How Mineski.net’s Editor got to be part of a star studded lineup
This past weekend I had the opportunity to cast the ASUS ROG Masters 2017 APAC Finals for CS:GO among the likes of Jordan Elfishguy Mays, Danny DK Kim, Kevin KaRath Zhu, and Iain SnypeR Turner. Together with MineskiTV’s Justin Vill Villaseran, we were in for an intense, four-day event filled with CS:GO action.
Here’s what happened during the event from my perspective as I covered the CS:GO half of the event as both a Mineski.net editor and a CS:GO shoutcaster.
As soon as the first day started, tensions were heightened. My heart was racing faster than it should (probably because of the cans of Red Bull I took, to be honest). Vill and I were the first to be put on the casters’ desk.
Camera switches over to us; game time.
TNC didn’t put up much of a fight against Golden Mix or Recca Esports. After the two best-of-one games, I went straight back to the casters’ lounge. After chilling for a bit, our producer came to us and said that we were going to stream another match before the final best-of-three for the day. I was then notified that I was going to be an analyst for that game.
Countdown timer went down to zero and DK himself started the show, with me there beside him.
A million different things were blazing through my mind and wasn’t confident in what I was going to say. “Calm down, you got this. Just go through what you learned from the teams-” then DK passed it to me. “What do you think about the match-up, Nomad?” DK asked.
I stuttered, spluttered, and mixed up all my words. My hands were shaking behind the casters desk. I talked to KaRath behind the scenes asked for tips. “Just relax and breathe in. You’re doing good.”
We ended the night with a couple of drinks and got to know more about the Australian talents. Watching these guys on twitch is a lot different from working with them. Behind the scenes, the men in the suits, I look up to when I watch tournaments turn out to just be regular Joes (or regular Fred Nurks?) and I found myself easing into the role I had to play in this event.
Fast forward a couple of days, the stage match was set between Grayhound and Mineski. I was once again put into the analyst desk and the event area was filled with fans of Dota 2 and CS:GO alike, rooting for the hometown favorites.
This time, when I got the time, I watched from the audience area. It was a close and hard fight from the Philippine team, ending Cobblestone with 16:12 and Inferno with 16:13. This was one of the best games that Mineski has ever played in an international level, surprising even the rest of the panel with their performance.
We capped off the night with another round of drinks because it was KaRath’s birthday (and because they’re Aussies). We talked some shop, because it turns out the esports industry is big even if casters form only a small part of it SnypeR, who was a former professional player who played against some of the best teams in the world during ESL One Cologne 2015, also told me how the big name teams are in real life. Some teams were straight up blokes that you could be friends with while others were a bit more conceited. I guess being on the top changes people for better or worse.
The next day came began with the grand finals between Grayhound and 5 Power Club. We set our predictions down: Vill went 2-1 for Grayhound, 2-0 for 5 Power Club for KaRath, 2-1 for Grayhound for DK and 2-1 for 5 Power Club for yours truly.
On the line was the “Prediction Cap”, which all of us want to wear. It’s just a reguler Republic of Gamers cap. Nothing special, but if you get your prediction right, you get to keep it. Elfishguy wore it with pride the day prior and everyone else wants to have the cap.
The series started and everyone was at the edge of their seats. The first map was Overpass, Grayhound edged out 5 Power Club decisively with a 16:5 scoreline. 5 Power Club came out of the gates with 16:7 in Cache. It all boiled down to Inferno where both of these teams pulled out all the stops in their game. It was almost an even first half with 6:9 favoring 5 Power. As soon as the second half rolled in, Grayhound looked like they were going to catch up but eventually, the Asians were able to secure the grand final bout with a 16:10 scoreline.
Most importantly, I won the hat.
After the event, everybody had a good time roaming around ROG and the neighboring ESGS 2017. We went back to our hotel rooms, grabbed a couple of beers, watched the Epicenter Finals between SK and Vp, and bid our farewells.
There are still a lot of things I have to learn. KaRath, Elfishguy, SnypeR, and DK were all nice in giving us tips on how to improve our casting. Granted, everybody has something to improve on, but working with these people just made me want to push myself even more as a caster and an analyst.
It was an honor to work with these guys. It was an honor getting chosen as part of the lineup.
On to the next one!
