The International 2016 Awards August 25th, 2016 19:39 GMT Text by Julmust Graphics by Nixer IntroBest Strategic GameMost Entertaining GameMost Valuable PlayerBest NewcomerHero of the TournamentBest StreakBiggest PlayBiggest SurpriseBest Caster DuoBest Production SegmentReveal AllFocus Mode The International 2016 Awards All too often we as a community choose to focus on what's bad in Dota. We like to over use the word "throw" and laugh at mistakes that to us, from a spectator point of view, looks oh so dumb. That's why we at LiquidDota loves awards. Here we celebrate the best the game has to offer and chose to praise instead of shame. We are sure these awards will produce plenty of discussion, just remember that in the end opinions are just that, opinions.



We hope you enjoy our celebration of Dota 2 and The International 2016. Best Strategic Game Wings vs. EG (UB Finals Game 1) With over-aggressive metagame dominating the Dota scene, it is rare to see strategy completely outdo laning and aggression considerations. If the teams logos were hidden from this draft, you probably would have guessed that it was EG fielding the ultimate-based teamfight lineup. Instead, Wings drafter y`innocence showed that turnabout is fairplay as he drafted a sturdy and slow lineup, reminiscent of TI4 EG, against a fluid and dodgy five from PPD. In a slowly developing game, EG looked dangerous if given enough time to build BKBs and damage items. Wings, on the other hand, proceeded neither too slowly nor too hastily by building up all the right items and strengths to go high ground, finally checkmating EG in two quick fights around 35 minutes in.



Looking at the draft playing out, both Wings and EG opted for bans of strong signature heroes and selected flexible heroes that disguised their eventual laning arrangements. While EG would pick for laning advantage and hero counters against Timbersaw in second phase, Wings picked up solid teamfight in Razor and AoE CC in Tidehunter. Without any one single pick to wrest team fight advantage away from Wings, EG selected shifty Weaver that - much like Anti-Mage - needed 30 minutes and 3 items to be relevant. Wings closed out the draft with a lineup-solidifying Enigma pick that exploited EG’s unaggressive supports with jungle greed. This gave Wings great tower push once Enigma got enough levels and secured late game with BKB piercing control in Black Hole.



Wings Gaming started the match electing to go 2v3 in the top lane with Razor on Fear’s AM instead of giving him a dream matchup against Tidehunter. Evil Geniuses scored a bunch of kills early on in the game on Wings’ supports, but only enough to be break even with the jungling Enigma. Eight minutes into the game, the Chinese started exerting their pressure, smoking top, pushing Fear out of lane and taking down top tower. Wings went from farming to objective and back to farming for the next 20 minutes, skillfully exploiting the presence of only one stun on EG, which limited any damage Wings could suffer. Whenever Sumail’s Sand King tried to make his mark in skirmishes and ganks, Wings gave up only supports or traded core for core in fights that only slowed down Anti-Mage and Weaver, whose requisite 30 minutes of farming increased with every death.



When both Razor and Timbersaw built BoTs, Wings made up for perceived lack of movement and easily kept pace with the AM. Meanwhile the fast lane pushing with only one or two heroes visible to EG at any time as well the threat of both Rubick ganks and Tidehunter Ravages penned the other four EG players deeply on their own side of the map. By minute 30, it was clear that AM and Weaver were a bit behind on farm and Wings’ lineup was at its peak. The only way EG would stay in the game was by creep cutting to keep the lanes off high-ground and building enough damage to hold off a high-ground attempt.



