Go to: Play of the Year | Team of the Year | Biggest Disappointment
| Moment of the Year | Player of the Year
It's time for the ESPN esports end-of-year acknowledgements. In 2017, esports pushed the envelope far beyond expectation as millions of fans entered the space for the first time, investment grew like never before and the bar for skill was raised to new levels across all games.
Play of the Year
Looking back, the plays made by esports players across tens of titles and thousands of tournaments were some of the hardest to sort. But a few special moments stood out as some of the best plays made by an individual player, so here are our five nominees for best play of 2016 and the winner below.
Read full article here.
Nominees
Astralis' Tec-9 rush at the ELeague Major
Ruler's flash-ult kill onto Faker
kaiser's 5-man Earthshatter against LW Blue
Salem's final set against ZeRo at Evo
Winner: Salem's final set against ZeRo at Evo
Team of the Year
At the end of the day, winning -- championships, rivalries and climactic matches -- are what separate the good, even great teams, from the best teams of the year. Today, we look over the clubs that made it rain gold in 2017, and the one team that stood above all the rest to win ESPN's Esports Team of the Year.
Read full article here.
Nominees:
Team Liquid (DOTA 2)
Samsung Galaxy (League of Legends)
Lunatic-Hai (Overwatch)
FaZe Clan (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
MVP/KSV Black (Heroes of the Storm)
Winner: Team Liquid (DOTA 2)
Biggest Disappointment
It was a pretty noteworthy year for esports in 2017. There were big NBA investments in League of Legends, miracle comebacks and record-breaking prize pools, but for every few of those there seemed to arise equally noteworthy letdowns in competitions or wild organizational issues. In the third installment of our ESPN esports end-of-the-year acknowledgements, we look at the most disappointing moments in the booming industry.
Read full article here.
Nominees:
Immortals/Dignitas do not make the NA LCS
RunAway fails to win APEX twice
Punk falls apart at Evo
FaZe gets knocked out the Krakow Major
Winner: Immortals/Dignitas do not make the NA LCS.
Moment of the Year
Today we celebrate the good in competitive gaming -- miracles happened, Cinderellas stayed out past midnight and underdogs found a way. These are ESPN's best moments of 2017 in esports.
Read full article here.
Nominees:
Ambition wins; Faker loses.
Zeus wins his first major.
Astralis wins the ELeague Major.
MenaRD upsets Tokido.
Winner: Ambition wins; Faker loses.
Player of the Year
In 2017, players reached new heights, with some unlocking their inner potential and others compounding more moments, statistics and plays to their already impressive résumé of achievements. Legends were made, with some players achieving lifetime and career goals, including victories in front of tens of thousands of people.
Read full article here.
Nominees:
NiKo
Ambition
Hungrybox
Miracle-
Tokido