Blizzard has posted a list of casters for the upcoming WCS Global Finals in Shanghai on their blog.
Next week, an outstanding team of casters will make their way to Shanghai, China to bring you all the excitement of the StarCraft II Global Finals in English at the Battle.net World Championship. We’re thrilled to work with such a star-studded group, and we’re pleased to present them to you here today. The casters for the BWC will be:
Sean ‘Day[9]’ Plott Ben ‘MrBitter’ Nichol Kevin ‘Rotterdam’ van der Kooi Alex ‘Axeltoss’ Rodriguez Nick ‘Tasteless’ Plott Dan ‘Artosis’ Stemkoski Shaun ‘Apollo’ Clark Thomas ‘Khaldor’ Killian James ‘Kaelaris’ Carrol Nicholas ‘Axslav’ Ranish
The Battle.net World Championship starts on the evening of November 16, 2012. For a complete look at all of the players from around the world who will be competing for the title of World Champion, check out our BWC infographic.
Great lineup, almost the best possible. I hope they have Tastosis casting the finals (they probably will), and other than that I'm especially glad they got Day9, Apollo, and Rotterdam.
On November 09 2012 04:22 Torte de Lini wrote: Each caster is representative of the major organizations, hence why there aren't any doubles from one organization or another.
Sorry guys, couldn't attend because I'm in the final, most important part of my green card process atm and leaving the US is absolutely not an option right now.
Holy mother of god, that caster list is HUGE! Of the big name casters only Wolf and TotalBiscuit are missing, but I'm pretty sure that TB is pretty busy as it is and if I have understood it correctly he can't really leave the States.
On November 09 2012 04:23 TotalBiscuit wrote: Sorry guys, couldn't attend because I'm in the final, most important part of my green card process atm and leaving the US is absolutely not an option right now.
Here's hoping CBP is kind and you get through it with a minimum amount of BS.
It's okay, we got MI6 agent Kaelaris to pair with Apollo for some Brit on Brit action.
(There's two people I've wanted to see casting together at a major event for some time now.)
Please please please let this be an indication that they plan on having multiple streams! With that much casting talent in the wings, it would be sad to see it underutilized.
This line up is majestic in all ways. I can’t wait for this even and any announcements that come with it. We can only hope the DB busts through a wall of rocks to open on the event.
On November 09 2012 04:32 farvacola wrote: Please please please let this be an indication that they plan on having multiple streams! With that much casting talent in the wings, it would be sad to see it underutilized.
Given that this it the world finals they probably want absolutley every game casted.
At least I get to put my stream updating APM back to use.
With so many awesome casters, I hope they can catch one or two terran matches. Their chances aren't looking hot to make it far, but I'll be rooting on Lucifron, Major and Illusion. Will be interesting to see how Fenix does, but he really stays out of the spotlight to know how he is doing.
On November 09 2012 04:32 farvacola wrote: Please please please let this be an indication that they plan on having multiple streams! With that much casting talent in the wings, it would be sad to see it underutilized.
On November 09 2012 04:23 TotalBiscuit wrote: Sorry guys, couldn't attend because I'm in the final, most important part of my green card process atm and leaving the US is absolutely not an option right now.
Good luck with your application, then. You will be missed at WCS. ^^
"Let's just get every single fucking caster we can get to come here" - Blizzard when they were deciding who to get to cast this One of the best lineups I've seen in a while, I think this will be a great event
On November 09 2012 04:22 Torte de Lini wrote: Each caster is representative of the major organizations, hence why there aren't any doubles from one organization or another.
Tastosis and Khaldor both work for Gom.
Tastosis transcends mundane concepts such as "work" and "organizations"
This is a very good list of casters that are well equipped with analysis and play-by-play. Seeing that this many people invited only makes a bit more clear that there will be multiple streams, which obviously means more games!
So good casters, but only 1/8 terran, and only 2 players I'm really interested to watch... This could have been so good, but the lineup totally smashed my interest.
On November 09 2012 05:35 1st_Panzer_Div. wrote: Assuming no Wolf, because Wolf is the only person that can solo-cast any GSTL or GSL matches there, everyone else needs a co-caster.
I thought that too, but just looked. WCS finals is nov 17/18 and there are no GSL games on 17/18. China is also close to korea so getting there shouldn't be a problem if he flew out nov 16 after code a games.
that's a pretty awesome lineup. considering the no-terran-ness of the player lineup, i'm afraid they'll kinda need it though. still looking forward to the event.
