The Cyber Evolution (CEVO) League has quickly grown to become one of the top venues for North American competitive play in multiple games. Aside from just hosting and streaming great matches, CEVO also has a great roster of casters. Often undervalued, casters take a huge role in dictating the atmosphere of the viewing experience. An aspect taken from traditional sports, casters are now an invaluable part of eSports. We had the pleasure of getting to do a Q&A with the complete casting roster for CEVO’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league, covering personal history, what goes into casting, as well as their take on the current North American CS scene.
c0tton: Hello, I am Brandon “c0tton” Miao. I am media manager for CEVO-TV and an eSports commentator (CS:GO).
Luca: Hi my name is Luca “Misled” Graham and i am a shoutcaster with CEVO TV. I have been playing cs for about 14-15 years now. Played high levels of cs in 1.6 and the source days.
klops: I’m Clayton “klops” Kloppenborg, commentator and Media Manager for CEVO-TV. I’ve played CS competitively on and off since 1.6.
m3ss: Hi, thanks for having us. I’m Matt “m3ss” Tomlinson, a play-by-play caster for CEVO-TV. I easily have the least CS experience of the team as I started out in arena shooters playing Unreal Tournament competitively for many years. I had a brief period of playing Battlefield 3 & 4 before I was converted to CSGO by my fellow CEVO-TV casters.
LATORR: Hey guys, my name is Adam “LATORR” LaTorraca and I’m a color commentator for CEVO-TV. I was a pretty late comer to the competitive scene getting into the Source scene around 2011, but since then competitive Counter-Strike has been the only thing I consistently play.
LAUNDERS: Hey, I’m Mohan “LAUNDERS” Govindasamy, CS:GO colour-caster for CEVO, YouTuber and streamer on Twitch.tv. CS has been apart of my life since 1.3 but I haven’t played competitively until GO. Started casting with CEVO in May of this year.
How did you start out in CEVO? What was the application process like?
c0tton: That’s a throwback. It started a year or more back (at least the CEVO part) in a virtual meeting room while I was travelling for work in Orlando, FL. I pitched an idea to my staff of close friends and associates about how the casting scene at the time was entirely inadequate for CS:GO - especially given my faith in how CS:GO could grow into something of importance.
Basically it was many, many hours of lab work between myself and five other people, not all of whom are still involved in eSports sadly. Klops and I put together tech demos, sound demos, dummy scripts, pitched matches for random low level teams and did a million networking plays across the entire scene. CEVO took notice that what we had was consistency, volume and high quality work. We cared about our brand and our professionalism. Too many up and comer casting teams have no idea what those two things can do for you. It got us places!
Luca: Well I had shoutcasted for a few years way back in the 1.6 and source days and I kinda knew Brandon a.k.a. Cotton and was trying to cast again with him right when he moved over to CEVO. They were looking for casters and I was just in the right place at the right time beating down his door.
First I had to show past casting film. To even get anyone to talk to me. After that it came down to the spot casting sessions for CEVO staff where I had to cast some random MM game and make it good. I think we had an interview in there somewhere also. Turns out they liked what I could do.
"We cared about our brand and our professionalism. Too many up and comer casting teams have no idea what those two things can do for you. It got us places!"
- c0tton
klops: c0tton and I were casting NA CS on our own channel FixationTV. CEVO’s GM, Chris Pipher, watched the CEVO games we casted and saw we were drawing viewership and approached us about creating CEVO-TV. I personally liked the idea of having an org behind us as well as being able to help CEVO get back into the NA CS scene.
m3ss: I actually started with CEVO casting Battlefield 4 during their initial Beta Cup when the game first came out. I was referred to CEVO by BrettFX who was looking for a co-caster in BF4, and after some test casts and a few weeks of regular match casting I was brought aboard as an official caster. Over time the BF4 community dwindled due to issues with the game and I had begun playing CSGO pretty regularly, particularly with the other CEVO-TV casters. c0tton asked if I was interested in casting CSGO since they were looking to create another casting team, but they needed a color since I wasn’t really qualified to do color commentary. While they were searching I spent a lot of time playing, watching other casts and pro matches, and doing tech demo casts on my own. Eventually they found Launders to co-cast with me and we started doing practice casts together trying to refine things until we were comfortable enough to do full CEVO matches.