Wings wasted little time in their moment of strength, protecting their creep waves from Anti-Mage and punished EG for daring to leave their base. With all three Wings cores tanky enough to require a full committal from EG to score a kill, Wings duly pushed high ground with iceice’s Enigma sitting behind with Blink BKB ready to counter any initiation. Even though EG skillfully baited out the Tidehunter Ravage on BKBing cores, it still caught PPD’s Skywrath Mage. Without the Skywrath Ultimate, EG lacked damage, and when EG did commit on the Razor, iceice pounced on Fear. A follow-up kill on Sumail half a minute later that took midlane barracks with it all but ended the game. EG gg’d out after one more one-sided team fight. With over-aggressive metagame dominating the Dota scene, it is rare to see strategy completely outdo laning and aggression considerations. If the teams logos were hidden from this draft, you probably would have guessed that it was EG fielding the ultimate-based teamfight lineup. Instead, Wings drafter y`innocence showed that turnabout is fairplay as he drafted a sturdy and slow lineup, reminiscent of TI4 EG, against a fluid and dodgy five from PPD. In a slowly developing game, EG looked dangerous if given enough time to build BKBs and damage items. Wings, on the other hand, proceeded neither too slowly nor too hastily by building up all the right items and strengths to go high ground, finally checkmating EG in two quick fights around 35 minutes in.Looking at the draft playing out, both Wings and EG opted for bans of strong signature heroes and selected flexible heroes that disguised their eventual laning arrangements. While EG would pick for laning advantage and hero counters against Timbersaw in second phase, Wings picked up solid teamfight in Razor and AoE CC in Tidehunter. Without any one single pick to wrest team fight advantage away from Wings, EG selected shifty Weaver that - much like Anti-Mage - needed 30 minutes and 3 items to be relevant. Wings closed out the draft with a lineup-solidifying Enigma pick that exploited EG’s unaggressive supports with jungle greed. This gave Wings great tower push once Enigma got enough levels and secured late game with BKB piercing control in Black Hole.Wings Gaming started the match electing to go 2v3 in the top lane with Razor on Fear’s AM instead of giving him a dream matchup against Tidehunter. Evil Geniuses scored a bunch of kills early on in the game on Wings’ supports, but only enough to be break even with the jungling Enigma. Eight minutes into the game, the Chinese started exerting their pressure, smoking top, pushing Fear out of lane and taking down top tower. Wings went from farming to objective and back to farming for the next 20 minutes, skillfully exploiting the presence of only one stun on EG, which limited any damage Wings could suffer. Whenever Sumail’s Sand King tried to make his mark in skirmishes and ganks, Wings gave up only supports or traded core for core in fights that only slowed down Anti-Mage and Weaver, whose requisite 30 minutes of farming increased with every death.When both Razor and Timbersaw built BoTs, Wings made up for perceived lack of movement and easily kept pace with the AM. Meanwhile the fast lane pushing with only one or two heroes visible to EG at any time as well the threat of both Rubick ganks and Tidehunter Ravages penned the other four EG players deeply on their own side of the map. By minute 30, it was clear that AM and Weaver were a bit behind on farm and Wings’ lineup was at its peak. The only way EG would stay in the game was by creep cutting to keep the lanes off high-ground and building enough damage to hold off a high-ground attempt.Wings wasted little time in their moment of strength, protecting their creep waves from Anti-Mage and punished EG for daring to leave their base. With all three Wings cores tanky enough to require a full committal from EG to score a kill, Wings duly pushed high ground with iceice’s Enigma sitting behind with Blink BKB ready to counter any initiation. Even though EG skillfully baited out the Tidehunter Ravage on BKBing cores, it still caught PPD’s Skywrath Mage. Without the Skywrath Ultimate, EG lacked damage, and when EG did commit on the Razor, iceice pounced on Fear. A follow-up kill on Sumail half a minute later that took midlane barracks with it all but ended the game. EG gg’d out after one more one-sided team fight.

Most Entertaining Game EHOME vs. EG (UB R1 Game 1) The International, apart from having games that are the pinnacle of mechanical and strategical skill, has been known for bringing us some of the most entertaining games and moments that the Dota world has to offer. Many of you probably remember “The Play” from TI2, the “Million Dollar Dream Coil” from TI3, or Tobi screaming “It’s a DISASTAH” at TI5, to name a few. This year, you will most certainly remember “The Comeback” - Game 1 of Evil Geniuses vs EHOME.



While this game wasn’t the grand finals, the atmosphere in the arena certainly felt like it should have been. EHOME was, on paper, winning throughout the entire game and up by 20,000 gold at their peak. The Chinese fans were shouting at the top of their lungs as EG were forced to attempt to defend their barracks 3v5 with everyone having spent their buybacks, but EG could not hold them. EHOME had taken the final rax, mega creeps were incoming, and all that was missing in Game 1 was an EG “GG.”



However, the Evil Geniuses live up to their namesake in what is likely one of the biggest Hail Marys in Dota. After the last barracks had fallen, EG was on its last legs: SumaiL nuked an IceIceIce Timbersaw with his Ethereal Blade-Aghanim’s Starfall-Dagon combination and IceIceIce was still living with a sliver of HP. Not wanting to let him get away, Zai forcestaffed himself forward, blasting the remaining health off of Timbersaw, who had no buyback, and opened up a push straight down mid. EG threw everything they had at the EHOME base, killing off all but Old Chicken’s Juggernaut, who was nowhere to be found after being thwarted in his attempt to kill Zai thanks to a Godlike arrow from SumaiL, sniping Jugg the moment his omnislash was over. Old Chicken decided he was going for a Hail Mary of his own, trying to backdoor Evil Geniuses’ Tier 4 towers and throne.



EG was not having any of it. At this point, the crowd is losing their minds and Capitalist is losing articles of clothing (seriously, his jacket and tie came off at some point during this game) as they finish off IceIceIce and immediately teleport home to kill Jugg. This is it, this is their chance. Only the Warlock had buyback and EG were headed straight down the middle lane for one final push after holding off megas. Along the way, Universe sells some items for a rapier, knowing that they need to finish off the rest of EHOME’s base quickly, otherwise heroes could respawn in time. The crowd is on their feet as EG fight through the remaining megas and take the throne to complete the improbable, no, the impossible comeback.



The Chinese crowd was silent as the “EG” and “USA” chants echoed throughout Key Arena. EHOME would never look as confident as they did prior to meeting EG in Game 1; they were broken and were eventually knocked out of the tournament by the runner-ups, Digital Chaos. The rest of the TI6 had to live up to the hype surrounding the final moments of this game and though the games were great, none could stand up to the entertainment and excitement that EG vs EHOME Game 1 had to offer. We truly had our defining moment for TI6.

Most Valuable Player Jimmy "Demon" Ho For years, Jimmy "Demon" Ho's Dota play has teetered on brink of punchline and prodigy. His



Demon has been in the scene for ages: He placed 4th with MeetYourMakers’ squad in the very first International back in 2011 (and had been a part of the Dota 1 scene before). For the past few years, he's been known as a mercenary. He stood in for various rosters, brought Team Liquid's TI4 squad to an unexpected 9/10th finish at TI4 after their blog-fueled meltdown, and has spent much of his past two years sponsored by Redbull but teamless.



When news broke that Demon would be moving from Infamous to TnC,



They were still considered underdogs going into the tournament:



But Jimmy's and TNC's tour de force was in the playoffs, when they eliminated tournament-favorites OG in a remarkable 2-0 series that had Jimmy's former teammate Merlini raving about how effective the unpredictable "Classic Jimmy" captaining was in confusing, outplaying, and ultimately defeating OG.



And for that, we give the “MVP of the Tournament” award to Jimmy "Demon" Ho.



#demonarmy For years, Jimmy "Demon" Ho's Dota play has teetered on brink of punchline and prodigy. His "Classic Jimmy" plays, as Merlini once called them, are known for their clowniness and their character: equal parts baffling and brilliant. He's the player who takes a no hands kill on Arteezy in NEL, but also a face of the "When did EG throw last" days. He misses matches to go to the gym. He's Demon.Demon has been in the scene for ages: He placed 4th with MeetYourMakers’ squad in the very first International back in 2011 (and had been a part of the Dota 1 scene before). For the past few years, he's been known as a mercenary. He stood in for various rosters, brought Team Liquid's TI4 squad to an unexpected 9/10th finish at TI4 after their blog-fueled meltdown, and has spent much of his past two years sponsored by Redbull but teamless.When news broke that Demon would be moving from Infamous to TnC, the comments on LD were about what you'd expect: Confusion, surprise, and not a whole lot of confidence that the move would bear fruit. And yet, TNC was the first squad to qualify for TI6 . Demon lead the underdogs first through SEA's open qualifiers and then to the top of the round robin, securing a spot at TI6 without even needing to play through the playoffs.They were still considered underdogs going into the tournament: Liquid Dota's placement of them at 15th on the Power Rank was far from controversial. And yet theirs was the first significant upset of the tournament, when they took out future champions Wings Gaming with two remarkable wins during the group stage. Led by Demon, TNC ended with a respectable 7-7 record in their group, just barely below the line that would have put them in the upper bracket.But Jimmy's and TNC's tour de force was in the playoffs, when they eliminated tournament-favorites OG in a remarkable 2-0 series that had Jimmy's former teammate Merlini raving about how effective the unpredictable "Classic Jimmy" captaining was in confusing, outplaying, and ultimately defeating OG. The series is worth watching in full, as it was an absurd upset that just about nobody could have predicted.And for that, we give the “MVP of the Tournament” award to Jimmy "Demon" Ho.#demonarmy

