Each year during the League of Legends Worlds, the “dade Award” is also given. This is an award for the LoL pro who received much praise before the Worlds and then did not deliver during the event. This year, it went to player Nuguri (20) from Damwon Gaming.
Which player failed to impress at the Worlds? The “dade Award” given by the community this year goes to top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-Gwon (20) from the Korean team Damwon Gaming.
He was considered a great talent ahead of the Worlds and was expected to follow in the footsteps of TheShy from Invictus Gaming. Although TheShy arrived on the big stage in 2018 as a well-known player, he left as a superstar.
Nuguri did not achieve that, even though he had provided many convincing arguments beforehand.
Best Player in EU West and High Expectations from the Casters
Why was Nuguri praised? The Korean player is considered a dominant player on the top lane. He attacks and pressures strongly against his opponents but can also handle it well when he gets ganked.
Before the Worlds, Nuguri secured the number 1 spot in SoloQ in EU West. At the same time, superstars like Faker, Caps, and TheShy were also playing there.
Many placed the Korean on the list of the top 20 LoL players in the world, including:
- Shoutcaster Jatt, who placed him at number 11, ahead of Caps and Jankos.
- Shoutcaster Vedius, who even saw Nuguri at number 8.
- The website ESPN, which ranked him 9th, placing him even ahead of Faker at 11.
Where did Nuguri disappoint? Nuguri received the “dade Award” after his performance in the game Damwon Gaming against G2 Esports. He did not perform at all in the duels against the MSI Champions winner, with G2 itself playing a significant role in that.
The jungler Jankos and mid-laner Caps repeatedly came up to help their top laner Wunder. Nuguri, on the other hand, received little help from his team.
In the end, he had a KDA of 2.6 over the 4 games, which corresponds to the weakest value from Damwon Gaming. However, Nuguri dealt the most damage from his team (29.7%). Nevertheless, he could not convince the fans with his performance.
There is also some criticism regarding the award. Mark Zimmermann, analyst for the LCS, criticizes via Twitter that someone receives the award for being eliminated by a favorite in the tournament:
To finish first in your group and to fight against the best top laner of all time and to be beaten by the favorite team before the tournament, who had a bad day in the Bo1s.
This cannot be compared to players who had to endure a disgrace and were knocked out in the group phase.
What is the “dade Award”? The award was given from 2013 to 2016 by MonteCristo and Thorin in the show Summoning Insight. Since 2017, the community has been awarding this award.
- The name comes from the player “dade”, who emerged as MVP from the spring and summer tournaments in Season 3.
- However, at the Worlds, his team Samsung Ozone disappointed. They did not make it past the group stage after finishing it with 5-3, then losing the tiebreaker match against Gambit.
Another potential awardee would likely have been the LoL pro Sword. He is blamed for the elimination of Team Griffin:
