Germany’s Michael “KendricSwissh” Kratzel has been an enthusiastic voice in the Heroes of the Storm community for years. A talented player and bilingual broadcaster, Kratzel lent his voice to HGC Europe throughout 2016 and even hosted the Summer Global Championship at Dreamhack in Jönköping. More recently, Kendric has been the caster bringing HGC China to an English-speaking audience. He was also one of a handful of community streamers that was invited to Gamescom to show off Kel’thuzad before the hero’s release.

Beyond these events, Kratzel streams throughout the week on his personal Twitch channel. His audience, which he calls the Royal Swissh Guard, numbers over 28,000 followers and continues to grow. Sitting down to talk with Kendric about his streaming history, I asked when he first started broadcasting.

“That's quite the question. I regularly seem to forget when it all started,” he admitted to me. He took a moment to look into it. It turns out his channel started in January 2014, making his fourth anniversary only a few short months away. “Boy, how time flies when you're having fun!” Kratzel says. “It absolutely feels like I just started.”

Despite the date slipping his mind, Kratzel exhibited a strong memory throughout our conversation. Details of events and childhood stories come easily to him, and his HGC casting easily slips into anecdotes about previous talent builds or teams that others have forgotten. “There's hardly a moment in my streaming career that I can't remember. I definitely enjoy every day of streaming like it was my first one. That doesn't mean there aren't things I do not enjoy about streaming, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons.”

Kendric’s love for Blizzard universes began before he even created a Twitch account. “Blizzard games have always been the games I felt most interested in. Whether it was slaying Orcs in Warcraft 2 when I was a little kid or carrying my Diablo 2 characters to my friend's house on a floppy disc—Blizzard has always had a great influence on my life, and will certainly continue to do so,” Kratzel tells me. One Alliance player to another, he adds as an aside: “Truth be told, I still slay Orcs these days, being the Alliance fanboy I am.”

That Alliance pride permeates Kratzel’s stream. He takes every chance he gets to talk about his love for the faction, and his most played hero is Varian. Between games, viewers are met with a visual of Kendric holding court in an Alliance-themed throne room—all the while, the soundtrack to Stormwind plays in the background.



Kendric’s stream has that distinctive vibe, but it’s even more notable when so much of Blizzard’s community (and even employees) tend to be more outspoken in favor of the Horde. “You're absolutely right, the Horde is the more vocal faction out there,” Kratzel tells me as we chat about the Alliance. I ask how the old Warcraft rivalry has affected his stream. “It is easier to pledge allegiance to the Horde on Twitch in general due to the existence of SMOrc, but there is no real emote icon that represents the Alliance. But dogs who bark, usually don't bite.”

“What makes me a proud supporter of the Alliance, however, is the fact that it is the more heroic faction,” he explained confidently. “While the Horde has numerous pretty cool characters like Thrall or Cairne Bloodhoof, they simply can't mess with the likes of Malfurion Stormrage, Varian Wrynn, or Genn Greymane. To me, the Horde has had a couple of very deceitful, almost dishonorable leaders—notably Garrosh Hellscream, who cared little about Azeroth and only sought to enforce their own selfish motives. All in all, I'm proud to be a follower of the Alliance, the faction that has sacrificed and given so much to protect every race—even the Horde ones—on Azeroth against great threats like the Scourge or the Burning Legion.”

This long and storied passion for Warcraft and its world carried right over into the Nexus when Kratzel got his invitation to the HotS technical alpha. “Quite frankly, I've always been a big fan of MOBAs. It all started in the era of Warcraft 3 (which I played a lot, even semi competitively) when the first DotA custom maps emerged—I was immediately hooked. Heroes of the Storm, in my personal opinion, is a great evolution of the genre. It added (and still adds) so many fresh elements that make it incredibly enjoyable even after years of playing.” Those years of playing, streaming, and observing HotS have given Kratzel a chance to observe the game from a number of angles, insight all the more valuable given how well he remembers the history of the game. “I started playing when Rehgar was the newest addition to the Nexus. Tyrael still had the legendary talent Cast Aside, which allowed him to knock enemy Heroes to the side when hit by his E, and there were hilarious talents like Resurgence of the Storm (Level 20, caused a Hero to immediately respawn in the Hall of Storm upon death)...all of which look incredibly broken from today's point of view."



