The 2015 LiquidDota Awards January 24th, 2016 21:09 GMT Text by Julmust Graphics by Opterown Focus Mode

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Team Liquid

Dota 2 Awards 2015 Another year of Dota 2 has come and gone. This year we've seen an influx of new blood on the scene shaking up the established teams while bringing us hope for the future, something reflected in our awards. Dota 2 has never been more popular and the fanbase just keeps on growing, giving us reasons to believe that even if 2015 was a great year 2016 will be even better. Below you will see what we, the staff, thought the highlights of the year was. Are we right? Let us know!





Xu "fy" Linsen playing Rubick

While his play throughout game 1 of the Lower Bracket round 3 versus Cloud9 was close to flawless, there are two specific teamfights that truly elevated fy’s Rubick above the rest of the plays this year. Let’s start off at 37 minutes into the game. C9 was in command of the game and was on the hunt for VG's last T2 tower. After a good initiation, VG managed to burst down FATA's Shadow Fiend, and the fight was off to a good start. But Cloud9 still had very potent teamfight heroes left. This is when fy stepped in. In the upcoming 30 seconds, he played Rubick with a precision never before seen on this big of a stage. fy, almost single-handedly, crushed Cloud 9 by baiting in their entire team with a stolen Supernova. But he wasn't done there. Just about 10 minutes later it was time again. After some insane timing with his lift and SF's ultimate fy first claimed the life of Phoenix but wasn't happy with just that. Instead he followed poor FATA, blinked and stole an invis rune and finished off by dodging some Razes before TPing out with less than 100 HP while FATA died to Hao's Spectre. Honestly, words cannot do this justice. Have a look at







Syed Sumail "Suma1L" Hassan

As I started researching this category I realized something: Sumail only joined the professional scene earlier this year. And yet, he feels like a seasoned veteran, a solid mid player who time and time again shows us some incredible performances. It’s scary how good this kid is. Case in point: the third game of the grand finals of the Dota 2 Asian Championships. In the finals, EG went up against VG, a team that had been dominating practically every tournament post-TI4, and Sumail faced off against Super. No one, and I mean no one, would have blamed Sumail if he lost that lane. At first it looked like he would. Vici had done their homework and knew that they could not let Sumail snowball, so they ganked him and then ganked him some more, and suddenly Sumail was 0-4 less than 5 minutes into the game. But that’s when Sumail went into proper beastmode and 30 minutes later EG had won the game, and the tournament, off the back of a 17-7 Storm Spirit.







Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora

The first word to come to mind when you’re talking about Universe’s offlane is consistency. Somewhat of a boring word, one might say. But the fact of the matter is that Universe has an ability to give you something not many others can, on a consistent basis: he does not lose his lane. Offlane can be one of the hardest positions to play in Dota as you, more often than not, need to get every single last hit you can while not dying to the opposing team’s trilane. You have to find farm and experience where there are none. Universe does all this with ease. And unlike other offlaners, he doesn’t just play heroes such as Dark Seer, who can farm relatively safely. This year, Universe brought Faceless Void in to the offlane meta, a hero that had almost exclusively been played in the safelane. With a total of 8 wins in 9 attempts, in the dying days of 6.83, Universe showed us that an offlaner can be so much more than a “jump in and die” type of player. Consistency isn’t boring, it wins you tournaments.







CDEC (vs. Evil Geniuses)

Abandoning something that has worked well isn’t an easy thing to do. Giving it up for something unorthodox is even harder. Doing it in game 2 of the grand final of TI? I don’t think any of us can comprehend the balls it takes to make that call, but CDEC made it anyways. After being outplayed by EG in the first game, sure, something had to change, but Broodmother mid, safelane farming Leshrac, and offlane Queen of Pain? Plenty of people thought CDEC was on full tilt, calling the picks and laning stupid, but in the end they fulfilled their goal: to get EG off balance. The draft was brilliant and the execution from the team was just as good. I guess it’s true what they say: “If it’s stupid but it works, it’s not stupid”.







