Famous casters who were not invited to TI10 – who and why will miss the main event of 2023

Russian-language studio

Yaroslav NS Kuznetsov

Yaroslav NS Kuznetsov played twice at The International in Dota 2 as a player: in 2011 with the Moscow Five and in 2013 with Virtus.pro. At all other tournaments, he worked as a guest commentator or analyst. After leaving the RuHub studio, Kuznetsov stopped actively covering competitions and leagues, focusing on personal broadcasts on Twitch. In 2023, the analyst only worked with Maincast once during the qualifiers for The International 10.

In August 2023, Kuznetsov tweeted that he had not received an invitation to The International 10 and would not be attending the Dota 2 World Championship for the first time. According to him, he is not at all worried about this and plans to stream some matches on his personal Twitch channel. …

Roman CaspeRRR Lepekhin

Roman CaspeRRR Lepekhin began his career as a Dota 2 commentator at The International 2012, after which he received invitations from Valve every year to work in official tournaments. His track record includes eight The International tournaments and more than ten majors, but the Ukrainian commentator was not invited to The International 10.

Lepekhin’s absence from the list of invited talents surprised many Dota 2 fans. Unlike Kuznetsov, CaspeRRR commented on many major tournaments in 2023, including both seasons of the Dota Pro Circuit 2023 regional leagues in Europe and the CIS, as well as the majors in Singapore and Kiev.

Ivan Faker Demkin

Ivan Faker Demkin is another veteran of the Russian-language lighting studio The International. He has worked at the World Championships since 2014, appearing there for the first time as a host. Subsequently, he has consistently fulfilled this role throughout six world championships and several majors. In 2023, Dyomkin covered the Dota Pro Circuit leagues with Maincast, and also hosted the studio at ONE Esports Singapore Major 2023, WePlay AniMajor 2023 and ESL One Fall 2023.

According to Demkin, it was difficult for him to believe that he would miss the tournament in 2023. The presenter promised that in 2023 he will make every effort to get Valve again invited him to work at the World Cup.

Antonina Tonya Predko

Antonina Tonya Predko began her career as a host and commentator in the CS: GO discipline, but in 2016 she began working in Dota 2 tournaments. During The Kiev Major 2017 she worked as a translator, then went to The International 2017 to record interviews with players. For the 2018 and 2019 World Championships, Valve invited Predko to shoot videos and other video content about the tournament.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, almost all esports tournaments in 2023 took place online, so Predko did not have many opportunities to work in the studio. In addition, in September, she left StarLadder after several years of cooperation and joined the Ukrainian club Natus Vincere as a host and interviewer. Now she shoots content for NAVI channels on YouTube and does not cover Dota 2 tournaments. In 2023, Predko worked only in CS: GO tournaments – StarLadder CIS RMR 2023, WePlay Academy League and BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023.

Predko did not publicly comment on the lack of an invite to The International 10, but on Twitter supported Daria Eiritel Morozova, who became the first female commentator in the Russian-language studio.

My congratulations! Light it up there ???

– Tonya Predko (@TonyaPredko) September 16, 2023

Vladimir PGG Anosov

Vladimir PGG Anosov is a frequent guest at Maincast studio. In recent years, he has been an analyst at almost all major tournaments, covered both seasons of the Dota Pro Circuit 2023 in Europe and the CIS, worked at ONE Esports Singapore Major 2023 and WePlay AniMajor, as well as qualifiers for The International 10. Surprisingly, despite active work in the studio, esports past and undoubted authority in the community, Anosov is not noticed at all by the guys from Valve.

Anosov’s career as an analyst began in 2016 – almost immediately after he left the professional scene. Together with the RuHub studio, in one year, he visited the majors in Shanghai, Manila and Boston, and also worked at The International 2016. It seemed that after these tournaments from Valve there will be others, but in 2017 Anosov practically disappeared from the radar and returned only in the second half of 2018. Since then, Valve has continued to ignore PGG, leaving it without invites to its tournaments.

English-language studio

Toby TobiWan Dawson

In 2011, Valve invited Toby TobiWan Dawson to comment on the first The International, and since then the Australian has worked in almost every international Dota 2 tournament. Over the years of live broadcasts, he has become the author of many catchphrases, as well as one of the most respected casters in the game community. That was until the summer of 2023, when the esports community learned about Dawson’s off-screen behavior.

