posted by Smyke,
The list of players who put in spectacular performances throught the year is long. However, we have decided that five players make it onto the list. Who would you name MVP of 2018? Is it a TI champion or one of the others? Check out our top five of 2018:

The consistency in OG



Let's start with the most-remembered story of this year — OG won The International 2018, and a large part of this was Jesse 'JerAx' Vainikka.

Despite the TI win, the Finnish support player had a rough season with his team — the start was especially difficult. OG were used to winning Major titles, and after Anathan 'ana' Pham left OG tried to find their back to a position of strength by picking up Roman 'Resolut1on' Fominok.





However, this time it didn't work out. Reso got kicked, and Sebastien 'Ceb' Debs took over as a stand-in — at least that was the plan at the start. OG's results didn't get any better, and then everything blew up when Tal 'Fly' Aizik and Gustav 's4' Magnusson left the squad.

Later, OG won TI8 and everybody talked about the transition of Ceb and Johan 'BigDaddyN0tail' Sundstein, as well as the newly signed ana and Topias 'Topson' Taavitsainen. The only one who didn't have to change anything was JerAx.





The support player has been a world-class position four pro for the last two years, and nothing has changed for it. He made his dreams come true by winning TI8 — and this is probably not the end of his career by far. Does he deserve to be the 2018 MVP?


The best player in Dota 2 history?



That title was on the table for another world-class player who aims to be the MVP of 2018: Amer 'Miracle-' Al-Barkawi of Team Liquid.





His team has been one of the best in the world for the last two years, and he has been a dominant player in the mid lane since his debut for OG in 2015. Miracle- and Liquid crowned their 2017 season with The International, but were aiming for even higher goals in 2018. Liquid were definetely one of the best teams in 2018, and one reason for that continues to be their mid laner.

His hero pool is incredibly deep, he is most probably the best Invoker player of all time, and there's nobody really better than him in the mid lane. Yes, some players contest that claim, without a doubt there is no better. He is aiming to be the best player of all time, but is he the best player of 2018?


The pride of NA



One player who could contest his position in the mid lane is Sumail 'SumaiL' Syed Hassan. The North American carry is probably the wonderchild of Dota 2.





He won TI three years ago and is still just 19 years old. He has been one of the best midlaners in the world for some time, but has had his down moments — even in 2018. Under the leadership of Rasmus 'rASmus' Fillipsen, SumaiL lagged far behind his previous performances, but with the help of Fly he found his way back to a position of strength.

His best performance of 2018 was at TI8, being the main reason EG made it into the top three. He is in the top five in every important carry statistic, from KDA and Kills to GDA and XPM. He's a true champion and is still so young that it's highly possible that another Aegis could end up in his cabinet.


Not riding solo



If we take a look at the captains of all the teams that competed in the DPC this year, Aleksey 'Solo' Berezin is arguably the best position five captain in the world. He led Virtus.pro to four Major wins throughout the year.





He's the brains behind the team's strategy and the reason why players like Roman 'RAMZEs' Kushnarev and Vladimir 'No[o]ne' Minenko destroy their opponents at almost every Major.

Although his team only put in a decent performance at TI8, he made it into the top three. His saves are unforgettable, frustrating all enemy carries. This could be the year of VP, but is it also the year of Solo?


The Chinese hope



However, Solo is not the only captain who put in outstanding performances in 2018: 23 year old Xu 'Fy' Linsen demonstrated why he's the next Chinese superstar. The youngster joined after TI7 and formed part of a new elite Chinese squad that made it to the Grand Finals of TI8.

By the start of the year PSG.LGD was only one of a number of Chinese teams, but after winning two Major titles in a row, Chinese fans hoped they'd be lifting the Aegis by the end of August.





Although PSG.LGD lost the Grand Finals, most people remembering OG's run, the Chinese had an incredible tournament where they beat every top team. KuroKy, Puppey, Fly and Solo ù all the other world-class captains lost to the youngster.

Although he's way younger than his colleagues in the captain position, Fy has already quite a lot experience in top-notch teams. Is it enough for him to be MVP of 2018?





Photo credit: Valve

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