Best Newcomer Faith_Bian & Saksa As we couldn’t just give this award to all of the Wings’ squad, we ended up having a tie between Faith_Bian and Saksa as the best newcomers to this TI. We also could have chosen both Moo or w33ha from Digital Chaos, but in Saksa’s case, there also is another big merit on him, coming from a country with a very small player base.





FAITH_BIAN A lot of people think that Faith first appeared in professional play back at WCA 2015, but in fact it was the WPC-ACE League during 2014 using the nickname “Zrd”, as a stand-in for the DK-Dream Team squad facing Titan.



Faith was part of the Speed Gaming.cn squad in which he played alongside Blink and Innocence (Zyp at that time). During this period, Faith alongside his teammates were not able to achieve anything important and the squad went through silence for a long time. After the TI5 reshuffle, Wings Gaming was created with the three players from Speed Gaming - which included Faith - and two new players: IceIce - who had played in Big God alongside Burning, LaNm, ROtK and xiao8, and Shadow, a player that had vast experience in Tier 2 Chinese teams.



Faith_Bian is a very annoying offlaner to play against not only for his undebatable skills, but also because of his hero pool suiting perfectly to both Wings’s style and this metagame. Axe, Slardar, Beastmaster and Batrider are all heroes that allow a team to hit a timing and accelerate the tempo, but they are also some of Faith’s best heroes. The word, ‘some’ is important, because as we witnessed during TI, why not play Nyx or even Techies if it’s ‘needed’?



SAKSA From the balkan peninsula to the world: Saksa is likely one of the few players from a country with a population of only 2 million people, yet he is never going to go unnoticed given his height, which competes - even beats - the ones of Puppey or iceiceice. This also happens in the game, being the support player who delivers big plays with his trademark Lion and providing support to both w33ha and Resolution. That’s a task that cannot be underappreciated.



Saksa’s career had a quick development: He left university and joined Global Challengers, in which he didn’t find much success though. After that he joined Team Moriarty and won a small tournament, the Gigabyte Challenge Cup #16. Saksa became a known player after climbing the ladder to 8000 MMR and joined 4Clovers and Lepricon, while usually being mispronounced as ‘Saska’. Before joining DC, he spent around two months on Mama’s Boys with no major success.



As we know, Digital Chaos didn’t achieve immediate success, but the arrival of Saksa together with an experienced Misery and a skilled player like w33ha improved the team significantly, thus getting multiple victories for qualifiers and achieving their biggest success: qualifying to the Manila Major. This experience proved significant to a rising star like Saksa, as his performance during TI6 granted him multiple praises from analysts, players, casters and of course, LiquidDota. As we couldn’t just give this award to all of the Wings’ squad, we ended up having a tie between Faith_Bian and Saksa as the best newcomers to this TI. We also could have chosen both Moo or w33ha from Digital Chaos, but in Saksa’s case, there also is another big merit on him, coming from a country with a very small player base.A lot of people think that Faith first appeared in professional play back at WCA 2015, but in fact it was the WPC-ACE League during 2014 using the nickname “Zrd”, as a stand-in for the DK-Dream Team squad facing Titan.Faith was part of the Speed Gaming.cn squad in which he played alongside Blink and Innocence (Zyp at that time). During this period, Faith alongside his teammates were not able to achieve anything important and the squad went through silence for a long time. After the TI5 reshuffle, Wings Gaming was created with the three players from Speed Gaming - which included Faith - and two new players: IceIce - who had played in Big God alongside Burning, LaNm, ROtK and xiao8, and Shadow, a player that had vast experience in Tier 2 Chinese teams.Faith_Bian is a very annoying offlaner to play against not only for his undebatable skills, but also because of his hero pool suiting perfectly to both Wings’s style and this metagame. Axe, Slardar, Beastmaster and Batrider are all heroes that allow a team to hit a timing and accelerate the tempo, but they are also some of Faith’s best heroes. The word, ‘some’ is important, because as we witnessed during TI, why not play Nyx or even Techies if it’s ‘needed’?From the balkan peninsula to the world: Saksa is likely one of the few players from a country with a population of only 2 million people, yet he is never going to go unnoticed given his height, which competes - even beats - the ones of Puppey or iceiceice. This also happens in the game, being the support player who delivers big plays with his trademark Lion and providing support to both w33ha and Resolution. That’s a task that cannot be underappreciated.Saksa’s career had a quick development: He left university and joined Global Challengers, in which he didn’t find much success though. After that he joined Team Moriarty and won a small tournament, the Gigabyte Challenge Cup #16. Saksa became a known player after climbing the ladder to 8000 MMR and joined 4Clovers and Lepricon, while usually being mispronounced as ‘Saska’. Before joining DC, he spent around two months on Mama’s Boys with no major success.As we know, Digital Chaos didn’t achieve immediate success, but the arrival of Saksa together with an experienced Misery and a skilled player like w33ha improved the team significantly, thus getting multiple victories for qualifiers and achieving their biggest success: qualifying to the Manila Major. This experience proved significant to a rising star like Saksa, as his performance during TI6 granted him multiple praises from analysts, players, casters and of course, LiquidDota.

