We are happy to announce the hiring of renowned StarCraft II commentator Shaun 'Apollo' Clark. Shaun will take the role of Lead Commentator for the World Championship Series Europe and Intel Extreme Masters. With a fantastic performance in the first season of WCS Europe: Premier League, Shaun already played an important role in bringing the Starcraft excitement to our fans around the world. The fulltime addition of Shaun to the ESL TV team will further increase the broadcast quality of events like WCS Europe and the Intel Extreme Masters.
Our Head of Commentary at ESL TV, Paul 'ReDeYe' Chaloner is "thrilled to have Shaun joining what is already a world class commentary team at ESL TV and I couldn’t be happier to have secured arguably the best StarCraft II commentator in the world. I’m really looking forward to Shaun and James working closely together and developing further an already excellent casting duo, particularly on WCS and IEM.”
But let's hear from Shaun himself! "I am excited and a little nervous at the same time as this is quite the move! I suppose i'm even a little sad due to leaving Sweden and the GD Studio which I have called home for the past 18 months. 2GD bringing me to Sweden gave me what I needed to make the improvements to my commentary, bringing me to the level i'm at today - I am very thankful for that."
Regarding his future Shaun had the following to add: "WCS is the main project I want to work on and I am happy to be making the move to Germany to be fully involved in not only the WCS but also the IEM stops. Having already worked alongside ESL TV for WCS Season 1, they are very hard working and are dedicated to improving themselves and giving the best show possible, which is an attitude I relate to and appreciate. Now, lets kick ass for WCS EU Season 2!”
You will be able to watch Shaun and co-caster James “Kaelaris” Carrol live in action in the opening broadcast of WCS Europe Premier League Season 2 on June 25th live from the ESL Studios in Cologne, Germany!
Excellent. I've loved Apollo and Kaelaris together since I saw one of the IEMs where it happened and I've always loved Apollo's casting more than anyone else.
A perfect duo, (maybe Trio if Tod decides to continue casting games he's not playing in, although I think he'd probably rather practice) and with Redeye I'd say that by far and away ESL has the best set-up in terms of people to cast the premier league.
Indeed his recent DH is casting is great, I am not much of a Apollo fan before but after watching last DH I was an instant fan. His voice + knowledge of the game is really good.
Awesome. The WCS EU lineup is very good, Redeye and Apollo are two pillars who can pretty much keep an entire show going by themselves. Too bad for the GD studio, but it was more or less expected given their almost exclusive focus on Dota 2.
Awesome casting duo, and with Redeye hosting, I couldn't think of a better all-around cast for WCS EU. Can't wait for the next season to get fully underway.
Our Head of Commentary at ESL TV, Paul 'ReDeYe' Chaloner
Head of commentary? He doesn't even commentate (well SC2 anyway). Strange title.
Back to the point though. he should add bit of flavor to the stream of WCS EU as Kaelaris can be rather dull xD
GG GL!
Not only does ReDeYe still commentate, he's also one of the most experienced and quite frankly best at this job. Both Apollo and ToD have had nothing but good things to say about him and the fact that he's been teaching them how to become better at it.
ReDeYe is the fucking man!
Obviously Apollo makes a great addition to ESL, but let's hope we'll still see enough of him at other events as well. ^^
I think there's a lot more for him to do at ESL, especially considering how much attention the GD Studio has been giving to Dota 2 over the past couple months.
Apollo moves out, Nathanias moves in? Or will GDstudio dump SC2 now or will Nathanias join NASL?
All the possibility's..... and yeah everybody knew this already and makes perfect sense as long as Apollo keeps doing every DH tournament, cause DH without Apollo would be weird.
I'm a little sad that he's leaving The GD Studio, but it's really amazing for him to have this opportunity. Apollo is a great commentator and I'm happy to see him more regularly for WCS EU.
This is great Apollo is on a level of his own so the more we see of him the better. Maybe I missed it but has there been any information on whether ToD will continue to cast? I liked where ToD was going with his casting career.
On June 20 2013 01:21 Liquid`Nazgul wrote: This is great Apollo is on a level of his own so the more we see of him the better. Maybe I missed it but has there been any information on whether ToD will continue to cast? I liked where ToD was going with his casting career.
