https://www.cybersport.ru/dota-2/articles/valve-predstavila-otlichnyi-spisok-kasterov-dota-2-nuzhen-byl-belozerov-i-ne-nuzhen-casperrr

Valve cares

This is the first thing to say when looking at the 2023 roster. It can be seen that none of our studios was involved in the selection of casters and that it was the independent party in the person of Valve who was involved in this. The company expanded the list of talents (compared to 2017, it increased by ten slots at once) and at the same time not only settled on the usual candidates, but drew attention to newcomers who have proven themselves well. But calling those with whom you have already contacted and collaborated before is always much easier than betting on fresh blood.

It’s great that Valve turned their attention to Eiritel, the first Russian-speaking female caster in TI history. Indeed, this year she did not have many opportunities to work at major Dota 2 championships. Even in such conditions, Morozova continued to look for interesting projects for herself, did not stop developing professionally and gaining experience in different disciplines. Indeed, she became the first girl who was able to break through the audience bias towards female commenting on Dota 2. BELONY is perhaps a less media newcomer than Eiritel, so his invite suggests that Valve really follows the state of the scene in the CIS. Well, NotInMyHouse deserved its invite even earlier, because it was objectively the most professional presenter of all that is on our market, both in terms of diction and the ability to manage dialogue, and in terms of the ability to stay in the frame.

In addition, it is noticeable that Valve pays attention to the criticism of the Russian-speaking caste from the community. At TI7 and TI8, viewers were often unhappy with Feaver and Droog – and now both are not on the list again, although the latter is actively involved in tournaments. Among analysts, the most often criticized TroN for a lack of expertise and a rather monotonous presentation, or Dread for his disregard for everything that happens. Instead, a whole scattering of active players and coaches is now responsible for analytics, and it is precisely those who managed to prove themselves in the format of studio broadcasts (we will talk about those who did not fit into it and were left without an invite below).

CaspeRRR, thanks for the wonderful 2014, but …

For me, competitive Dota 2, and indeed my love for the game itself, began with commenting on CaspeRRR. For several years I adored his duet with GodHunt, their jokes, perky laughter, jokes about “range barracks”, “invisibility – invulnerability” and “theory of the perfect mix.” But time passes, and CaspeRRR’s repertoire does not change.

And so in 2023, when I again hear about “invisibility – invulnerability,” I get an involuntary tic. As the beloved poet of the Zoomer era said: “I have heard all this thousands of times, thousands of phrases.” Due to the hackneyedness of broadcasting techniques, the general charm created earlier begins to evaporate, and gaps in the knowledge of the mechanics of the characters, frequent tiring complaints about the game or teams come to the fore. Taken together, this radically changed the attitude towards ethers with CaspeRRR, at least for me. Lepekhin is undoubtedly a good caster, but he stopped in his professional growth. And it is unlikely because it has reached its ceiling – rather, it is a matter of habit or fatigue. Therefore, the fact that Valve this time refused to invite CaspeRRR may become a serious signal for all veterans of the scene that it will not work out on the past merits all the time. We’ll have to develop. I hope this will be an impetus for Lepekhin himself and we will hear his signature “Good time of the day”, but without the subsequent stories about the “range barrack” and the “theory of ideal mixing”.

Tired NS

The situation is somewhat similar with NS, which a year ago, before leaving RuHub, said in plain text that he was bored with analyzing games. Naturally, then it was about the next, 150th online tournament with the same teams. However, what NS defines as fairness to the viewer can be interpreted by Valve as a lack of professionalism. It is clear that, most likely, Kuznetsov would not have said at TI before the group stage match something like: “Let’s go two 20s faster and let’s go home.” However, how does Valve’s representatives know this? The organizers should not find out at which matches NS will decide to show its maximum, and which will give up. Instead, developers are better off betting on the conditional newbies BELONY or Eiritel, because they will be charged 100% in any situation, since they feel responsible and do not want to miss the chance to show themselves.

Valve no longer needs clowning … and nails

Among the grievances in the comments regarding Valve’s list, the most common complaints were the lack of PGGand it’s pretty weird. To begin with, Anosov has not been invited to The International since 2016. Yes, he often visited Maincast and looked quite organic and interesting there, but Anosov, apparently, does not fit the Valve format. This can be explained, because PGG is quite a colorful character – both in terms of the manner of communication with colleagues, and in the way he analyzes games, and, of course, in terms of jokes and anecdotes. PGG gave the Russian-speaking community an immortal meme about nails, but Valve probably considers such things inappropriate in the context of the main and most important tournament of the year. After all, even in a suit with a tie and with full makeup, PGG remains PGG – for this we love him, and that is why he has not received an invite to TI for the fourth time in a row.

For a similar reason, Iceberg and ALOHADANCE, for example, remained without an invitation to The International 2023. The latter, by the way, was at TI9 as an analyst. And here again you can understand the developers. If you’ve watched the CIS qualifiers on Maincast, you probably understand why two former FTM teammates didn’t receive invites. Their broadcasting style was too frivolous, and conversations often drifted away from the just played match and Dota 2 in general, especially if they were in the studio at the same time. And then everything slipped into a get-together, from which the lead and the third analyst fell out – such a dialogue can be quite amusing for a large fan base of esportsmen, but for a wide audience that will connect to the broadcast on TI10, it will be a set of incomprehensible local memes (possibly, to also not the most funny). But there was also a fail with an obscene remark that hit the air – in short, Valve could not be sure that Iceberg and ALOHADANCE would be able to adapt to the TI broadcast format and not reduce everything to clownery. After all, finding the perfect balance between fun and behavior on the air, as XBOCT did, they seem to be failing.

Belozerov is the best thing that could happen to the Russian-speaking caste

“Who is b0rbe1?” – a popular question that could be found under the news with the announcement of the cast at TI10. Boris Belozerov is the captain of one of the most successful young teams in the TV game “What? Where? When?”. Emotional, charismatic and incredibly erudite young man with a good sense of humor. At the same time, Belozerov also understands Dota 2, because he not only plays himself, but also watches professional matches. It turns out that Valve has found a media personality who can interest a wide audience (and attract a new one) and at the same time is familiar with the world of video games. And most importantly, unlike the same rapper Kyivstoner, Belozerov will perfectly suit the serious format of the tournament and will be able to interest the viewer with something other than standout dialect and greasy jokes.

If you want to make sure that Belozerov really looks organic at TI10, then find an Olsior stream with him. By the way, later the connoisseur took part in the show “The smartest in cybersport” with the same Zverev, where he showed that he can cope with gaming issues. Therefore, at TI10 we will have a person from the outside who is really interested in the subject and able to bring something new, in addition to jokes about nails.

It’s definitely not worth worrying about the Russian-speaking caste this year. Our studio has never been more diverse before: five analysts from the victorious roster of NAVI, Solo, Resolut1on, new faces in the form of Eiritel, BELONY and Belozerov, and already beloved casters. And plus to this “pirate” broadcasts. There will probably be a lot of them and for every taste: from NS and Dread to Daxak and Nix. Therefore, the intrigue with invites, which some members of the community had been catching up with for almost a month, turned out to be quite harmless. No incredible disappointments or underhanded shenanigans. We are waiting for the cool The International, which will have decent Russian-language coverage.