Hero of the Tournament Mirana Mirana has always been a favorite pick in pubs due to her “skillshot” arrow and after slowly creeping into the meta during the buildup to Seattle, she was certainly the hero of the tournament. Shifting her towards higher farm priority and building her more focused on spell damage (in accordance to her “new” scepter upgrade that came with 6.87 in April) was the factor that allowed her the breakthrough to the coveted first phase ban/pick material. With a skillset that can potentially oneshot underfarmed enemy heroes as soon as she farmed a Aghanim’s Scepter, it is no wonder that Mirana became the most picked hero of the tournament with a win-rate of 59%. Her domination of the event was slightly tarnished by losing every game she appeared on in the Grand Finals, but that is much more owed to Wings outclassing DC that day and not necessarily a fault within the hero.



As much fun as it is to see FOTM POTM melt enemies with quadruple starstorms, it is quite clear that the buffing IceFrog had done to make her more viable has overshot its mark. If the upcoming balance patch does not change Mirana in any way, we would be quite surprised (and disappointed) as it should not be possible to deal 1050 magic damage (before resistances) effortlessly in an instant with a simple investment of only 4200 gold. We enjoyed it while it lasted, but it really should be met with some change as that single item can transform the hero into a ridiculous farming and hero-killing machine. Mirana has always been a favorite pick in pubs due to her “skillshot” arrow and after slowly creeping into the meta during the buildup to Seattle, she was certainly the hero of the tournament. Shifting her towards higher farm priority and building her more focused on spell damage (in accordance to her “new” scepter upgrade that came with 6.87 in April) was the factor that allowed her the breakthrough to the coveted first phase ban/pick material. With a skillset that can potentially oneshot underfarmed enemy heroes as soon as she farmed a Aghanim’s Scepter, it is no wonder that Mirana became the most picked hero of the tournament with a win-rate of 59%. Her domination of the event was slightly tarnished by losing every game she appeared on in the Grand Finals, but that is much more owed to Wings outclassing DC that day and not necessarily a fault within the hero.As much fun as it is to see FOTM POTM melt enemies with quadruple starstorms, it is quite clear that the buffing IceFrog had done to make her more viable has overshot its mark. If the upcoming balance patch does not change Mirana in any way, we would be quite surprised (and disappointed) as it should not be possible to deal 1050 magic damage (before resistances) effortlessly in an instant with a simple investment of only 4200 gold. We enjoyed it while it lasted, but it really should be met with some change as that single item can transform the hero into a ridiculous farming and hero-killing machine.

