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I really miss writing or at least just compiling my thoughts and I pride myself on being as transparent with the community as I can be so I figured I should do another blog. Most of this will be fairly personal to me and won't have any shots firing or anything like that so please ignore if thats what you're looking for. Also the way that I write is sort of how I talk so if grammar wise it seems off its because Im just reading this off in my head while writing it. I won't go back and change anything / check it for errors so be warned.
The last blog I wrote, http://www.liquiddota.com/blogs/492656-1-2-year-summary-for-blitz detailed everything up to TI so I guess I should talk about everything after that point.
After TI, I felt some sorta weird feeling, its hard to describe. It felt like I accomplished a lot in such a short period of time, but I felt weirdly empty. I think part of it is working such a large event, seeing all the people, and realizing how badly you want to play or participate in something like this. I really envy the look that people give to players when they are at an event like TI, its so much respect and yearning I cant really describe it. I don't mean to sound ungrateful for my position as a caster, but I'll always respect people like synderen for having the drive / courage to go out and play. It takes a lot to step into the ring time and time again, and I think my one big regret is not going for it harder or not sacrificing more. People don't really think about what it takes to be a pro, Id probably have to be single or spend way less time with my girlfriend which I wasnt willing to do, and you have to develop much thicker skin then I had. I know a lot of it sounds like first world problems but its weird having people constantly criticize what you do, even with me having dealt with it for over three years it still gets to you sometimes.
I had a few weeks to sort of relax and then we hit the grind once again! I believe in my mental timeline ESL came immediately after that, which was incredibly fun. Being in NYC for the first time was a huge trip. Me and MSS went to a Wendys at like 11pm and saw a weed deal go down while people were ordering food that was weird, and as me and Cap left the venue some homeless dude kept trailing us and calling us faggots. On a side note Hotbid hyped up Shake shack like nuts, I'd put it above IN n Out but below Five guys. Other fun facts, we met Ben at the venue and he kept giggling and I asked why and he said H4nn1 pointed to the Empire state building and asked if it was the pentagon. That was a meme for like a month.
The after party for that event was pretty fun, it was weird having the separation, me and Cap kept going down to play games 1v1 but I wanna be real here for a second. The last thing I wanna do at an event is talk about Dota. I just want to drink, people are down to clown and yell, but I like talking about movies, travel, random food stuff, literally anything but Dota. I think part of the issue with the TI after party is that people like Purge get bombarbed with questions, ('heres my thoughts on why bloodstone on ember is good - an actual conversation I watched him have for 30 minutes) and you just wanna get away from it all. My favorite memories of me with fans are when I get asked to do shots and just wile out for 40 minutes. Maybe im just a dick who knows, its just the way I feel cant help it.
After that, we flew back to .. Sweden where we proceeded to cover the qualifiers with the help of Moonduck. I think that trip was a bit weird, as it felt liek we were competing against BTS and getting stomped, and a large portion of it was something I'll touch on a bit later. The feeling wasnt great and the general atmosphere was a bit down, but it was fun just chilling and hanging out playing dota and cs w/ a ton of friends. I also was served some weird grayish meat that I was told was beef then was told midcast that it was reindeer. That sorta disturbed me for some reason but it tasted alright so its all good. The staff itself was great, I wish the makeup lady didnt go so ham on everyone, it took over 20 minutes each day removing it, but no worries.
After that we then flew BACK to America for MLG New Orleans which was a really surreal event. There was almost no audience I think due to the venue, but new orleans itself was great. Me and Cap went to pickup a pack of playing cards from a drug store and saw an armed cop inside that was a bit strange. We ended up having a Poker tournament and Tobi tilted Charlie when he went all in with like high card and rivered a straight or some shit. Ive never seen Nahaz more confused in his life at that play. We went gambling as there was a casino nearby, and Charlie would randomly bet 100, lose it, then double up, then lose that, then double up even more, until he was up 1k. We kept saying the legend of Charlie and our dealer went with it. He kept saying, 'you think Charlie became a legend by playing it safe?' New Orleans as a city was great, the nightlife was fantastic, the food was awesome and the people were really fun, its a shame more people didn't venture out.