LATORR: I believe Nick “Budi” Budidharma, a friend/ex-teammate friend and player on Afterlife, was talking to some of the FixationTV guys and mentioned me as a potential caster as they were forming CEVO-TV. From there I was introduced to Misled, we did a few demo casts to work out technical kinks, and we were pretty much put right to work. I believe our first event was the Complexity tournament, so we’re creeping up on a year as a casting team.
LAUNDERS: After responding to an ESEA forum post that my friend IrNoobTrainee pointed out to me I got an opportunity to cast LAN ETS with ESEA caster Sadokist in person for a weekend in January. He also tried me out by allowing me to cast alongside him during the ESEA-IM finals at the time on Twitch. Both great experiences. After coming home from that, my same friend encouraged me to seek out the opportunity to either apply to work at CEVO or ESEA for a more permanent position, and remembering that I saw c0tton in chat a couple times during the event I ended up responding to a reddit post by him regarding demo reviews with the first demo review that I’d done, which ultimately leveraged me an interview/position with CEVO as a colour commentator. Original Post
Even though I probably would’ve had an easier route trying to apply to work at ESEA because of the connections I had made, I think its clear that getting the position at CEVO, with a much more active channel on Twitch and staff who are as supportive as they are experienced, was the more fruitful one. Especially for me as a new caster with no experience.
How did you start casting? What is the most memorable game you’ve ever casted?
Luca: Well I got into casting for fun prolly nine years ago at a local LAN center where the team I was on played our matches and it just kind of evolved from there.
Well man I have done a lot of casting over the years and I have to say the shroud 1v5 ace clutch on nuke in the upper bombsite was one of the craziest things I've casted. Close second was the iBP vs coL tripple ot on seasons.
klops: Since the start of Twitch I always had an interest to get some kind of stream going and c0tton and I would always bounce ideas off each other. Since we were playing CS casually at the time, one of those ideas was casting NA CS since there weren’t really that many casters at the time and we felt like we had a good knowledge base of the game. We both have casted for fun previously but never tried to take it too seriously.
One day when I was playing LoL, c0tton called me on skype and said “Hey dude, we are going to cast some CEVO matches in two hours, so get ready.” I was obviously hesitant at first, but decided to just go with it. We went on and had maybe 10-15 viewers casting some CEVO-Main matches. We thought it went well seeing as it was very last minute and did no prep or announcing other than a CEVO forum post. We decided to stick with it and we both started learning photoshop and aftereffects to put some production value into our channel and the rest is history.
The most memorable game for me has to be one of our first CEVO games where Spangler stopped the game at the half to ban one of the teams for cheating. I thought that was hilarious.
c0tton (following Klops' answer): I was devastated. We finally had a number we could be proud of (120 viewers hahaha) then the match got called to a grinding halt thanks to a Paladin AC detection. I thought our careers were over. How little I knew about how much research CEVO - and its competitors - had done on us. It was a bit of an acquisition race between CEVO and two other parties.
"How little I knew about how much research CEVO - and its competitors - had done on us. It was a bit of an acquisition race between CEVO and two other parties."
- c0tton
m3ss: I first got into casting with Unreal Tournament as it was my first online competitive multiplayer and I had seen others use UTV synced with winamp to do a rudimentary shoutcast. I got into doing casts with that setup until justin.tv came around and then started streaming competitive matches pretty regularly. I stuck with UT both casting and playing competitively for many years until I eventually transitioned to Battlefield 3 & 4 and now more recently CSGO.
My CSGO sample size is a lot smaller than the other casters, but my most memorable game is probably the NetcodeGuides vs. Mythic game from last season’s playoffs. It was a three-mapper with a lot of exciting back and forth play that ultimately could have gone either way. I love casting games that come down to the wire like that.
LATORR: Before casting for CEVO, the only commentary experience I had was live streaming random game IPs that I could find for my friends. Often I would find a random person on a CS forum who wanted to try casting and just went for it. Shortly after I was just doing some casts on my own, I was asked to do some casting for the Altpug experimental league. From there, I was contacted by c0tton and sent him all of the saved VODs that I had.
Because my casting only dates back to CS:GO, I don’t really have any great throw back game experiences. That being said, we’ve had some really wild CEVO matches to cast, so there is no shortage of memorable games. The first game that comes to mind was a crazy triple overtime game on de_season that was iBP vs. coL (now c9). Also, Misled and I casted an iBP game on monday night (8/24/14) that broke our viewership records with ~26k concurrent viewers. So that was pretty crazy!