Best Streak Shadow's Bashes In game 3 of the Grand Finals, Shadow surprised everyone by going 20/0/16 as Faceless Void. But what really ‘baffled’ everyone is how much luck a player can have in one single game. Shadow kept bashing and bashing, managing to get 5 successful bashes in a row on w33ha in the bottom lane fight, 15 minutes in. Again in a fight in the bottom lane, this time 24 minutes into the game, Saksa managed to get a great Winter’s Curse on Shadow, but the latter managed to get away with less than 10% of HP. Again, the luck brought him another kill on Saksa, as the Macedonian tried to escape from Wings by climbing the cliff near Roshan’s Pit and teleporting home, but - yet again - Shadow’s first-hit bash along with iceice’s torrent prevented that from happening, resulting in an easy kill. He even had more bashes on Roshan than Roshan had on him. And speaking of Roshan and his pit, in the teamfight at 35 minutes Shadow bashed w33ha 7 (!!!!) times in a row in under four seconds. Sadly, in the fight near DC’s T4 towers, Shadow managed to kill Faith_Bian, who was under the effect of Winter’s Curse.



On the other hand, Shadow also had some great clutch chronospheres, including the game winning one at mid lane, 44 minutes in, as Resolution walked into it, resulting in the bash lord Shadow getting his 20th and final kill, followed by the gg call from Misery. However, he also had one that didn’t catch anyone due to Misery’s fast blink reaction. Nonetheless, one can without a doubt remark that Shadow’s performance is for the history books, and that if there’s a player that can play Faceless Void as good as EG.Universe does, it definitely must be Shadow.

Biggest play Suma1L Arrows Old Chicken

One of the best things about The International is that it truly brings out the best in players. The individual skill we see displayed makes it seem like some players were on a completely different level compared to their opponents. Sometimes these plays are made in the group stage, in the upper bracket, or when a team is on the verge of losing. Though we rarely get to witness a moment like these in the finals, as we did with S4’s “Million Dollar Dream Coil”, we see these outplays more often throughout the tournament. This is where Sumail comes in. Sumail has been the star of EG since he began playing for them, and EG know it. PPD and the gang play with this in mind, because if they put Sumail in a position to outplay his opponents, he often will - and that usually means winning the game.



This year, Sumail came out in full force. His Mirana play against EHOME was incredible and he was able to keep his team competitive in a game they should have easily lost, and eventually came down to a single arrow. Old Chicken’s Juggernaut had easily become the most important hero on EHOME’s squad. If he is allowed to kill Zai with Universe’s Chronosphere down and Fear’s Axe dead, EG will be out of control to stop Juggernaut from running rampant. Sumail knew that Old Chicken could only kill off Zai if he finished his Omnislash on the Shadow Demon, so Mirana launched the best arrow we’ve seen at The International and caught Juggernaut as he left his omnislash. Without this arrow, Zai would have been killed instantly without being able to put the key Soul Catcher on Juggernaut. This play leads to EG making the biggest comeback seen at this year’s iteration of The International by overcoming EHOME’s mega creeps. One of the best things about The International is that it truly brings out the best in players. The individual skill we see displayed makes it seem like some players were on a completely different level compared to their opponents. Sometimes these plays are made in the group stage, in the upper bracket, or when a team is on the verge of losing. Though we rarely get to witness a moment like these in the finals, as we did with S4’s “Million Dollar Dream Coil”, we see these outplays more often throughout the tournament. This is where Sumail comes in. Sumail has been the star of EG since he began playing for them, and EG know it. PPD and the gang play with this in mind, because if they put Sumail in a position to outplay his opponents, he often will - and that usually means winning the game.This year, Sumail came out in full force. His Mirana play against EHOME was incredible and he was able to keep his team competitive in a game they should have easily lost, and eventually came down to a single arrow. Old Chicken’s Juggernaut had easily become the most important hero on EHOME’s squad. If he is allowed to kill Zai with Universe’s Chronosphere down and Fear’s Axe dead, EG will be out of control to stop Juggernaut from running rampant. Sumail knew that Old Chicken could only kill off Zai if he finished his Omnislash on the Shadow Demon, so Mirana launched the best arrow we’ve seen at The International and caught Juggernaut as he left his omnislash. Without this arrow, Zai would have been killed instantly without being able to put the key Soul Catcher on Juggernaut. This play leads to EG making the biggest comeback seen at this year’s iteration of The International by overcoming EHOME’s mega creeps.

Biggest Surprise TNC TnC, where do we even start? Perhaps it is fair to say TnC were essentially what MVP Phoenix were last year at TI5, that lesser-known, underestimated team from the SEA scene that suddenly got really hot during the tournament and got Top 8, except that they weren’t quite just that. This team had also just narrowly missed out on starting off in the Upper Bracket after an awe-inspiring run in the group stage.