Pretty sure it'll all depend on his performance in WCS Premier.
Very Nice! Apollo is really a fantastic caster and should greatly enhance the viewing experience! I was hoping for perhaps Wolfpollo but still very good! ^_^
Apollo + regular studio work AND all the shows/leagues that they do over at ESL? AMAZING! So good for all of us More of Shaun is best shaun.. GL buddy!
Hopefully Tod will continue to cast, I really liked him. Imo one should not be able to cast and play in the same tournament though, at least not in this kind of tournament. It's a bit different with HSC for example.
It's a good move, but I'd be very sad if that meant we'd see less of ToD because I really enjoy his commentary, especially in combination with Kaelaris. I hope people don't get "Apollo oversaturation", he's close to being in like every event out there.
This was an excellent move. Apollo is one of the best commentators in SC2 these days. I'd even venture to say he's better than Tasteless or Artosis.
I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the WCS Europe broadcast the most of all three. WCS Korea is always solid but I feel that Tasteless and Artosis are resting on their laurels a bit due to the fact that they know they have the most talented players and the best production resources in the industry. Their broadcasts have turned into them just sitting and talking about how they have the best players and they have the best production and they are the best casters and everything in Korea is the best. Which is certainly true - WCS Korea is arguably the best broadcast available in terms of player talent and production value. However Apollo's casting with Kaelaris in WCS Europe was not only highly analytical but also fun and exciting - something Tasteless and Artosis are sorely lacking these days.
This is a great pick up and I think if ESL continues pushing forward with the same fervor they have been in the last two months they could one day end up surpassing GOM in terms of production and casting talent.
On June 20 2013 01:21 Liquid`Nazgul wrote: This is great Apollo is on a level of his own so the more we see of him the better. Maybe I missed it but has there been any information on whether ToD will continue to cast? I liked where ToD was going with his casting career.
Seems like he's not out of it
smiling_lizard: So I'm guessing no more ToD then... Redeye: You couldn't be more wrong
good shit Apollo.. this dude really shocked me. At first i thought he was a caster that just gets load because stuff is happening on the screen. which i was wrong this dude really knows his stufff good for him
WCS season 2 is looking so good now, after the NASL annoucement and now Apollo, he is so enthusiastic and natural. Also very good that ToD will probably stay, because he is just amazing.
But it is also very dangerous. I was having serious time issues watching just GSL. Now with fantastic content in all 3 regions, how do I ever get anything done?
Allow me to give you a behind the scenes description of working with this fine man.
Apollo is endlessly goofy and giggly. Any time I find out I'm casting with Shaun, I immediately look forward to the cast like a vacation. Shaun is not only pleasant and easy to work with, but he's punctual, hard working, and dedicated. Every DreamHack he'd wake up early with me so we can have breakfast a long time before the cast begins. He's always on top of notes or changes in scheduling. He researches players fucking hard man. Every tournament he has a notepad of statistics, relevant history, and play style of every player (you can even see him rearranging/referencing the notepads in some of his casts)!. Moreover, Shaun plays and studies SC2 nonstop when he's off duty, battling as random (even trash talking Stephano on b.net too).
Apollo's content with the GD studio was amazing. Casting with him personally has been amazing. There's no doubt that his work at ESL will be fucking awesome too <3333. Gratz ESL on the HOTT PICKUP! :D
On June 20 2013 03:22 OOAK wrote: does it mean that he wont be doing DH in the future ? or other events?
Not sure about other events but in his facebook post he makes a comment regarding Dreamhack:
Its the beginning of a new path for me and I hope you continue to follow what I am up to. Just to clarify, this move does not prevent me from being a part of the Dreamhack team, I will still represent them at every event this year and will return back to Sweden for Dreamhack Winter 2013.
maybe apollo feels it would be too much work/not appropriate to continue, but i dont actually see why living in germany stops him contributing to the GD studio shows.
On June 20 2013 03:18 Day[9] wrote: Allow me to give you a behind the scenes description of working with this fine man.