LAUNDERS: After starting my YouTube channel in October and quickly running out ideas for movement tutorials to make (haha) I had to figure out a way to make up a certain amount of weekly content that was sustainable so that I could grow my channel, and I thought of casting because it was something that TheWarOwl did frequently on his channel, and he was one of the only successful channels at the time.
I’d say the most exciting game I’ve casted was one at LAN ETS where these two french teams went at it in a grueling bo3 in the semis where the third map ended in a completely unexpected eco from “crucialconnexion” who had lost over 5 rounds in a row on CT side inferno and were about to have the game tied up until aks threw an incredible pop flash and got a 4k with 5-7 that basically won them the series. I’d probably never been so surprised watching a match ever.
A lot of people may not know the challenges of casting, timing, synergy between the casters, etc. What goes into casting that the normal audience may not know? Are there any little tricks that you all do behind the scenes or does it just come down to practice?
Luca: We do a lot of prep work to make sure we stop hitch words. We review our past broadcasts to see where we fall down and what we need to work on. Personally, I watch a lot of other casters for ticks and things I don't like and try to eliminate those in my casts. One of the biggest things is being able to hand off to your co caster and flow back and forth with each other and not step on each others toes. It's alot like playing CS and learning how your teammates like to peek when they get aggressive and so on. It came pretty natural with my cs background. Also before casts i like to watch some event on tv or what not just to kinda get into that mind frame. My biggest hurdle is the fact that i love cs and i love watching cs. So ill catch myself pulled into the game so much i almost forget to talk.
"One of the biggest things is being able to hand off to your co caster and flow back and forth with each other and not step on each others toes. It's alot like playing CS and learning how your teammates like to peek when they get aggressive and so on."
- Luca
klops: Casting really is a lot of work and can take up a great deal of time on and off camera. Hitch words are a big issue because once you get rid of one you usually develop another. You have to constantly review your casts and try to cut out what isn’t working as well as review other successful casters to see what they do that does work. Timing and synergy just comes with experience and it can definitely be rough if you haven’t casted with someone before. As far as behind the scenes, whenever c0tton and I cast, he is the PXP (play-by-play) but I run the camera and that can be tricky since we aren’t in a studio looking at the same screen. We employ different cues to lead camera changes or conversation. With CS delays, being able to kill time is a great skill to have.
m3ss: Casting can definitely be difficult at times, particularly for me as I’m so new to the game and don’t have years of competitive experience like the other guys. Casting Unreal Tournament and BF4 was always much easier as I had a lot more experience in those games and they were a lot less nuanced than CS. Timing and synergy are especially important in casting, which is why we typically work in dedicated teams of two. We’re constantly trying to improve as both individual casters and teams and we’re the first to call each other out on hitch words, mistakes and general lackadaisical casting.
Beyond the general casting, there’s also the logistical side of it with scheduling who is casting and when, and making sure we’re all up to date on the technical side with overlays, sound levels, news items, etc. We probably spend as much time working on production as we do casting the games and we’re always looking for new ways to improve the stream. Regarding behind the scenes, a lot of it is just practice and repetition, but one of the big things that helps is having the admins on the backend keeping us informed on potential delays or upcoming changes.
LATORR: Everyone else had pretty technical answers, so I’ll mix it up a bit. Pretty much all of us at CEVO are currently working or are attending school of some kind. It can really be exhausting to get home from a full day of stressful work or class, do a bit of homework while you have time, and then be able to be lively and talk for upwards of three hours straight. Ultimately I have a blast doing it, so I don’t particularly care, but it’s a much larger time commitment than most people realize. Also not being able to keep a fan on in the summer is brutal. We sweat for your listening quality!
LAUNDERS: Casting is something where everyone’s got strengths and weaknesses that are constantly under review by ourselves, each other, and Twitch chat, haha. It's the type of job that you’ll never run out of things that you feel like you could do better. Catching hitch words, being in-sync and knowing when to talk are probably the most fundamental things that I pay attention to when trying to improve, but everyones different.