In order to fully grasp this team’s incredible performance and success in the tournament, it would only be appropriate to refocus on the SEA scene. The team only became noticeably relevant in the past year, often finding themselves in the finals or semi-finals of the various SEA tournaments and qualifiers against the likes of Fnatic, MVP Phoenix, and Mineski. However, they appeared to almost always fall short, ultimately making a few roster changes between early 2016 and TI itself, bringing in Kuku and perhaps most importantly, Jimmy ‘DeMoN’ Ho. Looking back at TnC’s various games, it becomes clear that after DeMoN had joined as captain, the team found its footing, proven especially by qualifying to TI directly without need for going through the qualifier playoffs.



Heading into TI, we still weren’t convinced and placed them 15th in the Power Rank, all the more excitingly surprising that they finished Top 8, including a decisive 2-0 elimination of tournament favourites OG as well as a 2-0 victory over eventual champions Wings during the Group Stage. There should be little doubt as regards DeMoN’s leadership qualities as he managed to lead TnC to overcome their shortcomings, resulting in all 3 SEA teams at the event earning a Top 8 placement.



What remains to be seen, however, is whether or not they will stay together despite going way beyond expectations, especially in light of the fact that joining TnC may have been a desperate decision by DeMoN only to qualify for TI. Nonetheless, based on interviews during the tournament, we might expect DeMoN to stay despite the massive cultural shift for him. TnC, where do we even start? Perhaps it is fair to say TnC were essentially what MVP Phoenix were last year at TI5, that lesser-known, underestimated team from the SEA scene that suddenly got really hot during the tournament and got Top 8, except that they weren’t quite just that. This team had also just narrowly missed out on starting off in the Upper Bracket after an awe-inspiring run in the group stage.In order to fully grasp this team’s incredible performance and success in the tournament, it would only be appropriate to refocus on the SEA scene. The team only became noticeably relevant in the past year, often finding themselves in the finals or semi-finals of the various SEA tournaments and qualifiers against the likes of Fnatic, MVP Phoenix, and Mineski. However, they appeared to almost always fall short, ultimately making a few roster changes between early 2016 and TI itself, bringing in Kuku and perhaps most importantly, Jimmy ‘DeMoN’ Ho. Looking back at TnC’s various games, it becomes clear that after DeMoN had joined as captain, the team found its footing, proven especially by qualifying to TI directly without need for going through the qualifier playoffs.Heading into TI, we still weren’t convinced and placed them 15th in the Power Rank, all the more excitingly surprising that they finished Top 8, including a decisive 2-0 elimination of tournament favourites OG as well as a 2-0 victory over eventual champions Wings during the Group Stage. There should be little doubt as regards DeMoN’s leadership qualities as he managed to lead TnC to overcome their shortcomings, resulting in all 3 SEA teams at the event earning a Top 8 placement.What remains to be seen, however, is whether or not they will stay together despite going way beyond expectations, especially in light of the fact that joining TnC may have been a desperate decision by DeMoN only to qualify for TI. Nonetheless, based on interviews during the tournament, we might expect DeMoN to stay despite the massive cultural shift for him.

Best Caster Duo TheCapitalist & Blitz When it comes to best caster duo, the choice is a relatively simple one, if you ask Reddit. In an unusual turn of events, we at LD agree with the underbelly of the Dota 2 world in this regard. Blitz and Capitalist broke out last year at TI5; and they have been improving with each and every large event they casted. When it comes to the pairing of casters, the industry standard involves pairing an excited voice with a calm and analytical one, to provide a balanced delivery of both hype and information.