Tastosis, Apollo and Kaelaris are there, only TB are missing or it would've been 100% perfect. Not big fan of others, though. Day[9]'s official casting is so dull compared to his "normal casting" during dailies. Khaldor, MrBitter are fine, too. Axeltoss and Axslav were terrible at MLG in my opinion, but there's no chances they will cast main matches, so it's ok.
Some interesting choices. However, tastosis and day9 means it'll be a super event. Day9 is still co number 1 top caster with artosis. Those two still stand above others in the casting world.
I'm not a fan of mr. bitter due to his extreme foreigner bias. Every time he starts his best foreigner, everything he does is so good rant, I feel like muting the stream and rolling my eyes.
Did not care for Axeltoss at mlg. He has a piercing voice and asks too many seemingly obvious questions about the match-ups making it seem like he doesn't know enough about the current metagame. Also anyone else notice the blatant usage of the word "here" in tastosis' casting?
On November 09 2012 05:59 Airtoss wrote: Did not care for Axeltoss at mlg. He has a piercing voice and asks too many seemingly obvious questions about the match-ups making it seem like he doesn't know enough about the current metagame. Also anyone else notice the blatant usage of the word "here" in tastosis' casting?
On November 09 2012 04:23 Shinespark wrote: Apollo, Kaelaris and Axeltoss? Yuck.
Throw in Mr Bitter and I agree with you 100%.
This exactly. Everyone else is good in my books
how do people dislike Apollo? he's like the best caster on that list (aside from Artosis who is super human) imo.
I wasn't huge fan of him like year ago, but he really improved and now he is my third favorite caster behind Day9 and Artosis. Honestly, though, the list is too long. Six casters would be enough.
Wolf easily best caster on the scene. Only reason people don't like him as much as Artosis is because he's paired with Khaldor, who, in my opinion, is horrid.
Everyone should check out Wolf solo casting - it's on another level. No other caster in the industry apart from Apollo can compete with Wolf's solo casting.
Incredible line-up! Don't worry guys. They can't invite EVERY single good caster out there otherwise they'd have 15+ casters and they don't need that many. Can't wait to watch it this weekend.
Always enjoy Mr. Ranish's knowledge-bombs. Would be awesome if they put him with artosis for a bit!
And believe it or not, I'm actually disappointed that TB isn't gonna be there. Sure he doesn't have great game knowledge but he is truly excellent at being an entertainer, and he doesn't pretend to know the strategies at a high-level. Not to mention he's funny, well-spoken and has a vocabulary far more expansive than most of the other casters. Would much prefer him as the "entertainer" rather than others like Jorosar or Rob Simpson who have fake/flat personalities and also know very little about the game.
Wonder what strings MLG had to pull to get Axel and Axslav on that list. No offense to them (I think Axslav is a very good caster) it's just that they are babies in the industry when compared to the rest of the guys.
so we got the bitterdam duo, the tastosis duo, the sean duo, the ax protoss duo, and... khaldor with no wolf but if this kaelaris guy can learn how to pronounce TargA properly then i suppose he is a sufficient replacement.
should be not bad, aside from the lack of terrans in this tournament it seems to be looking really great :D
On November 09 2012 07:04 movac wrote: GSL code A Round 1 Day 2 takes place on the 18th either, Wolf is probably required to stay behind to cast those game, which explains his absence.
That's a lot of excellent casters, but isn't it almost overkill? That's more than MLGs have and I doubt they gonna stream more than they do. I guess more breaks for the casters...
Only TB and Husky missing and they would have every A list caster there is in sc2 but that is one hell of a big list all the same. How many tournaments have 10 different casters for a single tournament? Seems WCS will answer the question if there can actually be to much of a good thing when it comes to great casters.
Adebisi...I think this guy s fees are growing bigger and bigger.
bitterdam is awesome im glad there s no TB he is good but i couldnt hear him all day personnaly i d like to see Kevin Knocke (a TB-like just better than TB in my opinion) he s good and would represent IPL but i guess hes too busy.
There is like a 0.2% chance of seeing any TvT at this tournament unless 2 terrans are seeded in the same group. Kinda sad when you know that TvT is the best mirror matchup in the game atm.
Why so many casters? I like having a smaller casting crew, so that I feel some sort of continuation from series to series. I'll be very dissappointed if the production and setup does not live up to the 10 casters, 8 of which are very experienced with casting weekend events in pairs of 2-4 guys.
Though they do need some starpower to make up for all games being PvZ..!