Apollo is endlessly goofy and giggly. Any time I find out I'm casting with Shaun, I immediately look forward to the cast like a vacation. Shaun is not only pleasant and easy to work with, but he's punctual, hard working, and dedicated. Every DreamHack he'd wake up early with me so we can have breakfast a long time before the cast begins. He's always on top of notes or changes in scheduling. He researches players fucking hard man. Every tournament he has a notepad of statistics, relevant history, and play style of every player (you can even see him rearranging/referencing the notepads in some of his casts)!. Moreover, Shaun plays and studies SC2 nonstop when he's off duty, battling as random (even trash talking Stephano on b.net too).
Apollo's content with the GD studio was amazing. Casting with him personally has been amazing. There's no doubt that his work at ESL will be fucking awesome too <3333. Gratz ESL on the HOTT PICKUP! :D
Sounds about right. You can really see that hard work pay off in his casting.
On June 20 2013 03:18 Day[9] wrote: Allow me to give you a behind the scenes description of working with this fine man.
Apollo is endlessly goofy and giggly. Any time I find out I'm casting with Shaun, I immediately look forward to the cast like a vacation. Shaun is not only pleasant and easy to work with, but he's punctual, hard working, and dedicated. Every DreamHack he'd wake up early with me so we can have breakfast a long time before the cast begins. He's always on top of notes or changes in scheduling. He researches players fucking hard man. Every tournament he has a notepad of statistics, relevant history, and play style of every player (you can even see him rearranging/referencing the notepads in some of his casts)!. Moreover, Shaun plays and studies SC2 nonstop when he's off duty, battling as random (even trash talking Stephano on b.net too).
Apollo's content with the GD studio was amazing. Casting with him personally has been amazing. There's no doubt that his work at ESL will be fucking awesome too <3333. Gratz ESL on the HOTT PICKUP! :D
If ESL and Apollo were getting married, this would definitely be the best man's speech
It must have been a year since I last posted on TL.
But just in case Apollo browses TL for the community reactions, I want to say HELL YEAH GREAT MOVE YOU FREAKING GODDDAMN SEXY AWESOME STUD!!! Apollo is by far my favorite caster atm, with, in my opinion the perfect balance between strategical analysis, play by play comments , excitement, and funny background anecdotes. His duo with Kaelaris will no doubt be incredible.
And man, this Jaedong dh semi-final cast... <3 So hilariously inappropriate!
pretty good stuff. awesome for him - and ESL needed some more man power and i have the feeling that apollo is still getting better and better. (realized this again at DH: probably one of the casters with the highest rate of saying something relevant or at least funny, when he is talking^^). amazing news for europe.
I guess those who watched all of Hotbid's very long DH interview with James '2GD' Harding were already spoiled of this. But I'm glad it's made official now. Congratz!
If they leave challenger league again to community casters so Apollo/Kaelaris can focus on premier league, this will be for sure the best WCS region next season. Looking forward to it
Great news! One of my favourite casters, with only artosis as competition.
@wpgstevo: I don't think mentioning other casters makes your opinion more sensible to others. More appropriate would probably be mentioning what aspects of his casting are not to your liking.
On June 20 2013 05:51 Assirra wrote:See it doesn't work that way. If you dislike him at least say WHAT about his casting you don't like.
What doesn't work what way? I don't get your meaning. I'm just expressing my opinion.
If you want to know specifically what I dislike about his casting, I can elaborate. I dislike him based on two ongoing problems. Firstly, he often tells boring anecdotes during his casts. Related to this, he sometimes sings which is painful to listen to. Finally his insight into the game is horribly lacking compared to a great number of other casters.
This results in a very painful listening experience. Therefore, I think he is a bad caster.
On June 20 2013 05:51 Assirra wrote:See it doesn't work that way. If you dislike him at least say WHAT about his casting you don't like.
What doesn't work what way? I don't get your meaning. I'm just expressing my opinion.
If you want to know specifically what I dislike about his casting, I can elaborate. I dislike him based on two ongoing problems. Firstly, he often tells boring anecdotes during his casts. Related to this, he sometimes sings which is painful to listen to. Finally his insight into the game is horribly lacking compared to a great number of other casters.