I think one thing that even I didn’t know before I started casting was that when there are two casters who commentate a match serve two different purposes and even have their own titles: the colour, who typically analyze what happened at the end of the round, and the play-by-play, who typically cast the fast-action as the round plays out. They satisfy two different audiences’ needs, as well as two modes of enjoyment for the viewer: analytical, and entertainment. This is something casters probably forget people don’t realize but I honestly had no idea until I had to be one myself.
"Casting is something where everyone’s got strengths and weaknesses that are constantly under review. It's the type of job that you’ll never run out of things that you feel like you could do better."
- Launders
Klops and m3ss doing pregame anaylsis and predictions before casting their matches.
What is the difference between color casting and play-by-play? What do you prefer? Do you view casting as something just for fun, or something to work on and keep improving?
c0tton: There are marked differences, and the guys below me can answer straight forwardly and tell you the hard-lined differences. Truthfully though, since klops and I casted together for so long our PXP/color is so interchangeable and blended that it comes off as a long strung conversation. We really enjoy casting that way.
Luca: Well simply put PXP is exactly that, what is going down at that moment and setups while color is a breakdown of that setup and the buys and what the team did and could have done. I don't mind doing either; back in the day when I first started almost everything I did was solo casting so I had to PXP and color all in one and make it flow right. Casting for me is like a second job. I love it and I want to be the best I can be at it. There are always ways to improve and be better.
klops: Right now I prefer color commentary just because it’s the role I fill on a regular basis. I’d say it’s more intimidating as well because your opinion of what is going on or what a team is trying to accomplish can easily vary from someone else's. I also feel like PXP’s get slightly more recognition in the public eye because they are the ones bringing you the excitement of the plays! Anytime I jump into PXP, I tend to stumble over my words because you have to get the information out rather quickly and it is tough to do without practice. I would hope all of our casters say they are constantly trying to improve their casting or we might have some problems.
m3ss: I’m strictly a play-by-play caster although I have tried color a few times with disastrous results. I really wouldn’t consider myself qualified to do color commentary in CSGO as it takes a wealth of knowledge to be able to break down what a team is trying to accomplish, notice mistakes, offer suggestions or past examples, etc. I just don’t have the competitive experience in CS to be able to do that well.
Color casters really do have a tough job as they have to articulate their thoughts rather quickly since they usually come in during freeze time in between rounds. Given that CS is such a tactical game and slow rounds and setups happen all the time, a play-by-play caster also needs to be able to provide a bit of color insight from time to time when there are no engagements. As we become more comfortable with casting together the transitions between color and PXP become smoother and more frequent.
Casting is absolutely a lot fun, which is the whole reason I got into it in the first place. I approach casting first and foremost as a fan of the game as I really couldn’t cast a game I didn’t also enjoy playing competitively. However, it is absolutely something I continue to work on and try to improve at, especially since joining CEVO-TV. There’s definitely a collective drive to continuously improve within this group.
"We try not to step on the toes of the other caster, but the blend makes for a much more natural sounding cast."
- Latorr
LATORR: It was mentioned above already, but the two types of casting are pretty different. However, as synergy builds between casters, it is really easy to blend the two. Very often Misled will notice something mid round and shoot it my way for analysis or I’ll be mid-sentence when something unexpected happens and I’ll just start to call it. We try not to step on the toes of the other caster, but the blend makes for a much more natural sounding cast. Casting is definitely something that I have a great time doing, but I still also something we strive to perfect. I know I still get flustered and fall into my crutch words sometimes, but I bet my earlier casts are really rough around the edges. We often critique each other as well.
LAUNDERS: Casting is something I enjoy, and is a great way for me to get my name/face out there quickly. It’s something I should continue to do for a while, if not for the life of my e-sports career. I enjoy spectating games and I always have something to say about what’s going on so I feel its natural that I do work as a caster for CEVO and am quite comfortable with that. Also one of the reasons that I spend basically 100% of my time with CS:GO/e-sports and all things related is because I started out wanting to help grow the game, and I remember Friberg saying early last year, well before I started casting myself, that one of the backbones of the community are the casters. That really stuck with me!
You all are in the process of rolling out a complete CEVO client with the help of altpug that includes a pug system, 10-mans, scrims, etc. into the competition of the likes of ESEA and Faceit. In your own opinion, how successful can you see this service becoming in context to the other services?