“My favorite thing that has changed when comparing Heroes of the Storm back then and now is the fact that the overall performance has improved so much. Furthermore, skins today are absolutely epic. I can't praise the artists and designers enough. Back then, they were often just color tints that didn't look particularly exciting.”

Of course, it isn’t all praise. Many names in the Heroes of the Storm community have their complaints about the game’s state. “What I don't particularly like about the game's current state is map rotations. To me, they take away one of Heroes' core strength, which is map diversity. Furthermore, allowing maps like Blackheart's Bay several times in a row but removing others like Garden of Terror or Hanamura—which are by no means ‘better’ battlegrounds—makes no sense to me.”

Kendric has worn a lot of hats, whether he’s playing, streaming, commentating, or hosting. The variety of activities each have their own demands, so I asked how he approaches each one and how his game knowledge carries over between the roles.

“Streaming and casting sometimes go hand-in-hand, especially if your streaming style is somewhat analytical. As such, I apply many things I do and say while streaming while casting and vice versa. Hosting, on the other hand, is probably the hardest thing to do out of those three. You need to be very eloquent and fluent in what you say. It’s also more important to make the other casters and analysts look good in what they're saying rather than being the shining star yourself."



“Back in 2016, when I did most of my hosting in HGC, I always found it amusing when a few people said I knew very little about the game. It was in fact my job as a host to look less knowledgable in order to let my fellow commentators deliver the knowledge. That being said, I absolutely enjoy all three of those activities. I consider myself very fortunate to cast HGC China while also getting the chance to stream on a weekly basis.”

Like any internet personality, Kratzel has had his haters, but his stream stays positive and vibrant, and his community continues to grow. But was there a time before Kendric’s success when he got discouraged? “Absolutely, yes,” he answers. “There were many phases in my career during which I was questioning my future as a streamer. Whether it was stagnant viewership numbers, the lack of acknowledgment in my real life environment or struggling with the game itself—it sometimes took a lot of mental fortitude to keep pushing forward. I'm happy to say that today I am more determined than ever to deliver the best viewing experience possible and my resolve to become a better streamer grows steadily.”

“Do you mind if I press you on how?” I followed up. There are so many streamers who work every day, and I knew Kendric would have some good advice on how to get through those tough times.

“Sure,” he answers quickly. “Watching a good anime always helps [me]. If you are Twitch streamers yourselves, I thoroughly recommend disabling the viewer count in your Twitch dashboard. Constantly being reminded how many viewers just tuned in or off can truly ruin your day and distract you from what's really important: focusing on the viewers that you currently have, not the ones that just left for whatever reason.”

As we wrapped up our conversation and prepared to watch HGC Europe’s Crucible finals, I asked Kratzel for his views on keeping his community welcoming and positive. Other positive streamers, like Manuel ‘Grubby’ Schenkhuizen and Steph ‘FerociouslySteph’ Loehr have talked about how they think staying positive makes them better as players because it helps avoid tilt.

“Maintaining a positive attitude is one of my core goals for the stream. I'm a very optimistic person in real life, and as such, I would like to display that positive attitude in everything I do. Making fun of others or getting attention at the cost of someone else is not something I consider honorable behavior worth striving for.



“When it comes to keeping my composure while playing, there is only one response I can give to you: I've seen it all. In my years as an active MOBA gamer and Twitch streamer, there's hardly anything people could say or do to me that I haven't already experienced. Consequently, there is very little that can truly throw me off. Of course, every now and then, I too lose my patience and will ban certain users from my chat...but hey, I'm just a human being after all.”

With all my questions asked, I left the floor open for Kendric’s own shoutouts. “Big shoutouts to every person that has ever supported me in any way, shape, or form on my way to fulfill my greatest dream. No matter if you're a subscriber supporting me financially, if you're a Blizzard employee taking good care of the games I love, or if you're just a plain normal viewer that watches my content—you're all amazing people, and without you I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing."

“And last but not least, shoutout to you guys at Team Liquid—thanks for having me on the interview!” Hey thanks, Kendric, and you’re welcome!