Evil Geniuses

Ah the “Team of the Year”-award. Also nicknamed the “Quick reminder; this team won TI”-award. But really, could there have been anyone but EG this year? Over the past year the team lost two of its best players, Zai and Arteezy, a month before the huge Dota 2 Asian Championships and brought in Aui_2000, a good player but never considered THAT good, and an untested 16 year old in Sumail. EG looked to be in shambles, and many thought that they would probably fall off the Dota 2 map once again. Instead, they proved everyone wrong. EG came back with a vengeance. The crowning achievement for the team was, of course, their TI5 victory, but really the whole year had just built up to that moment. Throughout the year, we saw EG win DAC but then struggle to get back on top, often losing to Team Secret. So when TI came around, EG was one of the favorites, but most people had their money on Secret. Thanks to the incredible captaining of PPD, the flexibility in Fear’s carry, the ruthlessness of Sumail’s mid, Universe’s stability on the offlane and, of course, Aui_2000’s incredible ability to create farming space, the team secured their place in the Dota 2 history books.







Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang

Most professional Dota players seem to have two different personalities, one for twitter and one for interviews, and they seem to vastly differ. We can see EE flame the last tournament he failed to win, or Arteezy whine about being in low prio again. Then we get them on camera, and they’re the most mild mannered people you’ve ever seen. With iceiceice, you never have that issue. His antics, mainly in interviews, and refusal to take anything seriously, show that Daryl is someone who simply does not care, and we love him for it. The best way to illustrate our point here is simply to have you watch







EG vs. Secret at Frankfurt Major

In some ways, we were always going to end up at this point in time. EG and Secret played each other in many close games in many prestigious tournaments last year, and their battles never seemed to disappoint. While Secret managed to win most of their games, EG won the two biggest tournaments of the year; TI5 and DAC. So to say that Secret was out for revenge in Frankfurt is probably an understatement. Unlike the other times the two giants collided, Secret was no longer the favorite to win, since Puppey had surrounded himself with lesser known players (with one EException, of course). That wasn’t about to stop Secret, though. The match turned into a 68 minute slugfest with huge swings, big plays, and maybe even bigger throws. In the end, Secret emerged victorious and went on to win the series 2-1, again sending EG home.







Peter “ppd” Dager

In early 2015, zai and Arteezy left EG to join Team Secret, and the future of the team was clouded in uncertainty. Would the new mid player, Sumail, be another pubstar success like Arteezy, or be a bust like MSS? Could Aui_2000 match the greed and playmaking capabilities of zai? Would the dark Dota days of old return to North America?



The answer would be a rousing no. 2015 would prove to be a banner year for the squad, climbing to the highest heights and winning The International 5. In their success, it was revealed the true strength of Evil Geniuses was in their captain, Peter “ppd” Dager. Their leader would endure the criticism, silence the doubters, and assert the new Evil Geniuses’ place in the global scene. When he wasn’t turning the meta on its head (and simultaneously ruining pubs) with his potent Tusk/Techies combo, he was guiding the young Sumail through the travel and training required to be on a top tier team. Despite some lackluster results following the reacquisition of Arteezy and dismissal of Aui_2000 after TI5, the team capped out the year by reclaiming their title as champions of The Summit. With the Shanghai Major looming in the distance, there is no doubt in ppd’s drive to repeat the glories of 2015 in the year to come.







Owen “ODPixel” Davies

Very rarely does someone explode onto the casting scene as ODPixel did in 2015. A virtual nobody, he encountered a chance opportunity to cast the infamous three-hour-long SFZ/C9 match, propelling him into the stratosphere and leading him to a recurring spot in the GD Studio’s casting crew and an appearance on the coveted main stage of The International. His meteoric rise has entertained us with his trademark high energy and machine gun delivery of team fight descriptions, earning him the designation of Rap God on several occasions by the community. He shows no signs of slowing down in this coming 2016 season, meaning no matter what teams he’ll be casting, we all win. Just don’t let him try and convince the town in Mafia.







Sun "Agressif" Zheng

This year, Agressif has ushered in a new way of playing the carry role that has made him worthy of his name. In 2015 Agressif became synonymous with the aggressive/early rotating carry player. This style, at least in part, became ubiquitous in 6.85, and looks to be carrying on in 6.86. Very few expected CDEC, a team coming from the qualifiers as a relatively unknown Chinese team, to perform well at TI; Agressif’s name was dwarfed by the notoriety of the more popular Chinese carry players like BurNIng and Sylar. CDEC made a huge splash at TI to take second- which they did by working out a style that was very effective in the patch, a style that hinged on Agressif’s early movements on the carry role.



Although CDEC’s momentum slowed after TI, and many carry players performed well enough to challenge for the title of best carry this year, the ripples of Agressif’s impact at the biggest tournament of the year were felt throughout professional Dota. In a scene that is still almost solely focused on TI, to come from such lowly beginnings and change the way a role is perceived by all makes Agressif more than worthy of the title of best carry this year.







