Personal top 5 moments in esports
In no particular order:Happy's deagle ace at Dreamhack London
Dreamhack London was the first major LAN event I attended, and this round will always have a special place in my heart. I held no particular allegiance to either team during this match, instead rooting for Team Dignitas who were playing on the other side of the bracket, but when Happy pulled this insane ace off I was on my feet cheering along with the rest of the crowd. Anders and Semmler being arguably the best casting duo in the whole of esports really helped to bring the hype and their excitement shows just how good a play this really was.
Stephano's retirement during WCS
I was ,and still am, always a big fan of any foreigner (non-Korean) who could rival the Koreans in Starcraft 2, and in Wings of Liberty, Stephano was certainly one of the best. With wins in NASL, IGN Proleague and ESWC, while he was never out and out better than the top Korean players, he always had the ability to take games off them and cause upsets, something few other foreigners had at the time. When he retired in 2016 he was past his prime, but it was the end of an era. As he typed a farewell message to the community at the end of his game with Lucifron, I'm unashamed to say I shed a manly tear.
Puppey lifting Ferrari430 into the air after losing to him in the TI2 grand finals
Watching the video again, it doesn't look like much, but I think this is one of the greatest pieces of sportsmanship not only in esports history, but in the history of sports in general. Winning The International is every Dota player's dream, in the same way every young soccer player wants to one day win the World Cup, and the feeling of losing in the final must be crushing. But Puppey put that behind him to share in the joy of his opponents, and simply lifting Ferrari up has stuck in my mind for years as a moment that makes me proud to be an esports fan.
No Tidehunter winning Dreamhack Winter
Firstly, the play in the above link was one of the most impressive, meta-breaking mindgames that I have ever seen in esports, and was an awesome innovation to watch at the time, and marked the beginning of EternaLEnVy as the genius hero of chaotic Dota. Dreamhack Winter 2012 was the first esports tournament I followed live for its whole duration, and it was the tournament that got my hooked on competitive videogames. Having read EternaLEnVy's now legendary blog post about dropping out of school to play Dota full-time (which was even less socially acceptable in 2011 than it was now), it gave birth to the idea in my mind that maybe I could play Dota for a living too. Dreamhack Winter was EE's first big tournament win, and even though the prize money was tiny compared to current prize pools, it validated his decision to leave university, giving rise to a story whose chapters are still being written today. The final was particularly special to me, as I mentioned I had followed the tournament in its entirety live, but on the night of the finals, I'd managed to get an invite to a party - not only a party, a girl's party, a "cool" girl's party. To my 17 year old self, that was a huge deal. In the end I went, had a few drinks... and left early to watch the finals. It was a big personal turning point for me, and watching the last few games, at 3am while shouting and cheering at my computer, is one of my favourite memories.
KuroKy crying after winning TI7
KuroKy has quietly been one of the best Dota players in the world for the entire existence of the game. He is one of very few people who have attended all seven International tournaments (the equivalent of the Dota2 world championships), and had never won until this year, at TI7. Before the tournament, Miracle- (possibly the best Dota player in the pro scene at the moment) had said that he wants to win a TI for Kuro, because he knows how much the tournament means to him, and how hard he has worked. When Team Liquid won the grand finals, after an insane lower bracket run, Kuro appeared to be his usual quiet, German self, and seemed very composed immediately after the final game, not jumping up and down celebrating like his teammates. Even when asked for his thoughts about what had just happened, he seemed to underrate his own achievement, like it was just another day at the office. That is, until he burst into tears, unable to hide the raw emotion any longer, in front of millions of people watching, and letting them feel it with him. Seeing how much it actually meant to him, and Miracle- hugging him, was a great reminder for me about why esports, and in particular Dota, is still so great, 5 years after the moment at TI2 that made me believe that in the first place.