On November 09 2012 07:47 NighTerra wrote: There is like a 0.2% chance of seeing any TvT at this tournament unless 2 terrans are seeded in the same group. Kinda sad when you know that TvT is the best mirror matchup in the game atm.
The others matchups have gotten better mirror matchups over time. ZvZ has gotten alot better, while PvP still suffers from the occasional build order loss, it has gotten better (if you like laserbeams).
On November 09 2012 07:40 Rannasha wrote: Wolf on why he won't be there (on SotG): Mostly visa-issues. Apparently getting a Chinese visa from Korea as a US citizen is very hard.
I like Bitter, he works well with almost anyone and with all the foreigners there it will be fun to see him try to talk himself into believing they can win.
who was the fat english guy at MLG? I really liked his casting a LOT and he didn't yell. Had great build up in fights and spoke clearly. I really liked him - which is amazing because I hate almost everyone
Mr Bitter, fat english guy, day nine, and of course tastetosis - that is a great crew. I could do w/out khaldor though. For a guy who works out all the time - has a really high pitched yell and its SO annoying - I have a hard time with code A b/c of him.
Haven't seen such a great caster lineup in a long time! Sure, I would enjoy having Husky and TB casting, too, but you can't have everyone and this crew is really awesome. GJ Blizzard!
Absolutely amazing caster lineup. Spot on Now to hope the general production quality will be at least 30x better than WCS Asia, which, frankly, would be the absolute minimum level acceptable for a tournament like this, and necessary to do these casters justice. We need DreamHack levels of quality for something this big.
Im curious if there will be other language casters going to this event. Regardless happy to see these casters going. I am probably screw up my sleep schedule though =(.
On November 09 2012 04:22 Torte de Lini wrote: Each caster is representative of the major organizations, hence why there aren't any doubles from one organization or another.
That's very inaccurate.
Guy already mentioned GOM, but that ignores Bitter and Rotti as well.
It's awkward seeing so many casters there that you cannot help but avoid asking yourself what those other chaps are doing.
I see a lot of people mentioning husky. Anyone know why he hasn't attended recent events. Is it because he is busy with other projects or is he not invited anymore?
On November 09 2012 12:18 StreetWise wrote: I see a lot of people mentioning husky. Anyone know why he hasn't attended recent events. Is it because he is busy with other projects or is he not invited anymore?
I remember him saying something a while ago about not going to events because he doesn't make all of his money that way unlike some other casters... he has his youtube and other things to fall back on whereas other casters need the money/exposure etc more. I don't know if what I said then was entirely accurate, but that is what I took from it.
ones im missing: wolf husky doa (total biscuit) im not sure about that one though. he can be really exciting at times, however he can also be pretty annoying.
ones i could do without: khaldor axeltoss kaelaris -> who knows, perhaps youre reading this. if you are; STOP SAYING "HERE AND THERE AND EVERYWHERE". it's pretty nerve-wrecking axslav (yes, hes incredibly knowledgable but i cringe every time he repeats these 2 or three phrases during his casts. and he does that a lot.)
Does anyone know the actual broadcast times? I would like to know if it is even possible for me to watch this live, I plan to hold a viewing party at my house if so.
On November 09 2012 16:12 evaunit01 wrote: Does anyone know the actual broadcast times? I would like to know if it is even possible for me to watch this live, I plan to hold a viewing party at my house if so.
Ok, I admit I don't exactly stay glued to the scene, but I've honestly never hear of Kaelaris before :S does he cast GSL or something? Regardless, that lineup is absolutely stellar. Artosis, Apollo and Khaldor make me particularly happy.
Still excited for Apollo, Bitter and Kaelaris! This is gonna be siiiiick!
On November 09 2012 16:56 Greendotz wrote: Ok, I admit I don't exactly stay glued to the scene, but I've honestly never hear of Kaelaris before :S does he cast GSL or something? Regardless, that lineup is absolutely stellar. Artosis, Apollo and Khaldor make me particularly happy.
On November 09 2012 11:52 executorx wrote: well no Wolf
during Sotg wolf said he is currently trying to get a visa to travel to china, if he does he will cast
shit. I personally got my fingers crossed bigtime! I really really like wolfs casting, and I find him alot better than many of the other casters invited.
On November 09 2012 18:58 Big-t wrote: Wolf needs to stay at Korea for GSL or what? He got sooooooooo much better in last few months!
