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Things I don't like about current casters casting WCS.
Chemistry:
WCS KR: Wolf/Khaldor doesnt seem to have much. Khaldor is more of a solo caster to me and doesn't match well with wolfs personality. I have to admit I go out of my way to not watch the challenger league, not just cause its a lot of games all together with code s but because listening to them is hard.
WCS US: Axslav/Axeltoss(?): Axslav is very insightful with his predictions and axeltoss doesnt really add much to the cast. The substitute guy was better at forming a complete caster duo. There is no edge here, very PC.
WCS EU: The challenger league casters Nathanias and that other british guy(Madals?) dont mesh very well. Why is a US guy casting the EU tournament? Bring in the local casters who truly know the scene. Madals is very sugarcoated like many of the "new" casters. Kaelaeris even does this, but he just seems like a better all around.
Trendy lines:
1. "His tournament life is on the life". This is about as stupid as it gets stop talking about it. Tell us he is one game away from losing the series and exiting the tournament.
A lot of this is obviously very subjective. I am sure there are people out there who think that enjoy the casters that I've critized. Does anyone else echo my thoughts on these casters?
Note: I appreciate all the hard work they are doing, i personally tune in to pretty much all the WCS EU streams.
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One thing nice about Wolf and Khaldor is that they are brutally honest during the cast. They will call out mistakes, and when a player falls behind, they won't pretend that there is a chance for the losing player (and most times they are right). I like that as long as they don't overly focus on a player's mistakes (which would give the cast too much negativity. Call it out, but don't dwell on it forever), but at the same time, it's very educational and informative to know which plays were good and which were terrible.
As for AM and EU, some of the best casters are former pro players who have that extra insight in high level play and competitive play. ToD did a pretty good job with that, I think Axslav could try to burnish his credentials a bit more as well.
It also helps to humanize the players (which most casters mentioned do, and it's nice to see a good amount of). Give anecdotes, talk about the players more than just their achievements and their match history, help the audiences connect to the person, not the ID.
Just some rambled out thoughts
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Casters does throw out a lot of statistics but doesn't present them in a very good manner. Redeye is pretty good at this from what I remember?
I really like Tod's casting as well. He clearly has GM knowledge and offers great analysis.
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Calgary25951 Posts
Lol.
Don't know what to say.
Compare your expectations to your payment and the total payment.
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On May 31 2013 11:47 Chill wrote: Lol.
Don't know what to say.
Compare your expectations to your payment and the total payment.
I'm not saying I didnt get my moneys worth. It is still the premier sc2 league for sure. I would pay the same fee for just Code S/premiere league. Still the code a casters chemistry irks me and so does the proleague casters. I don't understand why production doesn't make changes that would make for an overall better show? Im not saying Fire them! But maybe separate the two teams and find two people who does truly great work together.
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On May 31 2013 12:11 Advocado wrote:Show nested quote +On May 31 2013 11:47 Chill wrote: Lol.
Don't know what to say.
Compare your expectations to your payment and the total payment. I'm not saying I didnt get my moneys worth. It is still the premier sc2 league for sure. I would pay the same fee for just Code S/premiere league. Still the code a casters chemistry irks me and so does the proleague casters. I don't understand why production doesn't make changes that would make for an overall better show? Im not saying Fire them! But maybe separate the two teams and find two people who does truly great work together. You didn't just fucking compare Wolf and khaldor to the Whiplash and SNM..
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I used to be bothered by some casters but I'm happier now that I've chosen not to give a shit. If I don't like them I mute the stream or I passively ignore what they say, but not to the point where I feel it's necessary to write a blog about it without much constructive criticism (that's for you OP!). That said, I still dislike HDstarcraft to this day and I think it's funny that he still goes by that handle.
Back on topic (sort of): Kaelaris and Tod are generally pretty good together, so I don't usually mute them as they're at least typically entertaining. Axslav is an absolutely stellar caster and he deserves a spot with the greats like Artosis, Day9, Tasteless and Apollo.