The International 2015

There's nothing like a cool $20 million to bring out the best Dota in people. The International this year truly had it all; storylines, variety, short games, long games upsets, Techies, you name it; even a home soil win for EG in Seattle, which brought an electric ending to a great tournament. TI5 tied together great games, great casting and great production to give fans exactly what they wanted. The International, whilst always being the spotlight tournament of the year, is quickly being overshadowed by the majors circuit and the ever-increasing number of tournaments with international LAN finals. Given that it is possible (probable, even) for a tournament next year to overtake TI in both quality of competition and enjoyment as a spectator, it is fitting that we pay one last homage to The International this year.







Ymir, the Tusk

Hey Icefrog, so good of you to take some time off to meet with us today. Sadly it is not the most joyous occasion for us. This is an intervention. About the map changes you ask? No no no, please sit down first, this is going to take a while. How ya feelin' boy? You alright? Feeling well you say? That’s good to hear, but unfortunately we have an issue we need to bring up:

HOW IS TUSK NOT YET NERFED TO THE GROUND?

Please excuse my shouting, I got a little carried away, but surely you can sympathise with this sentiment. But you nerfed him already, twice even, you say?

THAT IS NOT ENOUGH, DAMN IT!

Sorry again, just let me quickly take a deep breath, and we can continue.

How is such a well-rounded hero, contested throughout the majority of the year in the first picks and bans still viable? Usually according to the time-tested IceFrog-recipe of balancing, only a few months of spotlight are granted to the stars of a patch. Tusk so far has eluded a full hit from the nerf hammer (oh how we miss you Storm Spirit, you left us too soon…) and only gone through a few small changes, leaving his extremely versatile and useful skillset largely unchanged save for number tweaking. I’ll adjust him again, you say? Please, we beg you.



In all seriousness, balancing Tusk must be a nightmare. With the incredible versatility in his skillset and flexible laning, he might just be the best all around hero in Dota 2 right now. How to bring him down more in line with other options without either putting him into the dumpster or completely reworking him might just be one of the hardest tasks Icefrog has in store for 2016. If he doesn’t succeed, we might have a return winner for this award next year, truly a scary prospect.







Cloud 9 Forgets TPs

The term “throw” has become more and more common over the years. As Liquid’s Kuroky once said: “Back then teams that won were credited, now it's called throw. I think it's sad.”

Sometimes, however, someone truly makes

The infamous Loser’s Round 3, Game 2 between Secret and Cloud9 at DAC and the shocking results of not carrying a TP at all times.



As C9 got a strong start in game 2, they looked set to eliminate Secret after having already whacked them around with the patented Wisp+Tiny combo in game 1. During the midgame, EternalEnvy’s squad continued to expand their lead and looked unstoppable, as they were poised for a final high ground push. But then, Secret noticed the lack of TPs on C9. In fact, not a single one of them had a TP scroll! Arteezy’s Lycan promptly took advantage of the situation and started to wreck C9’s base. Panicking, C9 tried to run home through the midlane (with the exception of Bone7, who instead opted to suicide to the fountain twice), but before they even arrived their throne was already shattered.

Maybe they should have just went back to Purge’s “Welcome to Dota. You suck!”







Glimmer Cape

2015 has been a year blessed with multiple new items introduced, shaking up many established builds and paving the way for innovation. Besides the flashy new playthings such as the Octarine Core or even the newest batch delivered with 6.86, another item has quietly made itself into a staple for supports worldwide, the Glimmer Cape. With a plethora of price reductions and increased gold gains for supports during the entirety of the year, it is only fitting that our Item of the Year is also one making the life of our poor position 4 and 5 players easier. While it was much too strong at its introduction, the balancing since then seems to have found a sweet spot for the Glimmer Cape. Giving some much needed survivability not only for themselves but also for carries in need, the Glimmer Cape has enabled the supports to have a stronger playmaking role, while also making it even more punishing than it already is to not have detection in a teamfight.

While change is hard to get used to, with seemingly new OP things thrown at players every major patch, it also serves as lifeblood for us players and the competitive scene, preventing staleness as happened during the Troll+Sniper era of 6.83.

Overall, the addition of the Glimmer Cape has opened up more diverse builds on several supports. Building the Cape is rewarding, but not too strong to make it an absolute must-build. It is a well done new item, making us hopeful for the other new shiny toys we have gotten in 6.86.





CREDITS

Writers: Julmust, ShiaoPi, DoctorHeckle, Dash

Gfx: Julmust, Opterown, Evil Geniuses Official

Editors: tehh4ck3r

Voting: LD Staff

Banner image by: Opterown

Another year of Dota 2 has come and gone. This year we've seen an influx of new blood on the scene shaking up the established teams while bringing us hope for the future, something reflected in our awards. Dota 2 has never been more popular and the fanbase just keeps on growing, giving us reasons to believe that even if 2015 was a great year 2016 will be even better. Below you will see what we, the staff, thought the highlights of the year was. Are we right? Let us know!While his play throughout game 1 of the Lower Bracket round 3 versus Cloud9 was close to flawless, there are two specific teamfights that truly elevated fy’s Rubick above the rest of the plays this year. Let’s start off at 37 minutes into the game. C9 was in command of the game and was on the hunt for VG's last T2 tower. After a good initiation, VG managed to burst down FATA's Shadow Fiend, and the fight was off to a good start. But Cloud9 still had very potent teamfight heroes left. This is when fy stepped in. In the upcoming 30 seconds, he played Rubick with a precision never before seen on this big of a stage. fy, almost single-handedly, crushed Cloud 9 by baiting in their entire team with a stolen Supernova. But he wasn't done there. Just about 10 minutes later it was time again. After some insane timing with his lift and SF's ultimate fy first claimed the life of Phoenix but wasn't happy with just that. Instead he followed poor FATA, blinked and stole an invis rune and finished off by dodging some Razes before TPing out with less than 100 HP while FATA died to Hao's Spectre. Honestly, words cannot do this justice. Have a look at the two fights for yourself As I started researching this category I realized something: Sumail only joined the professional scene earlier this year. And yet, he feels like a seasoned veteran, a solid mid player who time and time again shows us some incredible performances. It’s scary how good this kid is. Case in point: the third game of the grand finals of the Dota 2 Asian Championships. In the finals, EG went up against VG, a team that had been dominating practically every tournament post-TI4, and Sumail faced off against Super. No one, and I mean no one, would have blamed Sumail if he lost that lane. At first it looked like he would. Vici had done their homework and knew that they could not let Sumail snowball, so they ganked him and then ganked him some more, and suddenly Sumail was 0-4 less than 5 minutes into the game. But that’s when Sumail went into proper beastmode and 30 minutes later EG had won the game, and the tournament, off the back of a 17-7 Storm Spirit. Games like that turn you into more than a player, they turn you into a god. The first word to come to mind when you’re talking about Universe’s offlane is consistency. Somewhat of a boring word, one might say. But the fact of the matter is that Universe has an ability to give you something not many others can, on a consistent basis: he does not lose his lane. Offlane can be one of the hardest positions to play in Dota as you, more often than not, need to get every single last hit you can while not dying to the opposing team’s trilane. You have to find farm and experience where there are none. Universe does all this with ease. And unlike other offlaners, he doesn’t just play heroes such as Dark Seer, who can farm relatively safely. This year, Universe brought Faceless Void in to the offlane meta, a hero that had almost exclusively been played in the safelane. With a total of 8 wins in 9 attempts, in the dying days of 6.83, Universe showed us that an offlaner can be so much more than a “jump in and die” type of player. Consistency isn’t boring, it wins you tournaments.Abandoning something that has worked well isn’t an easy thing to do. Giving it up for something unorthodox is even harder. Doing it in game 2 of the grand final of TI? I don’t think any of us can comprehend the balls it takes to make that call, but CDEC made it anyways. After being outplayed by EG in the first game, sure, something had to change, but Broodmother mid, safelane farming Leshrac, and offlane Queen of Pain? Plenty of people thought CDEC was on full tilt, calling the picks and laning stupid, but in the end they fulfilled their goal: to get EG off balance. The draft was brilliant and the execution from the team was just as good. I guess it’s true what they say: “If it’s stupid but it works, it’s not stupid”.Ah the “Team of the Year”-award. Also nicknamed the “Quick reminder; this team won TI”-award. But really, could there have been anyone but EG this year? Over the past year the team lost two of its best players, Zai and Arteezy, a month before the huge Dota 2 Asian Championships and brought in Aui_2000, a good player but never considered THAT good, and an untested 16 year old in Sumail. EG looked to be in shambles, and many thought that they would probably fall off the Dota 2 map once again. Instead, they proved everyone wrong. EG came back with a vengeance. The crowning achievement for the team was, of course, their TI5 victory, but really the whole year had just built up to that