Read the post above you and the 2-3 in the page before this one. He said he had to go to a lot of different places in order to get his visa, but that he would probably get it in time.
A really stacked casting team, this should be an amazing event. I think China will deliver.
On November 09 2012 04:58 Godwrath wrote: What about the italian stream ? Will they cast some games online ?
Hi Godwrath unfortunately the tournament playing hours are bad for european viewers. Moreover they won't play on EU servers, so we didn't ask to stream the event.
On November 09 2012 04:58 Godwrath wrote: What about the italian stream ? Will they cast some games online ?
Hi Godwrath unfortunately the tournament playing hours are bad for european viewers. Moreover they won't play on EU servers, so we didn't ask to stream the event.
There's is nary a name I wouldn't like to see on that list, we are so blessed by awesome casters.
Two years ago, pretty much only Tastosis and the Day were decent, now we have a list of 10 brilliant, entertaining and knowledgable casters who each add their respective, distinct personality.
Too bad that TotalBiscuit isn't in the roster, but that's complaining at a really high level. €: I don't mind Wulf not being on that list, since he hinted at SOTG that he might attend anyways, should he get his visa-issues sorted.
MrBitter and Rotterdam are good casters, but I feel like they are still lacking SC2 knowledge compared to everyone else. As for Axeltoss - he seemed OK at MLG Dallas but a little bit shaky.
Apollo, Day[9] and "Tastosis" always pleasure to see!
On November 10 2012 20:56 bilow wrote: MrBitter and Rotterdam are good casters, but I feel like they are still lacking SC2 knowledge compared to everyone else. As for Axeltoss - he seemed OK at MLG Dallas but a little bit shaky.
Apollo, Day[9] and "Tastosis" always pleasure to see!
lol what? They're both high master and Rotterdam was in GM some seasons ago. IMO Rotterdam is one of the best caster
Awesome, except bitter obv but that's maybe so they can cast more games at the same time and only the others will cast the finals/most important matchs !
Surprised to see Axeltoss there, but I suppose the Ax team are somewhat of a package deal nowadays. Husky said he was offered to go but couldn't due to conflicting schedules and I'm sure that is the reason for other absences like TB and such. With 4 streams going on there should be 1 team with downtime so that'll be interesting to see - seems like a tough schedule for casters.
ST_Legend is THE best observer in the world. I like Adebisi too but no one catches nukes flying away like Legend :D The only caster I don't want to see there is Axlav. He has a high-pitched voice, which is irritating, he doesn't look clean :S, lacks game knowledge (T and Z that is). Anyway, I don't mean to flame on him because I used to like him as a 2v2'er when he was still on EG, just explaining why I don't like him as a caster. Can't like everybody, I guess.
The rest of the line-up seems awesome: Tastosis[9], Kaelris, APOLLO and Rotti! :D I'm already in heaven!
On November 12 2012 20:55 Tabashi wrote: ST_Legend is THE best observer in the world. I like Adebisi too but no one catches nukes flying away like Legend :D The only caster I don't want to see there is Axlav. He has a high-pitched voice, which is irritating, he doesn't look clean :S, lacks game knowledge (T and Z that is). Anyway, I don't mean to flame on him because I used to like him as a 2v2'er when he was still on EG, just explaining why I don't like him as a caster. Can't like everybody, I guess.
The rest of the line-up seems awesome: Tastosis[9], Kaelris, APOLLO and Rotti! :D I'm already in heaven!
What? Plus if you're going on about high pitched voices, Day9? Nah you're entitled to your opinion, I do enjoy Axslav actually, his game knowledge is a lot higher than most as he's more of a strategical player than a mechanical player anyway. Knows his stuff.
Can't really complain with this list, would have liked to have seen more of the duos kept together though. I'm going to miss my Wolfdor
Oh god... Not apollo agian. 150 supply vs 30 supply: "THIS IS THE LAST STAND! CAN HE HOLD ON? WE WILL SEE!!! OMG!!! SO TENSE!!!"... Mr. Overhype every game. Missing Wolf, but glad to see tastosis atleast! ^_^
On November 12 2012 22:05 GanryuKojiro wrote: Oh god... Not apollo agian. 150 supply vs 30 supply: "THIS IS THE LAST STAND! CAN HE HOLD ON? WE WILL SEE!!! OMG!!! SO TENSE!!!"... Mr. Overhype every game. Missing Wolf, but glad to see tastosis atleast! ^_^
I don't really understand why people care? They are casters, they try to overhype everything, and to be fair most casters do it.
EPT
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