The Esports Awards aren’t the one ones honoring one of the best in esports this yr. The Recreation Awards, which is able to happen on Dec. 8 in Los Angeles, additionally will acknowledge one of the best in esports for 2022. The Recreation Awards will identify winners in 5 classes: Greatest Esports Recreation, Greatest Esports Athlete, Greatest Esports Workforce, Greatest Esports Coach and Greatest Esports Occasion. Disclosure: Nerd Avenue was among the many media retailers that had been requested to submit nominees and choose winners, with Oct. 25 being the cutoff date for nominees. For those who’re interested in who the nominees are and the {qualifications} for every of the nominees in these classes, right here’s a breakdown.
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Greatest Esports Recreation
- Counter-Strike: International Offensive
- Dota 2
- League of Legends
- Rocket League
- VALORANT
It’s laborious to choose one sport that offered one of the best total esports expertise this yr as all of those video games offered nice moments and aggressive experiences for his or her gamers. CS:GO and League of Legends are two of the preferred esports, have all been round for over a decade and appear to high themselves annually with higher and higher occasions — 2022 was no totally different.
Rocket League and VALORANT are newer video games that stood out this yr for world-class occasions and new match circuits. Each video games are also noteworthy for utilizing a double elimination format of their greater tournaments. VALORANT has offered maybe one of the best atmosphere in any esport for ladies and marginalized genders to compete through VCT Recreation Changers.
Learn extra: G2’s Juliano, Petra, mimi add to storied careers with Recreation Changers Championship
Dota 2 often stands out for its giant prize pot at its season-ending occasion, The Worldwide. For the primary time in its historical past, this yr’s $18.9 million prize pool didn’t high the quantity from the earlier yr ($40 million in 2021). It was nonetheless — by far — the largest prize pot in esports this yr.
Picture credit score: Riot Video games
Greatest Esports Athlete
- Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Gen.G, LoL)
- Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (T1, LoL)
- Finn “karrigan” Andersen (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
- Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
- Jacob “Yay” Whiteaker (Cloud9, Valorant)
The gamers on this class are a combination of among the most iconic names of their respective video games and a few rising gamers. Faker is the GOAT in League of Legends, and karrigan and s1mple are legends in CS:GO. Chovy and yay are each rising stars who’ve established themselves as among the most mechanically gifted gamers of their respective video games.
Learn extra: Legends by no means die: Reflecting on Faker’s second Worlds closing loss
When it comes to what they’ve finished this yr, Chovy had the higher yr on a person statistical degree, however Faker reached two worldwide finals because the chief of a younger roster. S1mple and karrigan each gained worldwide occasions, however karrigan obtained the larger prize in successful the Antwerp Main. Yay additionally was a global champion in VALORANT because the winner of Masters: Reykjavík. It’s potential the LoL and CS:GO gamers break up votes amongst themselves and yay emerges because the victor right here.
Picture credit score: 100 Thieves
Greatest Esports Workforce
- DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)
- FaZe Clan (CS:GO)
- Gen.G (League of Legends)
- LA Thieves (Name of Obligation)
- LOUD (Valorant)
World championships are the final word accomplishment for a workforce no matter esport. On this case, Gen.G weren’t world champions this yr, simply regional champs, so the opposite 4 groups on this checklist are most likely extra deserving. In CS:GO there isn’t any world championship, however Majors are the sport’s equal of a world championship and FaZe gained the Antwerp Main. FaZe additionally gained IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne, that are two of probably the most prestigious annual non-Main occasions on the CS:GO calendar. LOUD gained VALORANT’s championship and in addition had been second at one other worldwide match, Masters: Reykajvík. The LA Thieves gained a COD Main along with COD Champs. DarkZero gained the ALGS Championship and the identical roster (enjoying as Reignite) additionally gained the one different Apex international LAN, the ALGS Break up 2 Playoffs.
Picture credit score: Riot Video games
Greatest Esports Coach
- Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
- Matheus ‘bzkA’ Tarasconi (LOUD, VALORANT)
- Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren (FPX, VALORANT)
- Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
- Go “Rating” Dong-bin (Gen.G, LoL)
These coaches all deserve recognition for various causes. B1ad3 and d00mbr0s every led their groups to worldwide titles regardless of the multitude of points that the Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted for his or her combined Ukrainian/Russian rosters. BzkA is the one world champion on this checklist as he was the coach of VALORANT world championship workforce LOUD. RobbaN coached FaZe via their win on the Antwerp Main, the closest CS:GO equal to a world championship. Rating is the coach of Gen.G, who had been champions this summer season in Korea’s LCK.
Picture credit score: Alexander Dumon / ESPAT
Greatest Esports Occasion
- Evo 2022
- 2022 League of Legends World Championship
- PGL Main Antwerp 2022
- 2022 Mid-Season Invitational
- VALORANT Champions 2022
The League of Legends World Championship is at all times top-of-the-line and largest occasions in all of esports. This yr was no totally different, with the primary full-scale in-person world championship because the begin of the pandemic, and it reached a brand new peak viewership of over 5 million viewers, in keeping with Esports Charts. League of Legends Worlds happened in Mexico Metropolis, New York, Atlanta and San Francisco and went off with out a hitch with very excessive manufacturing high quality. Disclosure: this was the one one in all these 5 occasions I attended this yr. I used to be in New York for the group stage and San Francisco for the ultimate, so I’m biased in saying this was one of the best occasion, particularly the ultimate. I used to be blown away by the ambiance on the Chase Heart from the pregame present to the thrilling five-game sequence.
Learn extra: DRX full Cinderella run, beat T1 in Worlds 2022 closing
The Mid-Season Invitational was nice, however doesn’t evaluate when it comes to the dimensions to Worlds. The Antwerp Main and Champions additionally deserve consideration. Antwerp was one of the vital watched CS:GO Majors with over 2 million peak viewers and Champions was probably the most watched VALORANT match with a peak of 1.5 million — plus it was the primary Champions match with followers within the stands.
Evo, particularly, deserves a shoutout as the largest annual combating sport group match. Like Worlds 2022, Evo 2022 was the primary full-scale Evo since earlier than the pandemic began, and it was a tremendous occasion with some nice storylines. The occasion featured hundreds of individuals throughout 9 totally different video games, a number of aspect tournaments and a showcase for the lately launched MultiVersus. There was some discontent although with the very fact Smash was not a part of the video games lineup.
Lead photograph credit score: Riot Video games