After that there was a fairly long break until.. the Majors I believe. That was an event that was for some reason largely forgettable for me just because I was fairly burnt out from all the travel. The atmosphere was almost TI-esque but a bit lacking, I think it's mainly because I was only getting 2-3 hours of sleep because I had some issues with sleep paralysis. I kept having to ask the hotel to give me a wake up call every 3 hours to make sure it didn't happen. Absolute nightmare scenario. I felt really awkward on the panel the entire time, but the actual casting of the event was great. I feel a really good rhythm casting with Cap and LD at events as we had to work long hours together at TI so I felt really happy about that. I realized some tips and tricks for myself when I work events, namely don't eat 30 minutes before I have to cast, and try to walk around before the games to clear my head.
Some highlights of that event are:
Watching Bulba order room service. Holy fuck Sam. Fear told him, 'order some brewskis' so sam proceeds to ask the hotel staff for some brewskis...
Here was an actual conversation bulba had with the hotel staff he called:
Sam: Hello
Staff; Hello
Sam: Can I ask you a question
Staff: Yes
Sam: Can I get 2 pizzas and a black daniels. (yeah he said black daniels)
Staff; What
Sam: hangs up the phone
Playing boar and hawk with Artour, he kept hopping on my back and saying we were beastmasters boar and hawk and we had to scout the enemy ancients. We were both fairly drunk so I went with it, we ran into some weird road block and he kept shouting it was a moonmeander fissure and that we couldnt walk over it. We also yelled some expletives in Russian at the russians but I had no idea what we were saying
Proceeding that was WCA I think where we had to work some absurd ass hours. That was such a struggle, and it was a bit demotivating seeing BTS get a ton of viewers. I think what that event and the major qualifiers cemented for me was that even though a lot of people like the educational aspect of dota, people really enjoy the entertainment aspect even more. I think what I forget a lot of the times is that part of my job is to educate and give my thoughts, but the main goal is to entertain and thats something that BTS did really well and we did not.
Which brings me to my next point where I'd like some feedback and thoughts.
I've tried recently to joke less, and even when I joke its mainly during 'dead' time, where farming wars are happening or during the first 30 seconds but people still seem to think thats too much? I find that I normally strike a balance alright, but then I hear on reddit all we did is joke and they found it not educational at all, even when I watch the vod and only see about 1 minute in 50 where we messed around. I can't tell if people are just trolling me or if its serious.
Part of the pride I have in my casting is that I think I bring a lot of unique insights as well as having good rapport / banter with my cocaster and I'm still feeling out the balance of this.
Anyways the years over, this blog is long as fuck but its my blog so shit goes on.
I want to have some New years resolutions and to stick with them so I'll write them here.
I want to try and be a better family member. I'm really ass at keeping in touch with my mom / grandparents / sister, so I'll try and do a better job of communicating Grace I swear!
I want to try and be less salty overall. Sometimes I see or read something that irritates me for way longer then it needs to. Letting things go is in my opinion the biggest sign of maturity and the next step I need to take in being happier.
Im going to try and be less cocky / ego filled. I think a lot of it comes from a place of insecurity but people take it wrong all the time and I can see why. I overall just want to be a more likable person, and something I should learn is humility and grace.
My shoutouts this time around will be limited to four people:
1st is LD. I wanna thank Gorman for constantly being a big part of the reason why I am where I am. I think a lot of people think the studios have rivalries and we do, but the bigger picture is that I love this guy and I hope that his hard work leads to him achieving everything he sets out to. Although 2016 is gunna be the year of joinDota you slut.
2nd is Cap for helping me find the motivation to pursue casting as a full time job, and for showing me that there is such a thing as an awful haircut.
3rd is my general fandom for sticking up for me and for helping me cope with my anxiety and stress. I know it gets obnoxious when people make threads or defend me on reddit, but I appreciate it nonetheless. Thanks for all the emails and tweets, it impacts me a lot more then you'll ever know.
4th is Tobi, who gets a lot of shit in the community, and a lot of it is deserved for some awful tweets and posts, but the guy works hard and grinds more then anyone I know at getting better. Whenever I need time to recuperate or for myself he'll always cover for me, and I think a lot of his bad moments come from him being insecure about his place in the scene. Rest easy bud, you're the best there ever was.
Good luck to Synderen and the rest of Steak gaming, I hope that you find what you're looking for in the spirit of battle Troels!
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28103 Posts
Bulba plz 
GL in 2016 Blitz, and great blog!
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On January 05 2016 09:19 TheEmulator wrote:Bulba plz GL in 2016 Blitz, and great blog!
ty homie
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Northern Ireland22213 Posts
Good read, hope 2016 is even better for u
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Glad to see 2015 was good to you, can't wait to see what's coming for 2016.
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do you remember those prayer guns from 1999
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On January 05 2016 08:57 Blitz wrote:
I've tried recently to joke less, and even when I joke its mainly during 'dead' time, where farming wars are happening or during the first 30 seconds but people still seem to think thats too much? I find that I normally strike a balance alright, but then I hear on reddit all we did is joke and they found it not educational at all, even when I watch the vod and only see about 1 minute in 50 where we messed around. I can't tell if people are just trolling me or if its serious.
Part of the pride I have in my casting is that I think I bring a lot of unique insights as well as having good rapport / banter with my cocaster and I'm still feeling out the balance of this.
Now personally I really enjoy your casting. Besides when someone like PPD or Fear or a top tier pro that's super entrenched in the scene and meta casts, which is pretty rare, you're at the top of the totem pole for me. So maybe I'm not the best person critique you but its the internet, everyone gets to throw in their 2 cents here!
Some people you'll never please no matter what so there's that. Some people just talk shit to be dicks whether or not they actually agree with it so there's that too. But it could be that even if its 50:1 that 1 minute seems like more than it is because its 1 solid minute you might be going hard on the joking. It's not casual joking sprinkled over 50 minutes, it's there's a minute of farming downtime here lets go hard in the paint with the jokes. I didn't review the footage so you'd know better than me, but if you're serious then screw around for a minute I can see where people might be like "zomg, blitz spent 5 minutes memeing!". If its casually mixed in maybe you can get away with even more joking around and playing off your partner but it doesn't feel like it? Just a thought.
Also people might get upset if you're just busting out inside jokes and ripping each other senseless. If the audience doesn't feel like they're in on the joke or feels like you're being "mean" to a caster they like maybe they think you're a dick or being too aggressive then go bitch about it. If people have a problem with that then you might need to make some sort of decision whether you care or not. If you look at someone like 2GD he was ruthless to his other personalities and people either loved him or hated him because of it. He was self deprecating which helps take the sting off sometimes but I feel like he made that decision to be who he was. He's going to be that personality that takes jabs at his co-personalities and if people don't like it, tough shit, he was never going to win them over anyway. I feel like that kind of comes with the territory so you've gotta make that choice on your own.
But like I said, I'm a fan, you seem like a fun dude. I only wish you were with my boy LD 
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I actually had an awesome moment this year at MLG Columbus with you that I'd like to share.
I was hanging out on the last day with my former teammates from when I did CDL in grad school, minding our own business in the back row, when who comes up from behind us but Blitz-fucking-Dota. You said
"hey"
and I was like wtf who is this dude oh SHIT
"hey what's up?"
"hey, do you guys have these yet?"
and you just whip out two demiheroes from the secret shop and straight up give them to us with no prompting or anything. You had a small discussion with my old captain (wilco-) when he asked if you remember casting with him in WC3 Dota back in the day, but I was just awe struck. It was out of nowhere and it was just a really cool moment.
I think I'm going to carve out some time this year to get into casting some T2-T3 games. Just seeing how down to earth and shit you are makes me motivated enough to give it (another) go.
Basically you're One Cool Dude™ and I hope you have an awesome 2016.
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A huge amount of the reason the BTS casualcasts were popular is because of novelty. I really don't think people would be happy if that was how every tournament was casted. Besides, people emphasised the jokes, but there was also a lot of deeper discussion of the game and drafting and strategy decisions, which is a lot easier when there are four people and nobody is caring all that much about play by play.
I think you're doing very well and you're particularly good at offering insight whilst making your co-caster look good. While it's obviously good to look to improve, you don't need to model how you cast on anyone else or have a real rethink or anything. Mostly just keep doing what you're doing.