The only thing that truly bothers me is when the casters try to be something they're not - analytic casters faking excitement and shoutcasters faking game knowledge, when it's too obvious, makes me angry. The WCS guys know their respective places.
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I like khaldor and wolf :o
The only casters that I can't listen to are the guys of proleague, especially the not asian one, he says so much bullshit. Not that he is stupid but I don't know maybe he is stressed, pressured ? Not used to cast ?
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United Kingdom14103 Posts
On May 31 2013 19:14 E.L.V.I.S wrote: I like khaldor and wolf :o
The only casters that I can't listen to are the guys of proleague, especially the not asian one, he says so much bullshit. Not that he is stupid but I don't know maybe he is stressed, pressured ? Not used to cast ? Khaldor and Wolf are good, I actually really don't mind the PL casters even though there are a couple times where they seem to misread what's going on it's never that bad.
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khaldor and wolf are probably my favorite duo. They used to be rough around the edges but they worked their ass off last year (during wcs korea i think they casted every night for 3 weeks,) and it seems effortless for them now to me. They do have clashing personalities but i think they use that to their advantage now, like the hair jokes, and i think they immerse me in the game more than most. Even tho i know what a ffe or cc first means for the game i would still rather hear casters talk that and the implications on the game or how they think the opponent will handle it rather than them discuss who they would be in game of thrones or what their favorite soda is. It helps get me into the game not just want to skip to the 8 minute mark. I think most casters dont put in the effort a professional caster should these days, like watch recent games of who they are about to cast, or just keep up on the pro scene in general
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On May 31 2013 19:14 E.L.V.I.S wrote: I like khaldor and wolf :o
The only casters that I can't listen to are the guys of proleague, especially the not asian one, he says so much bullshit. Not that he is stupid but I don't know maybe he is stressed, pressured ? Not used to cast ? That would be SNM. Aren't all the popular casters pretty good nowadays.
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I'm trying to move to EU if that helps I like the scene way more there and it happens to be the only place with work. If you have other criticisms I appreciate them, but the caster chemistry is just something that will take a little time ><
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Axeltoss and Axslav are a good combo ahaha right now on the game moonglade vs ryung ^^
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On June 01 2013 04:45 lisward wrote:Show nested quote +On May 31 2013 19:14 E.L.V.I.S wrote: I like khaldor and wolf :o
The only casters that I can't listen to are the guys of proleague, especially the not asian one, he says so much bullshit. Not that he is stupid but I don't know maybe he is stressed, pressured ? Not used to cast ? That would be SNM. Aren't all the popular casters pretty good nowadays. SNM is the Asian one........
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Lyrlian and Madals usually cast together as far as I know
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baaa lyrlian is good imo^^
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On May 31 2013 11:11 Bagration wrote: One thing nice about Wolf and Khaldor is that they are brutally honest during the cast. They will call out mistakes, and when a player falls behind, they won't pretend that there is a chance for the losing player (and most times they are right). I like that as long as they don't overly focus on a player's mistakes (which would give the cast too much negativity. Call it out, but don't dwell on it forever), but at the same time, it's very educational and informative to know which plays were good and which were terrible.
As for AM and EU, some of the best casters are former pro players who have that extra insight in high level play and competitive play. ToD did a pretty good job with that, I think Axslav could try to burnish his credentials a bit more as well.
It also helps to humanize the players (which most casters mentioned do, and it's nice to see a good amount of). Give anecdotes, talk about the players more than just their achievements and their match history, help the audiences connect to the person, not the ID.
Just some rambled out thoughts
This is exactly why I like wolf and khaldor so much. As for pro player being casters. I don't think it works that well for everybody. I like a little bit of tasteless hype in my casting and casters like axslav tend to provide very little of that. That was one of the reasons that WCS AM seemed so unimportant to me. Lastly I think that axlsav is overhyped as an analytical caster, he's often wrong about what a players build is indicating (hatch first clearly = no aggression from the Z, then JD does a huge roach bust).
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