Luca: The client has been a great addition to CEVO and we love that people can come play with us anytime they want.
klops: I don’t see any reason why our premium services can’t be as successful as the the others. The altPUG guys are great and are always working hard on providing the best service possible.
m3ss: I think the CEVO client is off to a great start and will continue to improve as things are refined and more features are added. The altPUG team has been working extremely hard on the integration and it’s only going to get better moving forward. I think there’s plenty of room for multiple services within the community, but the fact that CEVO pugs are free appeals to people looking to get into more competitive CS without the entry fee. I think that’s a good thing as it helps cultivate the community from the bottom up, which is a model for sustainability.
"The fact that CEVO pugs are free appeals to people looking to get into more competitive CS without the entry fee. It helps cultivate the community from the bottom up, which is a model for sustainability."
- m3ss
LATORR: I was a big Altpug user before we rolled out the client, so the jump was pretty natural for me and I think it was pretty natural for everyone else. The service functions pretty much identically now, so I definitely anticipate success from here on out as the team continues to roll out updates and new features.
LAUNDERS: Extremely successful.. I remember weeks during altPUG that there were more players playing altPUG than on any other pug service playing pugs. There isn’t a second major service apart that is even close to the size of CEVO in the eyes of the community, in my opinion. And with that being said, with the game as big as it is there will always be room for at least two hugely successful services. Especially if one is free.
What is your opinion on skins and skins betting? Obviously it’s created so much viewership to the scene in general, growing the game. However, do you think it has shifted the way people think about counterstrike in general? Is this good or bad in the long run of the scene?
Luca: I don't mind the whole skin betting thing. It adds more involvement with the viewers who may or may not really care about the match otherwise. I look at it like sports betting just another way people can be apart of a game that they otherwise wouldn't be able to be.
klops: Skins are great because they helped provide the prize pool for the major tournaments. Betting is a necessary evil where the pros outweigh the cons in my opinion. Viewership has increased dramatically due to betting and I think people find themselves actually caring about the game and becoming interested in teams even though they only initially cared about their bets. The problems that arise from betting comes down to professionalism and the organizations that run the teams need to start making sure this is instilled in their players. That is something that has to happen regardless as CSGO keeps experiencing growth.
"Viewership has increased dramatically due to betting and I think people find themselves actually caring about the game and becoming interested in teams even though they only initially cared about their bets."
- Klops
m3ss: Let’s face it, skins are here to stay and it can’t be argued that they are one of the major reasons why CSGO is as popular as it is today. Skin betting is a more recent addition that I actually like despite the controversy. It does provide added viewership and interest in the game that wouldn’t otherwise be there. Sure, much of the viewership is only worried about their skins, but if even a small percentage become fans of competitive CS, I think it’s worth the potential downside.
As with anything, you have to take the good with the bad. I think we can all agree that CSGO is not a perfect game, but we take the good with the bad anyways because it’s fun to play, exciting to watch and extremely competitive at the highest level. Betting skins just adds to that excitement element. However, I think people need to learn to be responsible with their betting and understand that competitive CSGO can be unpredictable. I do think more oversight on betting practices with the players themselves would be a good idea, but it’s difficult to do with the current setup.
LATORR: I’d say that I’m a fan of skins for sure. While people can debate whether or not new players coming for skins is a good or bad thing for the quality of Counter-Strike, there is no denying that the addition of skins put a lot of eyes on the Counter-Strike franchise. I used to bet somewhat frequently, but I stopped fairly quickly. There are a few people that really can earn a lot off of betting, but the average player definitely seems to lose a lot more than they win and it makes for a very volatile and angry community. Betting has definitely driven the scene for a while now, so I’m happy that people are interested and people have an outlet to bet if they so choose. It’s just not for me, though.
LAUNDERS: Especially considering you mentioned the “long run of the scene” I’d say that makes it a definite yes. Great games die without option for in-game purchases, cosmetic or other. Without skins we would be guaranteed to lose a major portion of the causal players that play CS:GO, a game that is -not- easy, for many people, a game that would have very little incentive for players who lose most of the time in competitive, or take more enjoyment from community mods, or modding themselves, custom maps or even trading.