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You are Cute and a good guy Will
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glhf to 2016 mang
Playing boar and hawk with Artour, he kept hopping on my back and saying we were beastmasters boar and hawk and we had to scout the enemy ancients. We were both fairly drunk so I went with it, we ran into some weird road block and he kept shouting it was a moonmeander fissure and that we couldnt walk over it.
lmao
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best of luck for 2016 dude.
You deserve it.
AS for casting, there's always room for improvement, but you might need to review it yourself and dont let the netizens get to you.
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You+Cap are my favorite casters (and LD), wish you all the best and keep up the Amazing work :D! <3
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re: joking in casts
I think I'm always in the minority, because I honestly love casts where casters are having fun, as long as they're on top of camera work and capturing info (item, networth, who is building to what) while having fun and joking. My favorite caster is still probably sunsfan being dumb + Good analyst (synderen usually with him), but most people seem to hate sunsfan recently so I'm not sure if my opinion is valuable.
I wouldn't listen to comments on casting TOO much, because it's impossible to please even half the viewers it seems. I feel like there's a lot of great casters, but if you mention any caster you'll get a river of idiots talking about how bad they are (mostly on reddit, yt, twitchchat etc.)
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I also like a lot of casual banter in my casts, and overall a light-hearted approach, and Sunsfan was one of my favorites too.
I mean Artosis and Tasteless used to talk about random shit for like 50% of the cast and I loved that about them, there's no Dota caster that comes even close to that ratio (although arguably there's less downtime and more things/players to keep track of in Dota).
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I remember watching ur stream when u had like 90 viewers. You have grown into a a beautiful flower. Dont sellout for pizza though you whore.
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Youre probably overanalyzing the BTS WCA coverage. Had BTS had a proper desk with a bunch of suit dressed people talking strictly about the game and with proper analysis segments they still would have got a lot more then JD. Chances are there would've been an even bigger difference had that been the case.
Bigger studio name gives bigger numbers.
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I love watching you and Cap casting together, You have a synergy that for me no duo's others match, really good balance of lols and info Hope this year goes well for you and JD!
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I think your uncertainties about the casting are mixed and you're experiencing the whole negatively. One thing is the overall approach the studio decides to take. Another different thing is your individual skill.
If the studio isn't trying to have a relaxed, informal atmosphere, that's not your fault. In the specific case of the WCA coverage, you really were unlucky. The tournament was a joke itself. So BTS's impromptu casting, almost a "guys watching Dota2 games" reality show, was kinda popular in that circumstance. You guys were f'ed up because you were the official coverage (I guess?) and were forced to take a serious approach to it.
So all that shit was on circumstances + your studio's approach and not on you.
If that bad taste keeps for long, maybe it's time to rethink your position in the studio, maybe bring some new ideas yourself to improve things. Or even switching.
That aside, it leaves the individual skills point remaining.
Honestly I don't think you need to be a jokester caster type. It doesn't fit your personality, or rather, it doesn't fit my perceived image of you.
I think you bring a lot of serious good insights, valuable knowledge and you have enough of a laid back attitude that doesn't feel boring.
What I think you lack in casting is somewhat between confidence and fluidity. I wasn't going to compare you to other casters, but I don't think I can explain otherwise. Synderen, for example, isn't afraid at all to backtrack his train of thought and rephrase everything to get a point across. You sometimes mumble at bit too much about something, then the point gets lost somewhere. For me it's ok, since I can understand your thoughts, but maybe it jams a little bit the flow of the casting.
Maybe that's just lack of experience? I don't know. If yes, then it's a matter of give it more time.
Maybe it's just you trying to figure out your public persona among the casters and your general posture that would match well with everyone you cast with? Then it's a "personal PR" issue I guess. Again, it's a matter of giving it more time and maybe give more thought about the "professional" side of things. (But please don't take "being professional" in reddit terms, like being serious and all that stupid shit. I mean being professional in the sense of actually defining your public persona, like an actor doing character building.)
PS: By the way, stop reading fucking reddit.
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this is so funny, thank you based blitz
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EPT