This results in a very painful listening experience. Therefore, I think he is a bad caster.
Apollo is probably one of the five most knowledgable foreign casters. I'm more inclined to believe that you don't understand what he's talking about than that his game insight is horribly lacking - the guy was (and still is, I believe) pretty damn good at the game and is constantly praised for his deep insight. You not liking him singing is fine, I don't either - but I can accept that it's supposed to be funny; but claiming that he doesn't know enough to be a good caster is... Well, it's certainly the first time I've read that about Apollo.
Congratulations both to WCS Europe and Apollo himself. I myself love watching either a combination of Apollo/Day9/Artosis. These three seem to have the best analytical skill, while also being able to provide decent entertainment. Upcoming stars or cool people who I also really like is Rotterdam and Mr. Bitter, after the interview on Teamliquid i really started to like them. Seems like such lowkey and cool guys. Also pleased they will cast WCS NA, although it's not really that viewed due to scewed times. But gigs is gigs.
Good stuff all around for the commentators. Great moves.
I guess now Dreamhack will get into InControl even more.. lol
JK, JK..
Congratz Apollo.. Very well deserved.. Though ESF looked to be an amateur-istic organization, they surely did an awesome job at hosting WCS EU season1 and was getting better and better as time progressed on..
What I also like is the fact that NASL isn't dead.. In fact - S2 is going to be even more awesome cause MLG <b>CAN</b> stand alone, whilest it's really doubtful for the NASL to do so.. THAT means - there's going to be BOTH:
1 - a WCS league, and 2 - a major Tournament worth watching/following for each region (Proleague being the other for Korea)
Now if only there come new players/new faces in each region so we wouldn't end up seeing those same players all the time though..
Now I know that there wasn't me much saying about Apollo joining the ESF, still - more worth mentioning the whole change from S1 to S2, gives the better picture of things IMO
ReDeYe is what we in the UK like to call a "jack of all trades" of the eSports world. He's been doing it so long and he's so experienced that he could probably do anything you throw at him. His experience alone is a massive, massive bonus for ESL to have and not only that but he's an awesome guy too. He reminds me a lot of one of my Uncles :p
Fuck yeah Apollo ! This is really great news for WCS EU. Looking forwards to the next season and having more awesome casting. I really liked season 1 as well, so hopefully there will be some room for Tod as well, who did a really good job.
With WCS NA adding NASL and hopefully Mr Bitter and Rotterdam, the only 2 persons lacking from WCS having all my favorite commantators in the mix is day9 and Totalbuscuit.
On June 20 2013 05:51 Assirra wrote:See it doesn't work that way. If you dislike him at least say WHAT about his casting you don't like.
What doesn't work what way? I don't get your meaning. I'm just expressing my opinion.
If you want to know specifically what I dislike about his casting, I can elaborate. I dislike him based on two ongoing problems. Firstly, he often tells boring anecdotes during his casts. Related to this, he sometimes sings which is painful to listen to. Finally his insight into the game is horribly lacking compared to a great number of other casters.
This results in a very painful listening experience. Therefore, I think he is a bad caster.
So you dislike him for him "horribly lacking" insight of the game and then you bring up Khaldor as one of the casters that you like? Don't get me wrong, I like Khaldor as well but to his analytic skills are often put into question to a far greater degree than Apollo. Even if you put them on a similar level, I don't understand how you can go from liking Khaldor and LOATHING Apollo based on his singing. Doesn't compute.
Now I know why he hasn't posted anymore tutorials on youtube. He started the HOTS tutorials over a month ago but only uploaded one video. Guess he's been busy with contract negotiations.
Our Head of Commentary at ESL TV, Paul 'ReDeYe' Chaloner
Head of commentary? He doesn't even commentate (well SC2 anyway). Strange title.
You're incorrect.
He casts SC2? I know he casts FIFA as i follow that scene...but SC2? I thought he was just host of WCS EU for ESL?
ESL does more than 2 games. Check the website out. You implied that because he doesn't cast SC2, he isn't a caster. Just research first, then form an opinion
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