moment. Throughout the year, we saw EG win DAC but then struggle to get back on top, often losing to Team Secret. So when TI came around, EG was one of the favorites, but most people had their money on Secret. Thanks to the incredible captaining of PPD, the flexibility in Fear’s carry, the ruthlessness of Sumail’s mid, Universe’s stability on the offlane and, of course, Aui_2000’s incredible ability to create farming space, the team secured their place in the Dota 2 history books.Most professional Dota players seem to have two different personalities, one for twitter and one for interviews, and they seem to vastly differ. We can see EE flame the last tournament he failed to win, or Arteezy whine about being in low prio again. Then we get them on camera, and they’re the most mild mannered people you’ve ever seen. With iceiceice, you never have that issue. His antics, mainly in interviews, and refusal to take anything seriously, show that Daryl is someone who simply does not care, and we love him for it. The best way to illustrate our point here is simply to have you watch this interview where he “translates” for Super at The Summit 3. Never change, Daryl, never change!In some ways, we were always going to end up at this point in time. EG and Secret played each other in many close games in many prestigious tournaments last year, and their battles never seemed to disappoint. While Secret managed to win most of their games, EG won the two biggest tournaments of the year; TI5 and DAC. So to say that Secret was out for revenge in Frankfurt is probably an understatement. Unlike the other times the two giants collided, Secret was no longer the favorite to win, since Puppey had surrounded himself with lesser known players (with one EException, of course). That wasn’t about to stop Secret, though. The match turned into a 68 minute slugfest with huge swings, big plays, and maybe even bigger throws. In the end, Secret emerged victorious and went on to win the series 2-1, again sending EG home.In early 2015, zai and Arteezy left EG to join Team Secret, and the future of the team was clouded in uncertainty. Would the new mid player, Sumail, be another pubstar success like Arteezy, or be a bust like MSS? Could Aui_2000 match the greed and playmaking capabilities of zai? Would the dark Dota days of old return to North America?The answer would be a rousing no. 2015 would prove to be a banner year for the squad, climbing to the highest heights and winning The International 5. In their success, it was revealed the true strength of Evil Geniuses was in their captain, Peter “ppd” Dager. Their leader would endure the criticism, silence the doubters, and assert the new Evil Geniuses’ place in the global scene. When he wasn’t turning the meta on its head (and simultaneously ruining pubs) with his potent Tusk/Techies combo, he was guiding the young Sumail through the travel and training required to be on a top tier team. Despite some lackluster results following the reacquisition of Arteezy and dismissal of Aui_2000 after TI5, the team capped out the year by reclaiming their title as champions of The Summit. With the Shanghai Major looming in the distance, there is no doubt in ppd’s drive to repeat the glories of 2015 in the year to come.Very rarely does someone explode onto the casting scene as ODPixel did in 2015. A virtual nobody, he encountered a chance opportunity to cast the infamous three-hour-long SFZ/C9 match, propelling him into the stratosphere and leading him to a recurring spot in the GD Studio’s casting crew and an appearance on the coveted main stage of The International. His meteoric rise has entertained us with his trademark high energy and machine gun delivery of team fight descriptions, earning him the designation of Rap God on several occasions by the community. He shows no signs of slowing down in this coming 2016 season, meaning no matter what teams he’ll be casting, we all win. Just don’t let him try and convince the town in Mafia.This year, Agressif has ushered in a new way of playing the carry role that has made him worthy of his name. In 2015 Agressif became synonymous with the aggressive/early rotating carry player. This style, at least in part, became ubiquitous in 6.85, and looks to be carrying on in 6.86. Very few expected CDEC, a team coming from the qualifiers as a relatively unknown Chinese team, to perform well at TI; Agressif’s name was dwarfed by the notoriety of the more popular Chinese carry players like BurNIng and Sylar. CDEC made a huge splash at TI to take second- which they did by working out a style that was very effective in the patch, a style that hinged on Agressif’s early movements on the carry role.Although CDEC’s momentum slowed after TI, and many carry players performed well enough to challenge for the title of best carry this year, the ripples of Agressif’s impact at the biggest tournament of the year were felt throughout professional Dota. In a scene that is still almost solely focused on TI, to come from such lowly beginnings and change the way a role is perceived by all makes Agressif more than worthy of the title of best carry this year.There's nothing like a cool $20 million to bring out the best Dota in people. The International this year truly had it