In June 2023, cosplayer Meruna accused Dawson of sexual harassment. Soon after it, other girls who crossed paths with him at tournaments shared similar stories about the commentator’s misconduct. TobiWan did not deny the accusations and pleaded guilty. He asked forgiveness from anyone he might have intentionally or accidentally hurt by his actions in the past, but sincere statements and public remorse did not help. At first, Beyond the Summit studio broke off cooperation with TobiWan, then he was publicly criticized by many colleagues and friends, and Valve removed his phrases from the chat wheel in Dota 2. After that, Dawson wrote the last post on Twitter, in which he stated that he was leaving the esports scene for good. and leaves social networks.

Grant GranDGranT Harris

A similar situation happened with Grant GranDGranT Harris, who was considered one of the most popular Dota 2 commentators in North America in early 2023. At first he was engaged in personal streams, then he began to cooperate with the studio Beyond the Summit, which helped to cover all the more or less major tournaments in the region. In 2017, Harris became the official streamer of Evil Geniuses, after which he was noticed by Valve – in the following years he attended eight Majors, as well as two The International in 2018 and 2019.

Harris built a career in esports in just a couple of years, but it also collapsed accordingly – in just a couple of days. In the summer of 2023, one of the female streamers tweeted an anonymous letter in which she talked about Harris’s sexual harassment. She stated that at one of the tournaments he mixed something into her cocktail to drink and have sex. According to the girl, that evening she was saved by chance, and she did not even immediately understand what had happened. After the incident, Harris continued to give her obscene innuendoes, and when she began to ignore him, the streamer began to stalk the girl and threaten to ruin her career. When this story became public, Harris apologized to the girl and admitted that he had behaved unworthily. Almost immediately after that, he said goodbye to fans and announced his retirement from esports.

Paul Redeye Chaloner

British host Paul Redeye Chaloner has worked at Dota 2 events since 2014. Valve invited him to majors in Frankfurt, Kiev and Manila, as well as to four tournaments of The International series – in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. In parallel with this, Chaloner was the host of the CS: GO, Quake and StarCraft championships, ran his own agency Code Red Esports, and wrote a book about the esports industry. Chaloner’s career was promising, but ended as abruptly as Toby TobiWan Dawson’s.

In the summer of 2023, CS: GO commentator James Banks talked about how Chaloner threatened to ruin his esports career and often behaved inappropriately with his subordinates. He published several correspondence with former colleagues of Redeye, in which the host threatened them, abused his position, flirted with makeup artists and other employees.

According to Banks, one person who no longer works in esports was even beaten by Redeye. Later, Banks spoke about the violence in the Cheloner family: the host allegedly beat his wife in front of his daughters, and the incident was even considered in court. In response to the accusations, Cheloner said that Banks’ words “contain truth, half-truths and outright lies,” and also noted that “he was in court and was found not guilty.” After that, Redeye announced his retirement from esports in order to improve his mental health, affected by the stress and lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alan Nahaz Bester

Alan Nahaz Bester is one of the oldest contributors to the English-language lighting studio The International. He started working as an analyst and statesman for Dota 2 tournaments in 2015, combining this activity with lecturing in economics at the University of Western Ontario. Later, Bester also tried himself as a presenter and commentator. Valve invited him to The International in 2018 and 2019, as well as tournaments in China and Europe.

Bester’s last tournament was StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3, where he worked as a host. In 2023, when the pandemic began and almost all competitions went online, Nahaz practically did not participate in covering the tournaments, although he sometimes continued to speak out on topical topics. Probably the lack of activity during the year was one of the reasons why Bester was not invited to work at The International 10 in Bucharest. According to other information, this may be due to Nahaz’s criticism of Valve.

Henrik AdmiralBulldog Anberg

The story that Henrik AdmiralBulldog Anberg can’t get to The International has long become a meme in the esports community. At first, Valve simply did not want to invite the TI3 champion to the tournament, but nevertheless gave up under the urges and onslaught of Anberg’s fans. The Swede was supposed to fly to The International 2017, but could not go through customs at the border, so he was sent home.

In 2018, The International was held in Vancouver, but getting there turned out to be even more difficult than in the USA. According to the former esportsman, at the age of eight, he “did one stupid thing” that caused him problems to enter Canada. Anberg’s visa was delayed, so the Swede missed the second tournament to which he was invited. The International 2019 was in Shanghai, and here AdmiralBulldog himself refused to travel. When Valve announced that the anniversary The International would be held in Sweden, many fans took it as a sign from above for Anberg, but this time the coronavirus pandemic prevented the tournament from going to the tournament. In recent years, the Swede has often criticized Valve for bugs in Dota 2, the tournament format, and poor performance in the esports scene. Unsurprisingly, the developers did not invite him to work in Bucharest.

The International 10 Dota 2 will take place in Bucharest from October 7 to 17 at the National Football Stadium. The tournament participants will compete for a prize pool of $ 40 million.