(ESEAnews) - What was anticipated to be a neck-to-neck season between playoff teams ended with a disappointing 5-0 roll in favor of the favorites Chill to Good Ratio. Still, the season had its moments. The gullywash double-header upset for Chill to Good shook a few nerves for the team that was going into the week with a 12 win victory streak. Open moveups such as Rent-a-Homies and New Faith Church Gaming surprised IM veterans as they showed they had what it took to contend for a spot in playoffs. We saw full-time kritzkrieg and quick-fix run by several medics on viaduct. And of course, plays were made. Now then, onto the awards!
ESEA TF2 IM SEASON 14 AWARDS
No real surprise with this award, as Dun has been one of the most dominant pockets since season 8. What can be said about Dun that already hasn't been said? He hits clean directs on scouts, juggling them in the air to fling them away from Deltafox only to finish them off with his shotgun. He's clear on what he wants to accomplish with his ubers. He may not be the most cool-headed person, but he's very intelligent and it's clear he thinks about the game. There was a wealth of talent on chill2good, but Dun seemed to be the knot that tied it all together and helped his team dominate their way through playoffs.
Runners-up: serv0, SS, Tone-Pot
When you play against Mangachu, you have to realize that he is probably definitely hiding somewhere behind you. Then when he jumps through dropdown and gets the market gardener on your medic, you spend the rest of the scrim yelling at your teammates because all you can think is “God damn it, I can't believe we fell for that again”. Anyways, it's hard to admit but Mangachu was an integral part to Chill to Good's success this season. With quick and consistent jumps, Mangachu will exploit any sloppy push that a team does in order to get behind and shoot directs into whoever's back he can find. Mangachu also has pretty good timing about going in for picks; he's usually able to catch someone when they're transitioning or even as they are rolling out. While it is unknown whether Mangachu's invite dreams will become reality, he showed that he was able to exploit even the top of IM with his antics.
Runners-up: Sakura_, fuuzi0n, remedy
bman is a scout that instills fear into the heart as he rushes across the mid point to pick off your medic and demo. Sometimes drunk, always yelling, he is one of the most intense players that you can play with. However, he is also one of the smartest players in TF2, always thinking about when it is a good time to go aggressive and catch the enemy off-guard. He is a selfless scout that often creates room for his team to push on. Also, he complemented well with schnell's passive clean-up style. Unfortunately, he will be taking a break next season but bman was one of the big reasons that chill2good did so well this season.
Runners-up: Br0nze, John Milter, nja, kev, zZa
This award probably requires some explanation as there were no duwatna or rr standouts this season. After realizing this, the next alternative was to look at how each demoman contributed to their respective team. Not only did Pharaoh bring impressive stats and consistent rollouts, he also took the least amount of heals that I've seen in a demoman. The logs show a frag-hungry Br0nze often taking more heals than Pharaoh. It's a pretty remarkable change considering that last season in IM, he used to play like a secondary pocket on a team of fresh UGC superstars. Also, you have to show some respect to a demoman who can reach 600 dpm in a match. Without kritz.
Runners-up: chaaz^, JOE, Nomadic
Deep inside, Sparrow probably loathes getting this award because he doesn't play medic willingly but only because of SS. But, for someone who hates playing the class, he does a damn good job at it. Much of sals canal's strategy revolved around keeping Sparrow alive, even if it meant sacrificing their pocket and other teammates. And of course, Sparrow has a good intuition of when the battle isn't going in their favor and will run when necessary to save his team the round. Even when a soldier is chasing him, he will often gracefully surf onto an elevated platform, leaving the soldier bewildered and disappointed. Even though Sparrow will often play another class to get away from medic, it is undeniable that the combo chemistry between SS and Sparrow is one of the strongest we've seen in IM.
Runners-up: grillz, Deltafox, Sakura
One of the most impressive things about snailboat is that there is no class he's weak at. His sniping rivals bman's and has resulted in many clutch last holds and pushes. He's also one of the most consistent snipers I've ever seen, often getting headshot after headshot to help 6cuties secure a point. As spy, he is often successful at getting the key pick to save the round, whether it be with revolver or knife. And most importantly as the best class in TF2 (heavy), I don't know if you guys heard of a little team called Self-Sustaining Mexican Cat Ranch, but he terrorized UGC Gold with his sheer prowess and tracking. There were a lot of really good snipers in IM this season that it would be pointless to list them all. However, snailboat gets the award because he is able to switch with ease to any class that his team needs.
Runners-up: bman, Mangachu, nja
Young serv0 and fuuzi0n started small when they entered competitive TF2, first only aiming to conquer the formidable spire in a training mod. Then, they decided to make a heroic foray into the unforgiving territory of UGC Steel, where they only lost to Tyrone on an alt. But they didn't stop there. Next was Open, where they got a respectable 9th place mostly through the sheer power of their DM. However, IM is where all the pieces in the puzzle started coming together. serv0's super-aggressive ubers were getting followed up pretty well by his team. goku and John Milter became the best scout combo that team had experienced and were cleaning up extremely well. They were able to finish off with a respectable 5th place in IM and a guarantee into the new frontier of Main. One of the big reasons that Rent-a-Homies has been so successful is because they followed a important rule: you have to enjoy the people you're playing with. With their pickup of shrt as demo, they're bound to do well in Main or go even further.
Runner-up: New Faith Church Gaming
Is there someone that should've gotten an award but didn't? Did we forget to mention someone in the Runners-up? Leave a comment!
Originally published on ESEA on 9/16/2013, 6:02 PM by s4kura.
Archived from ESEA S14 TF2 IM Awards as part of tf2esports.com's preservation of ESEA's TF2 coverage. All rights remain with the original author and ESEA; reposted for historical reference.