all; storylines, variety, short games, long games upsets, Techies, you name it; even a home soil win for EG in Seattle, which brought an electric ending to a great tournament. TI5 tied together great games, great casting and great production to give fans exactly what they wanted. The International, whilst always being the spotlight tournament of the year, is quickly being overshadowed by the majors circuit and the ever-increasing number of tournaments with international LAN finals. Given that it is possible (probable, even) for a tournament next year to overtake TI in both quality of competition and enjoyment as a spectator, it is fitting that we pay one last homage to The International this year.Hey Icefrog, so good of you to take some time off to meet with us today. Sadly it is not the most joyous occasion for us. This is an intervention. About the map changes you ask? No no no, please sit down first, this is going to take a while. How ya feelin' boy? You alright? Feeling well you say? That’s good to hear, but unfortunately we have an issue we need to bring up:HOW IS TUSK NOT YET NERFED TO THE GROUND?Please excuse my shouting, I got a little carried away, but surely you can sympathise with this sentiment. But you nerfed him already, twice even, you say?THAT IS NOT ENOUGH, DAMN IT!Sorry again, just let me quickly take a deep breath, and we can continue.How is such a well-rounded hero, contested throughout the majority of the year in the first picks and bans still viable? Usually according to the time-tested IceFrog-recipe of balancing, only a few months of spotlight are granted to the stars of a patch. Tusk so far has eluded a full hit from the nerf hammer (oh how we miss you Storm Spirit, you left us too soon…) and only gone through a few small changes, leaving his extremely versatile and useful skillset largely unchanged save for number tweaking. I’ll adjust him again, you say? Please, we beg you.In all seriousness, balancing Tusk must be a nightmare. With the incredible versatility in his skillset and flexible laning, he might just be the best all around hero in Dota 2 right now. How to bring him down more in line with other options without either putting him into the dumpster or completely reworking him might just be one of the hardest tasks Icefrog has in store for 2016. If he doesn’t succeed, we might have a return winner for this award next year, truly a scary prospect.The term “throw” has become more and more common over the years. As Liquid’s Kuroky once said: “Back then teams that won were credited, now it's called throw. I think it's sad.”Sometimes, however, someone truly makes an incredibly bad play and deserves to be called out . Thus, I give you this year’s “Throw of the Year.” While there have been a couple memorable mis-plays from teams during the 2015 season, there is one that stands above all others:The infamous Loser’s Round 3, Game 2 between Secret and Cloud9 at DAC and the shocking results of not carrying a TP at all times.As C9 got a strong start in game 2, they looked set to eliminate Secret after having already whacked them around with the patented Wisp+Tiny combo in game 1. During the midgame, EternalEnvy’s squad continued to expand their lead and looked unstoppable, as they were poised for a final high ground push. But then, Secret noticed the lack of TPs on C9. In fact, not a single one of them had a TP scroll! Arteezy’s Lycan promptly took advantage of the situation and started to wreck C9’s base. Panicking, C9 tried to run home through the midlane (with the exception of Bone7, who instead opted to suicide to the fountain twice), but before they even arrived their throne was already shattered.Maybe they should have just went back to Purge’s “Welcome to Dota. You suck!”2015 has been a year blessed with multiple new items introduced, shaking up many established builds and paving the way for innovation. Besides the flashy new playthings such as the Octarine Core or even the newest batch delivered with 6.86, another item has quietly made itself into a staple for supports worldwide, the Glimmer Cape. With a plethora of price reductions and increased gold gains for supports during the entirety of the year, it is only fitting that our Item of the Year is also one making the life of our poor position 4 and 5 players easier. While it was much too strong at its introduction, the balancing since then seems to have found a sweet spot for the Glimmer Cape. Giving some much needed survivability not only for themselves but also for carries in need, the Glimmer Cape has enabled the supports to have a stronger playmaking role, while also making it even more punishing than it already is to not have detection in a teamfight.While change is hard to get used to, with seemingly new OP things thrown at players every major patch, it also serves as lifeblood for us players and the competitive scene, preventing staleness as happened during the Troll+Sniper era of 6.83.Overall, the addition of the Glimmer Cape has opened up more diverse builds on several supports. Building the Cape is rewarding, but not too strong to make it an absolute must-build. It is a well done new item, making us hopeful for the other new shiny toys we have gotten in 6.86. Administrator I'm dancing in the moonlight