GosuGamers DotA Awards 2008

Carrier of the Year

Every team needs a farmer to carry their team to victory and especially in 2008 with the era of 52e, the carry was really important. The title for the best carry of the year 2008 is given to Kuro Salehi 'KuroKy' Takhasomi. This German joined Mousesports in the middle of 2008 and the next half a year Mouz.DotA was the team to beat and KuroKy was the one to outfarm, but only a few managed to do so.

Mouz won titles in ESL Major Series II, Dota Master 9, Farm4Fame #1 and Pride 11, all with Kuroky as an all-round carry player. Mouz has always been a top team but they never had as much success as the time with KuroKy as carry. It wouldn't be true if you said that this success is the work of KoruKy alone, but he is without doubt a major part of it.

As the second best carry we have Loda, who managed to carry for SK and making the team one of the most successful team both in the beginning of year in the days of 48b and in the beginning of the 52e-farming era.

Yamateh got 3rd as the carry of Kingsurf, who got second in ESWC. Yamateh has always been notorius for his farming abilities, but haven't manage to get as much success as Kuroky and Loda. The story of Light of Heaven, farmer of rush3d, is almost the same as Yamateh and as 5th we have Met's Danish farm boy Angel, who carry Met to a 4th and a 3rd place in Pride #10 and #11.

Supporter of the Year

Besides a carry, a team needs a supporter to make sure that you have the map-control. To do that Yaroslav 'NS' Kuznetcov has been voted as the best.

In the beginning of the year NS was playing in Virtus.Pro and was in the days of 48b one of the best team illustrated with a 3rd place in PriDe #9 and a victory at Asus Spring 2008. After Virtus.Pro disbanded, NS joined another Russian team, Rush3d and managed to win Asus Summer 2008 and Asus Autumn 2008.

At 2nd we have Maelk, who used to be a more or less carry for MYM, but with the addition of Fear, Maelk has played more gank and support and done it very well. MYM has also 3rd place Pusher, who was added to MYM after ESWC and have fed and warded MYM to victory ever since. Papaxiong is playing the support for Kingsurf and has been a really stable support for yamateh and the other stars of KingSurf giving him a 4th place. At fifth place we have Axypa, who supported WG to a 2nd place in both Pride #9 and Pride #10.

Ganker of the Year

To exploit the map control gained by your supporter and to win time for your carry, you need a ganker. The ganker is the one who needs to make action on the map and needs to be and the move all the time. As the best ganker in 2008 we have Ivan 'Vigoss' Shinkarev.

Like NS, vigoss was playing for Virtus.Pro in the beginning of the year and he was perhaps the most feared individual player in the first half of the year. Vigoss somehow manage to be all over the map all the time and at the same time get a lot of farm. After Virtus.Pro disbanded vigoss had a break, but returned at DTS Chatrix, but the version had changed and the ganker wasn't that important anymore and we did not see the same vigoss that we was used to in the good old Virtus.Pro days. But then 57b was introduced and vigoss joined KingSurf.International and he found his old level and once again we have vigoss as one of the worlds most feared gankers.

As runner-up we have Mania and Merlini, both MYM players. These two players manage to make action for MYM both in 48b, 52e and 57b. At 4th place we have the the former Mouz and now KS.int player Miracle and at a 5th place we have miGGel from the Danish team Met.

Captain of the Year

To win a game you need to have the right heroes and you need to make the right moves at the right times. That's the job of the captain and the title of the best Captain 2008 goes to Jacob 'Maelk' Toft-Andersen, who is probably one of the most well-known names within DotA.

Maelk managed to lead his team to the finals in almost every tournament the participated in. They started the year by winning Pride #9, but when 52e was introduced, MYM had a hard time. But Maelk led his team back on the winning track and with some wise changes in the team MYM was back. Maelk made the infamous Pitlord turtle strategy popular and even though a lot of people were complaining about the missing action in the games, Maelk manage to make result for the team and getting 2nd in ESL Major Series II, 2nd in Dota-Master 9 and winning the DreamHack Winter 2008.

At 2nd we have Loda, who has captained SK-gaming to great victories in Pride #10 and DreamHack Summer. Drayich has been voted 3rd as the former leader of Mouz. At 4th we have Jolie, the former leader of Virtus.Pro and now leader of KingSurf.International. Fifth place went to Yamateh from KingSurf.

Team of the Year

And the best team in 2008 is Mousesports, who later changed organisation to KingSurf. The team was in the top in the begining of the year and even better in the last half of the year. Mouz won tournaments like ESL Major Series II, Dota Master 9, Farm4Fame #1 and Pride 11 and as Ks.int they got even stronger with the addition of some of the best players in the world. In the end of 2008, Ks.int was the most feared team in the world.

The only team who manage to threaten the winners in 2008 was MYM. Accustomed to ending second, MYM ended second in the GosuGamers voting as well.. At a third place we have SK-Gaming, who was the most dominating team in the middle of the year, but in the end of the year they had a hard time. KingSurf did also a really nice job this year and is rewarded with a 4th place and as the 5th best team this year we have Met.