives Dario a spot among the nominees, add to that his very unique style of play.

- TLO's list of achievements and recent match history



Kevin "qxc" Riley

qxc has been among the top North Americans for a long time, and is known for his very aggressive, harassing Terran play, often using his medivacs to disable his opponents completely with his good micro doing so.

A first place in the FXOpen Path of Ascension was one of his most recent victories, but before that, has the American Terran player marked himself for several Craft Cup victories, and high placements in other online tournaments such as the GosuCoaching weekly tours. Coming second in the IEM Americas Championship for $2,000 is not bad either.

- QXC's list of achievements and recent match history


Santeri "Naama" Lahtinen

He won the DreamHack grand final against his teammate MaNa, which is a huge achievement in itself. Though, he has done a lot more than just that to become nominated for the best non-Korean of 2010, achievements he might not have gotten as much attention for as he deserved.

Winning several Go4SC2 cups, including the monthly finals for September, as well as numerous Viking Cup victories and second-places gives Naama a safe spot among the nominees. The confident Finnish Terran player will however always be most remembered for the very exciting series in the DreamHack finals, where he won 3-2, which is understandable.

- Naama's list of achievements and recent match history

Jian Carlo "Fenix" Morayra Alejo

Fenix grabbed the third-place at DreamHack, and later took home the first-prize of the GameGune Mexico. He was also the winner of IEM Americas Championship where he took down qxc in the grand final.

Along with that has the Peruvian, aggressive Terran player, managed to win several online tournaments such as Open Wolf Cups, Go4SC2 NA, Craft Cups and what not. As if that wasn't enough, Fenix also made himself a big sum of money with his second place in the Brazil Game Show - Latin American Blizzard Invitational.

- Fenix's list of achievements and recent match history


Stefan "MorroW" Andersson

He started out as a Terran player, performing very well, winning him several online tournaments; Go4SC2, ZOTAC, Open Wolf Cups, and Viking Cups. He has said himself that he used the fact that reapers were imbalanced for his advantage, but that does not matter when we look at how well they were microed. He won the Intel Extreme Masters in Cologne, where he beat IdrA in the grand final, one of the games was a straight up game against the American in the series, which is seldom mentioned when we talk about that series, and is proof that MorroW holds a very high level of play also without the reapers.

He has now turned to the swarm, and is working his way up there, winning a few online tournaments with Zerg, and is among the top Europeans again after the switch.

- MorroW's list of achievements and recent match history

Tomasz "Tarson" Boron

He did not perform well at DreamHack Winter 2010, as he exited early after a 0-3 loss rate in the groupstage. A bad day for the Pole maybe, because it's not like Tarson to not get far. Ever since the beta has the Polish Terran won many online tournaments, and has just as many second places, which is very impressive if you start counting them.

He lost the third-place final against Dimaga at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne, but a fourth place isn't bad in any way. Tarson won the monthly Go4SC2 finals of November, and topped the GosuGamers King of the Hill after taking down Machine 4-2.

- Tarson's list of achievements and recent match history

Jonathan "Jinro" Walsh

The Swedish Terran player Jinro has not participated in too many online tournaments, but has instead been studying the game into the deepest, to suddenly turn out as the winner of MLG Dallas, showing a great understanding of the game, reading his opponents very well.

As if that wasn't enough, Jinro is the only non-Korean to have reached the semi finals of the GSL, which he did in Season 3. He lost to his close friend MC in the semis, MC who later would win the whole tournament. Jinro, along with IdrA, are the only non-Koreans who have acquired the S-code to participate in the highest league in GSL.


- Jinro's list of achievements and recent match history


Dima "Dimaga" Filipchuk

He was the first player to win a ZOTAC cup for StarCraft 2, and the first player to win a Go4SC2 tournament to early mark himself as one of the great pioneers of the game. Since then he has won several Go4SC2 cups, Craft Cups, ZOTAC cups, and showmatches.

Dimaga is known for his early baneling busts, and achievement-wise the third place at IEM Cologne, along with his fourth place at BlizzCon sticks out. Dimaga is a player who always seems to be happy, and shows a lot of emotions while playing. He is also a beast on the dance floor, something he definitely proved in Cologne at the Gamer's party.

- Dimaga's list of achievements and recent match history


Oleksii "White-Ra" Krupnyk

The Grandpa-Toss got married this year, but has still managed to keep up with his StarCraft 2 gaming. He has been doing very well ever since the beta launched, and managed to take down Maka in an incredible fifth deciding match in the GosuGamers EU vs Asia StarLeague.

Winning Go4SC2 cups and several other online tournaments, along with his third place at BlizzCon and the first place at Global Gamer Invitational, White-Ra claimed a spot among the nominees for the best non-Korean of the year 2010.

- White-Ra's list of achievements and recent match history