SBWI Community Awards 2013

This category is a no-brainer and the winner might be already set. It's rather easy, we don't judge about the titles won, rather about the skill the players displayed in various of their streams, tournaments and show matches. With that in mind each of the nominations make sense.

Sziky, again, doesn't need much of an introduction. He's the foreign emperor, argueable the best player since three years and sits on his throne unchallenged. He won all of the Teamliquid Legacy Starleagues, a couple of Defiler Tournaments and is basically the guy you won't want to meet in any event.

TechnicS was gone for a longer time after his first appearance on the big venues and in the first year after the Beta he performed rather poorly. Ever since he started to live up to his full potential. He finished third in the TLS 3 and had a silver medal in the TLS2, as well as several Defiler Golds. He manages his own team, the Bulgarian Elite Gamers, in which he trains Eastern Europe's most promising newcomers. Depending on his daily performance he can take on literally everyone.

Marwin, currently residing in Sweden, came back at the end of last winter. In his first few show maches he already took down eOnzErG, back when the Spaniard had a strong run. In the months after he took down Russia's elite in a lot of ICCup Ladder Tournaments, destroyed the international elite in Gambit Cup 3 and was always good for top class games.

The last pre-selected player is trutaCz. It really has been the year of the aspiring Polish Zerg. Seven times he was among the best three players of Defiler, won two of the editions, won the Bombastic Starleague, added another silver medal in the BWMN Open and is the current runner up of the TLS 3, as well as the player with the best statistics in the ongoing STL season. His 0-4 loss against Sziky really gives a wrong image, especially if you saw these finals!

To save a bit of space, let's focus on the Spaniard. eOnzErG is not only the leader of one of the best international clans, the international Federation of Untouchables, but also a really scary player. If it wasn't for trutaCz explosion, he'd also be nominated for best player. He won slightly less than his Polish pendant, but is still probably one of the strongest foreigners.

Ramms has always been around in the past few years and won some smaller events, yet a big title misses. The charming Terran from Chelyabinsk usually dodges the mirror, even though he doesn't really need to, as he is completely capable to destroy even a monster like Scan using his main. Despite his race picking, he's probably among the scariest people out there and always good to take down a good number of top level players before he vanishes in the shadows again.

TerrOr didn't do too much this year, but everytime his nick popped up there were good and entertaining games. He was among the final four of the first TLS and now focusses on promoting the Peruvian scene; his new team LaGFree was the big surprise in the STL so far and his management and coaching apparently really did pay off.

We all know skzlime for his bad comments. We also know that he, when he plays for his team, the eagles from Hungary, can beat anyone, even though he claims to be rather inactive. Recently, he showed good games in the STL, finished third in one of the TLS editions and was quite the guy in the Gambits Cup 3.

The Canadian dRaW played a bit this year and surprisingly did show for some events, including the ongoing STL season. So far he is one of the most constant players, ranking high in the ICCup Clanleague. Even though he plays more often with Zerg than Protoss nowadays and despite him not showing for TLS, he's still a master of his race.

DragOn recently showed very good results, coming in on the fourth place of the last TLS season. He's also one of the strongest players for Pain/Stealthbunnies in STL - he apparently improved a lot, almost nobody can underestimate him anymore.

Lancerx seems a bit like an outsider, since he had a very bad start into the recent STL season and didn't make it far in the TLS seasons either. However, Lancer aka. Must does show good performances on a very regular basis and was able to win almost all Russian events, regardless of his opponent.

Tama is a returning oldschooler. He doesn't show often, but if he does, he is ready to take on the big names, more often successful than failing. He was a top scorer in the last seaso of Gambit Cup and is still one of the more scary names of the international Federation of Untouchables. His last record: Fourth place in the Reps LAN after coming back from a longer break.

Teams are a little hard to describe, because they changed so much in this year. Our first suggestion is the international Federation of Untouchables, who were able to recruit a few strong players from Russia. Their leaders Hanzo and eOnzErG did their best to win all possible leagues, their current bad start into the STL shouldn't be overestimated. With guys like Marwin, Tama, eOnzErG, TTF, Cryoc, Lancerx and others, they're able to stand their ground.