Choosing Blitz and Cap over the likes of LD or Tobi became pretty easy this year, as neither of the well established elder statesmen of hype casting had the same level of chemistry with newer co-casters. The way Blitz and Cap work together surely gets its power from their deep level of friendship and respect, as each moment comes across as two friends and fans of the game discussing their favorite hobby. In what might have been his last TI casting gig, Blitz continued to bring high-level insight while interjecting hilarious moments of disbelief during Capitalist’s play-by-play. Capitalist himself has gone from being “the other guy at joinDota” to probably the most versatile personality in the scene. While the pair didn’t secure the honor of a TI grand finals, they were able to call possibly the best game in the history of Dota: EG vs EHOME, game 1. It was a fantastic cast, and an even better game. Blitz’s voice will be sorely missed by Dota fans across the world in the upcoming season. When it comes to best caster duo, the choice is a relatively simple one, if you ask Reddit. In an unusual turn of events, we at LD agree with the underbelly of the Dota 2 world in this regard. Blitz and Capitalist broke out last year at TI5; and they have been improving with each and every large event they casted. When it comes to the pairing of casters, the industry standard involves pairing an excited voice with a calm and analytical one, to provide a balanced delivery of both hype and information.Choosing Blitz and Cap over the likes of LD or Tobi became pretty easy this year, as neither of the well established elder statesmen of hype casting had the same level of chemistry with newer co-casters. The way Blitz and Cap work together surely gets its power from their deep level of friendship and respect, as each moment comes across as two friends and fans of the game discussing their favorite hobby. In what might have been his last TI casting gig, Blitz continued to bring high-level insight while interjecting hilarious moments of disbelief during Capitalist’s play-by-play. Capitalist himself has gone from being “the other guy at joinDota” to probably the most versatile personality in the scene. While the pair didn’t secure the honor of a TI grand finals, they were able to call possibly the best game in the history of Dota: EG vs EHOME, game 1. It was a fantastic cast, and an even better game. Blitz’s voice will be sorely missed by Dota fans across the world in the upcoming season.

Best Production Segment Purge the Weatherman This TI is being widely heralded as ‘the best yet’ by many personalities including casters, analysts, and even memelords. But for one of those personalities, this TI will have a very special place in his heart. Kevin ‘Purge’ Godec ran a fantastic ‘weatherman’ segment which Valve clearly created with only one guy in mind; him. Purge is known for being the go-to reference to learn Dota, especially for very inexperienced players and this segment did justice to a person whose skills in teaching were otherwise heavily underutilized in the scene.



When is the best time to first learn Dota? During the hype surrounding The International of course; many people tune into the broadcast with little-to-no knowledge of such a complex game and Purge was there to guide them through chaotic team fights, crisp decision making or through small but significant details.

The segment featured a specially designed UI and program that allowed purge to select replays, navigate through them, highlight important elements and show relevant data for the viewers. There wasn’t always enough time to explain all the complex actions that happen in a Dota match, but we can hope this initiative to be a starting point for a better teaching and learning culture for Dota. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but Purge’s brilliant showing was just in time to pique the interest of a more veteran ‘videogame teacher’ – we could see Day9 learning Dota from the ‘Day9 of Dota’. We think Purge really hit this one out of the park and we can’t wait to see what impact it can have outside of just The International. This TI is being widely heralded as ‘the best yet’ by many personalities including casters, analysts, and even memelords. But for one of those personalities, this TI will have a very special place in his heart. Kevin ‘Purge’ Godec ran a fantastic ‘weatherman’ segment which Valve clearly created with only one guy in mind; him. Purge is known for being the go-to reference to learn Dota, especially for very inexperienced players and this segment did justice to a person whose skills in teaching were otherwise heavily underutilized in the scene.When is the best time to first learn Dota? During the hype surrounding The International of course; many people tune into the broadcast with little-to-no knowledge of such a complex game and Purge was there to guide them through chaotic team fights, crisp decision making or through small but significant details.The segment featured a specially designed UI and program that allowed purge to select replays, navigate through them, highlight important elements and show relevant data for the viewers. There wasn’t always enough time to explain all the complex actions that happen in a Dota match, but we can hope this initiative to be a starting point for a better teaching and learning culture for Dota. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but Purge’s brilliant showing was just in time to pique the interest of a more veteran ‘videogame teacher’ – we could see Day9 learning Dota from the ‘Day9 of Dota’. We think Purge really hit this one out of the park and we can’t wait to see what impact it can have outside of just The International.



All too often we as a community choose to focus on what's bad in Dota. We like to over use the word "throw" and laugh at mistakes that to us, from a spectator point of view, looks oh so dumb. That's why we at LiquidDota loves awards. Here we celebrate the best the game has to offer and chose to praise instead of shame. We are sure these awards will produce plenty of discussion, just remember that in the end opinions are just that, opinions.We hope you enjoy our celebration of Dota 2 and The International 2016. Administrator I'm dancing in the moonlight