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In a surprising turn of events, the award for the Best Esports Team of the Year at the Esports Awards has sparked debate within the gaming community. British esports journalist Duncan "Thorin" Shields, known for his controversial takes, took to Twitter to express his frustration over the exclusion of Team Spirit from the list of nominees. After winning both Riyadh Masters 2023 and The International 2023, Team Spirit established itself as one of the best teams in the Dota 2 esports ecosystem.
Thorin’s Criticizes Exclusion of Team Spirit from Esports Awards
Thorin pointed out the apparent inconsistency in the nominations, contrasting T1's inclusion for winning only the League of Legends World Championship with Team Spirit's omission despite its victories at prestigious events such as Riyadh Masters 2023, DreamLeague Season 21 and concluding its year with a grand victory at The International 2023.
Notably, the only Dota 2 nominated team for the Best Esports Team of the Year was Gaimin Gladiators, recognized for its stellar performance throughout the year, clinching victories in three majors, two DreamLeague wins, and securing the runner-up position at The International 2023.
Thorin's tweet read, "If T1 LoL gets to be the team of the year for winning Worlds alone then why the f*** was Team Spirit Dota2, incredibly dominant winners of TI and winners of two other tier 1 tournaments, not even nominated?!? Esports Awards is f*cking gash!!"
The post drew angry reactions from the community. Some questioned why Thorin would rant about something like this knowing that Esports awards are more of a popularity contest rather than being the benchmark for the best Esports Team of the year.
One comment under Thorin’s tweet said, “Whatever. Players from different sports shouldn’t even be competing for the same award. If you think Spirit’s year was a bigger deal then maybe check the view counts on the streams.”
Meanwhile, another user commented, “Because Dota 2 has 500K daily users and LoL has over 10 million... Dude, are you right in the head?”
Another user reasoned that the Esports Awards is more of a popularity contest and gave an example of how streamer Félix “xQc” Lengyel would probably win against the likes of Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, and Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut.
It is worth noting that none of the other Dota 2 nominees won at the Esports Awards 2023. Gaimin Gladiators' mid-laner Quinn "Quinn" Callahan was also nominated for the best esports player of 2023. However, he lost the title to Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok of League of Legends.
On another note, Gaimin Gladiators has managed to secure a nomination for the upcoming Game Awards 2023 and the results for this will be made known on 7th December.