LRM Evolutions are quite stacked too, not only because they were able to recruit Sziky as mercenary for the STL. It seems as if they got all of the Zerg: TechnicS, trutaCz, Bakuryu - just a few of them. Currently, they're ranked first in the STL, demolished all teams they faced and have a good shot to win it all. A public favourite though? Up to you!

The eagles (- quote Pez) are a really funny team. Their statements can't be taken serious, they're players claim to be inactive, because none of them play 50 games a day. That's not too bad, they're the close rival of LRM Evolutions in the STL and are probably another favourite.

Last in comes PaiN, playing with a few of the Stealth Bunnies players for STL. They have a bunch of good players, most of which either came back from inactivity in the past months, for example Arcneon, or are about to make it to the elite class, like DragOn and Bizzy. A strong team indeed!

This category needs a bit more explanation. We want to reward players with outstanding streams - it's less about commentary, more about the entertainment value. It's also not about casters, these you can vote on in a different category. Streams might be good, because you learn stuff, or because they feature oustanding music, or the guy handling the camera interacts more with his stream.

First, Marwin. Since Marwin rarely played in the big venues, his stream was the place to be if you wanted top tier foreign play. He's way better than most other streamers, if you don't watch Snipe. His music was different, he played, never dodged and showed how he destroyed the established class. Only very few streams could amaze the viewership than this one - a splendid thing, really.

Next up is Zolotoi, which you probably haven't seen if you're not a frequent user of Defiler.ru. Zolotoi is a B-ish Protoss user from Russia and the arch enemy of Tama. He's always nice in the chat and does a lot of entertaining stuff when he plays. He's really out of the ordinary compared to other players. No strategy is stupid enough. Applause for that!

The third suggestion is Dr.Shrinker. The sympathic Protoss from Norway did improve a lot in the past few years. It's amazing to follow such a diligent player training and giving his best. We could follow how he started his way from a yellow rank up to a solid B rank. Thumbs up for the effort!

Last but not least, yume. You might have not heard of him, even though he's the secret star of Defiler.ru by now. He's apparently a Grand Master player in SCII and just recently picked up Brood War. He gets sniped quite often, yet takes it all without freaking out. It's hard to put in words what makes him stand out, if you haven't watched it. It does remind a veteran of the first attempts of Battle.net. Personally, I wish I had his attitude when starting the game, my blood pressure would have been a lot better if I stayed as calm and as funny.

The New Comer Award should reward the players improving the most in the past 12 months.

Wallace is an obvious pick, given his recent history in the STL tournaments and his higher finishes in the last Defiler Tournaments. He rarely dodges and trained hard, which paid off a lot. He's a very nice character and always there to support and give feedback.

Glio is a French Terran, whom we heard little about - yet he streams relatively often and also took down vOddy in the opener of the STL on Oxide. Amusing guy, one of the few Terrans to not give up and train hard.

Shrinker we already mentioned.

Last one is Poetic. In the past few years he appeared to be stuck on a C+ rank, more or less, from what his match list suggests. He's apparently also a very friendly guy and also one who wants to improve. In the casts before the "official" TLS qualifier Semi Final comments, he appeared the first time. There was definitely some close TvP played by him, which he eventually lost. It looked rather sloppy. A few weeks ago, he already took down Bakuryu in STL. Granted, not the best hour of Bakuryu, but one should first defeat Bakuryu before you start to roll your eyes. A promising talent!

There's not much to say here. Elegant and Sayle have been streaming the TLS Series this year and continued as the most popular casters. They gained a lot of viewers due to the promotion by Teamliquid and now run around with this Headset Icon to their names. Clear favourites on this page.

The second pick are L_Master and Hacklebeast, the former hosts of various Gambit Cup Wars and the ISLs. Now they returned for the STL and do a good job, despite all the technical issues that occur once in a while. Since Hackle's microphone is now fixed, we'll miss the background chopper, but hey, he's still very good!

BisuDagger covered a lot of the Korean stuff in the past year. He hosted some nostalgia shows about an OSL or two, in addition to comments from the Cool and Unusual Brood War VOD thread. Next saturday he'll cover the ICCup Main Event - we'll look forward to it. Certainly not bad either!