The argument that people DDOS because of betting is a joke because if you were here before betting, you would know that DDOS was just as real then. Besides, its pretty easy to protect yourself, and after your first encounter getting DDOS’d its probably no ones fault but your own. Go skins! Go betting! It makes careers in e-sports possible, fruitful, exciting, fun and adds a level of security that is so extremely necessary in an industry that is only now starting to boom.
What is your take on the new Valve integrated veto and map systems that were unveiled at ESL One Cologne? Do you think leagues should be in sync with Valve’s system and map pool?
Luca: Well we used a veto system of our own when we had the S4 playoffs and I personally like it. I feel that it should be a league decision. I think some leagues will run with it and some won't.
klops: Personally, I liked what Valve decided to do. A lot of people complained that it wasn’t enough time to learn the maps but those maps have been out for quite some time. Perhaps when valve releases a competitive map in the future, teams will take it seriously and be more willing to critique the maps to help them be more viable for competitive play. CS really needs a larger map pool and Calve is trying to make it happen. I will agree that Cobble still needs work as the A site has way too many angles.
m3ss: I think Cologne was kind of a trial-by-fire, as the fact that the new maps were played so much will likely force teams to pay more attention to them in the future. I agree that Cobble needs a bit of work, but perhaps this will increase the dialogue between professional players and Valve to improve Cobble and future new maps, rather than writing them off as not being competitively viable. I would like to see all competitive leagues be in sync with the majors, but ultimately each league will decide what’s best for them and their community regarding their map list and map selection process.
LATORR: We had a veto system for our bo3 online playoffs last season and I think it made for some exciting games. Valve’s system seems to function nearly identically, so it seems good enough. I’d like for leagues and Valve to make an agreement of sorts on what maps are actually ready for competitive play before syncing map lists, but I like the idea of standardization. I’m not too against de_overpass, but I still have issues with de_cbble. It just wasn’t ready for competitive play when it was thrown in the rotation. Hopefully with the pro feedback that Valve gets from the tournament will tweak the maps for the better, but I wouldn’t be too bothered if we just don’t see de_cbble used again for a little bit. Definitely less competitively ready than de_train which took a back seat at the tournament.
LAUNDERS: Yeah, we all need to be playing the same maps, whether we like them or not, because it's clear that just because one league uses a map, it has absolutely no bearing on whether or not VALVE will decide to use that map in the next major. And I’m OK with that. I think that there are obviously other maps that are tried and true that would’ve made more sense to include in a major, for example de_tuscan, or more obviously de_season, but these are also maps that have newer versions in the works (FMPONE’s season & Brutes tuscan).
But ultimately there will always be lashback for new maps. I think as long as VALVE is more sensitive toward our pros in regards to map changes we would all be a lot happier, because although its fun watching new maps being played, but its not fun watching our favourite players/teams get knocked out of quarter-million dollar events because they weren’t able to get sufficient practice.
FMPOne's soon to be released iteration of de_season Source: mapcore.org
Speaking of maps, what maps are you excited for that are on the horizon? Which maps do you still think should be remade?
Luca: Well im waiting on someone to give me back fire. I loved that map so much. Also I would not mind being able to play prodigy again. Maybe even a little chateau even though chateau is prolly the worst thing you could play comp on.
klops: I agree with Luca, I want fire so badly. There was a community map floating around, de_ignite which in my opinion is a very good version of the map. I would like to see that in competitive play. I would also like to see prodigy, contra, and of course, tuscan...
LATORR: I’m interested in seeing how FMPONE’s de_season works out. I wouldn’t mind seeing a de_russka remake as well.
LAUNDERS: First and foremost FMPONE’s de_season. Fire would be nuts too. I mean tuscan’s cool but there are so many others. I also felt that even though de_crown kind of fizzled out that it was becoming such a good map. Not sure what the issues were with it but I hope that that map starts to gain some sort of traction again with the community. There were a couple huge updates making rotation times shorter and additional cover that helped make that map a lot of fun to play. But in the interest of new maps I think I’m most optimistic about those ones.
Where do you see NA CSGO in a year? Two years? What would bringing in a major tournament to NA change about the scene? What would it symbolize?
Luca: Honestly with the way esports is now I see CS blowing up again. It's on its way now and I'm very excited to see how it evolves and continues to grow. If we had a NA Major it would be amazing EU has so many large events. It would only strengthen the NA scene.
klops: I think CSGO definitely has the potential to rise to the heights of LoL or DOTA it's just going to take some time and of course bigger prize pools at tournaments. Another thing that needs to change for CSGO to keep growing is the lack of professionalism from Pros. I’m glad to see bigger orgs like Cloud9 coming in and trying to make this change. If NA had major tournaments I think that would encourage more players to try to play professionally which would then bring in a higher skill level to the NA scene.