Master yodo won the ICCup Caster Award of last year. He retired somewhat officially a few weeks ago, after making Defiler.ru and their tournament scene what they are now - one of the most important things of post beta Brood War. Last December he got his wife to sing, a few months ago he commented how she played the Garm Brood while he waited for games. Chaotic, energetic, never ending fun - master yodo!

The Community Effort Award should reward the positive contributions for the foreign scene. With that in mind, we sadly exclude guys like Snipe, Epoxide or Stratos, who did their very best to provide us with the latest information about the SOSPA Scene. Since most of them are already very respected, it seems not too bad. However, thanks again guys!

The D Rank Team Scene is one of the most important projects today. They provide beginners and less skilled players with a good place to practice, fun and introduce them to a more competitive environment. These sentences already say it all, the sheer amount of work put into it however already deserves a lot of respect. You're the future of the scene, keep it going!

You might not have heard much of the following two guys: RU_Brain and surf_vl. Both did a lot to support the foreign Brood War scene after the Beta and still continue to provide lots of sponsorship. Surf usually was the go-to guy for the Russian scene. Thanks to him we had a lot of show matches, Defiler Tournaments, larger pools for the ICCup Main Event and the Reps LAN.
Brain did the very same, yet also did a bit more. He gave, compared to surf, less money, but did his part to organize the Russian LANs in the previous years. He also did his best to deliver live updates and never forgot about the outsiders, who couldn't attend. Both of them deserve a lot of respect for their hard work!

Finally, there'd be Mewka. Personally, I'm often stressed out by a lot of his edits on Liquipedia, because we argued about details. All of this silly things aside, Mewka helps to update the Brood War Wiki of this page. In the past two years he made more than 2,000 edits on various pages, added players, added tournament results, covered almost anything there is. Without him, Liquipedia I would be dusty. Also, he helps out a lot to manage the team Avatars of Victory - what already got him a thank you in our recent news coverage!

You don't know South Park? You should. Cartman is an asshole, always there to plot, yet very entertaining to everyone. You simply can't really hate him for all the shit he does. We also want to give an award for the most amusing trash talk and silly actions performed in the last year by various actors.

The Canadian EywaSC already is a favourite. To be fair, he didn't do much shit this year, his financial hockey card scheme is long over, he already "left the scene" and is fine with us dying without him. Recently he came back and "moderated" the STL chat. Everyone not typing in English was banned. Also, we all suck. Remember that.

Justice is a Russian Terran and had a few appearances in Defiler, TLS and STL. He's always there when you need really good trashtalk. Most memorable moment: iNfernal, the former German National Player, against Justice in TLS1 qualifiers. Both bmed, both lagged, shit. Also, if you play Justice and you win, it's either because you play Protoss (imbalanced) or because he was busy answering his phone or his door.

Julia, just like Justice, is infamous for BM. Go play in a Peruvian league, complain to tournament admins for an hour straight, don't realize you're already ignored, be Julia. You lag. Your race is imbalanced and you fucking hack.

Last, Alfio. The Italian Protoss is a master troll. He roams the Defiler chat and gives advice to everyone, he also ranks anyone for his Alfipedia - him being ultimate, Sziky being around B. You don't beat Alfio, Alfio choses to lose to you filio de puta. Then he'll tell you, he's already retired and you should fuck off and get some girl. He has thousands of them, you might borrow one of him. Mafiastyle #voteAlfio

The Han Solo / Princess Leia Award should reward the kind of users with the most entertaining posts / interviews / contributions in the past year. This can range from writing big guides, trash talking in streams, basically everytime they "act like a boss".

The first choice is rather easy, skzlime makes for very good comments, regardless of topic. On second thought, especially if he has no idea what all the fuss is about, because he will simply spam something. It's so absurd, it's entertaining, it's classy. Be skzlime, be cool.

NinaZerg is probably not able to write one serious sentence. Ever. She does do a lot for the community, but she also does a lot of things nobody knew he needed. Take the Giggly Girl eSport articles, or one of her thousand grudge matches against Eywa. That the SCII community voted her in for some user contest should be sign enough - she doesn't know shit. Let's vote her in, too.

Yoda doesn't need an explanation. He just is himself. This is the druid you're looking for.

Last one is Lancerx aka. must aka. the womanizer, king of memes, king of commentary. There's not much you can say about him. Just check his fanpage and you'll see why he is nominated. Like a baws!