"CSGO definitely has the potential to rise to the heights of LoL or DOTA, it's just going to take some time and bigger prize pools at tournaments. Another thing that needs to change is the lack of professionalism from pros."
- Klops
m3ss: With its current trajectory, CSGO stands to gain quite a bit of ground on the likes of LoL and DOTA in the very near future. I think Valve is doing a great job of continuously supporting the game both with frequent updates, monetary support, and of course the skin machine that keeps churning out new content that people love to consume. Having a major on NA soil would be fantastic for the community as I think it would only compliment what’s going on in EU already. CSGO is in a bit of a snowball effect right now as the growth-rate is only accelerating as the game gains more and more exposure. I really think the sky’s the limit as we look toward the future of competitive CSGO.
LATORR: Hopefully growing! I really have no idea where CS is going to go because I wasn’t around for the peak of 1.6, but hopefully it just continues to grow and continues to grab sponsor attention. Counter-Strike is definitely the up and coming game in the e-sports scene.
LAUNDERS: It’s obviously going to be huge. I mean we just had a better month than DOTA 2 on Twitch in August - I don’t think anyone thought that were possible until it happened. I know that speaks to the world-wide community, but I don’t think anyone's questioning whether or not the NA scene is thriving, because we’re already seeing more LAN tournaments throughout the US/Canada than there ever were during CS:S and the prize pots make that clear. With a major in NA, I don’t really see how that would affect NA specifically, apart from maybe increasing the prospects for more LANs in general, but it obviously couldn’t hurt! I mean sure it would be great and I’d definitely go to it myself, but as a player from NA I don’t feel any less endowed by a tournament that’s happening overseas just because I can’t physically be there. This is an online multiplayer game where I can watch games with my friends from all over the world being casted with very little delay in HQ! Who cares where they are, haha.
Launders streaming on his channel
What do you all do outside of casting? Do you have any other games that you enjoy playing/casting?
Luca: Well I work a lot. Other then that I build and race BMW’s for autocross and flyfish. I play MMOs a little and some console stuff. CS has pretty much ruined me on shooters though. I used to play BF3 at a high level and i casted that for a bit but the scene died.
klops: I spend a lot of time with the day-to-day management for CEVO-TV. As far as games goes, I play everything. I was big into LoL for a while but that has burned out. Lately I find myself playing CIV 5 if I’m not playing CS or casting.
m3ss: Like Misled, I work quite a bit and have a long commute so I don’t have a great deal of free time outside of work. However, I’m big into music and play in a few bands with friends on the weekends. I still play Unreal Tournament from time-to-time and do the occasional casts for some of the remaining leagues and tournaments. I’ll actually be traveling to Epic Games’ studio in the beginning of September to playtest the new UT4 alpha, so I’m really excited about that opportunity. Other than that I pretty much stick to playing CSGO when I’m not busy working or casting.
LATORR: I’m currently a Junior at Syracuse University, so that’s where the majority of my time and focus is spent. When I’m not casting or doing my schoolwork, you can catch me posting on /r/GlobalOffensive or /r/mma, playing PUGs on the CEVO client, or losing terribly at Hearthstone.
LAUNDERS: Well I’m partnered with Twitch.tv and YouTube, so I split the majority of my daily life improving and increasing the size/growth my channels, as well a day job I’m hoping to transition out of. Since I’ve recently gotten partnered on Twitch I’ve started playing some other games, Dark Souls II for example I think is one that I’ll play a lot. Maybe some DOTA 2 once in a while, but ultimately CS:GO 99% of the time. Thanks for the interview!
CEVO:
Casters
Adam "LATORR" LaTorraca | Twitch | Twitter |
Brandon "c0ttonfxn" Miao | Twitter |
Clayton "cKlops" Kloppenborg | Twitch | Twitter |
Luca "misled138" Graham | Twitter |
Matt "m3ssTV" Tomlinson | Twitch | Twitter |
Mohan "LAUNDERS" Govindasamy | Twitch | Twitter |
